THE DRUMS 25 WOMEN WHO HAVE SHAPED THE DIGITAL INDUSTRY - SEPT 2019

“25 From 25: women who have shaped the digital industry”

This type of recognition is totally humbling. Yet, it did not happen overnight. It’s not easy to know that the world is changing and how you bring people along for the journey. Many say they want the change, yet when it comes to the difficulty in making it happen, we learn quite quickly, that they may say they want it, but they don’t really. So many times leadership has asked to implement innovation at the core of their organisation! When I’m open & transparent with what needs to be done, it is usually met with ‘oh no, this is business transformation, this isn’t what we want at all’! It takes an open mindset, visionary leadership - it takes humility, along with an iron will. That’s when these types of changes start to happen. It needs a Super Connector, someone who is valued for connecting all those wonderful dots out there. It takes tenacity, it takes a small team working together with a common goal, it takes courage & fearlessness and a strong sense of self. Thank you to everyone with that mindset who has worked with me over these 25 years. You helped me make this happen.

We're profiling each of the 25 honourees in a series of articles running on thedrum.com

To mark the 25th anniversary of the first banner ad and the birth of digital marketing as we know it today, The Drum has partnered with Futures Network, Innovate Her and WACL for a special project. Together, we're honouring 25 women who have made an outstanding contribution to the industry in that time.

The 25 from 25 were chosen by a panel of industry luminaries after our readers were invited to nominate the people they felt were most worthy of recognition.

Once we've revealed the full list, we'll be asking you to help us decide which of our 25 from 25 deserves an extra special achievement award at next month's Dadi Awards ceremony.

But more on that later. For now, let's meet five more women who have shaped the digital industry...

When Nicole Yershon joined Ogilvy and Mather, she was given the simple brief of bringing the storied agency into the 21st century. She achieved this by building relationships with third party suppliers and embracing new technologies that saw Ogilvy digitise some 10,000 tapes of adverts dating back to the 1950s. Yershon later went on to be the founding partner of Ogilvy’s London Digital Innovation Lab – the dedicated Innovation unit of Ogilvy & Mather Group where she worked with brands such as Amex, IBM, BP, Crimestoppers, Selfridges, Unilever, BA and Wetherspoons.

In 2016 she founded NY Collective with a mind to remove the traditionally opaque practices of consulting and marketing agencies.

https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/09/03/25-25-women-who-have-shaped-the-digital-industry-part-2