Who am I?

I am a founding Partner and Group Chief Creative Officer of BWM Dentsu Australia. I've judged Cannes Lion twice, and under my creative guidence, BWM Dentsu has become one of Austrailia's leading creative agencies. I have won numerous international awards including Cannes Lions, One Show, Effies, LIA and AdFest. This year I won Silver and Bronze at Cannes Lions, Silver at AdFest, Two D&AD pencils, Silver and Bronze at the One Show and Gold at the Australia writers and art Directors. My portfolio includes Qantas, Toyota, Realestate.com Australia and Kmart, and I'm an avid supporter of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

I work at Focus Media (China) holdings Co. Ltd (the largest lifestyle media group in China) as Chief Strategy Officer. I excel in management and have serviced more than 3000 brands, such as Benz, BMW, Apple, Samsung, Siemens, Unilever, P&G, Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba, and JD. I have dedicated China’s media market for decades and am the earliest Chinese top manager working in an international 4A group. I contribute to media insight, consumer insight and market insight. I used to work for the international media agencies, Zenith Media, and Publicis. There I orchestrated the outdoor team, the biggest outdoor team at the time and acted as deputy General Manager of China. I am also the Vice-president of China Advertising Association.

I am the Global Chief Creative Officer at FCB, where I head up the agency’s creative product and reputation. I am one of the industry’s leading creatives and an important voice representing women. I am the creative brilliance responsible for the iconic M&M’S “human”, and Allstate’s “Mayhem” campaigns, and I have received numerous industry accolades, including Ad Age’s “100 Most Influential Women,” Business Insider’s “Most Creative Women in Advertising” and induction into the AAF’s Hall of Achievement. In 2017, I was named a Matrix honoree by New York Women in Communications.

I am Vice Chairman and Group Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy India. I have over two decades of experience in the advertising industry, working on major local, regional and multinational brands such as Volkswagen, Audi, Fiat, Dove, Unilever Foods, Cadbury, Virgin Mobile, Colgate, Pizza Hut, Sony, Coca Cola, and many more. I'm a graduate of the National Institute of Design (NID), and went on to have an extremely successful stint at Ogilvy Mumbai before moving to head Ogilvy in Malaysia. Thereafter, as the Chairman and ECD of Ogilvy Singapore, I helped the agency become the hottest agency in the region and the No.1 creative office of the WPP global network. In 2007 I led the agency to be the third highest awarded agency in the world at Cannes Lions. I am a prolific winner in most of the Regional and International Award shows like Cannes, Clio, D & AD, One Show, LIA, Andy Awards, AdFest, Spikes etc., and have served on most of the juries globally. In my spare time, I have also been a popular TV host, Bollywood scriptwriter and have also been channeling my passion for films into directing ad-films.

I currently lead the BBDO Asia Pacific creative council, and am Creative Chairman at BBDO Guerrero. Campaign Asia has named me as its ‘South East Asia Creative Person of the Year. My experience with the LIA Print category goes back to winning the country’s first Grand Prix in the show for Pepsi, and since then I have added multiple Golds and other metals in categories including Audio, Film, Outdoor and The New. I have led or been part of juries in most of the world’s award shows, and was the first from South East Asia to head a Cannes jury. Outside the office, I am a mentor at Endeavor – a non-profit organization designed to help local entrepreneurs succeed in the global market.

I am the President at The Township in Toronto. I am a globally-awarded creative director, writer and speaker who pinpoints trends in creativity, culture and technology. I provide a shot of inspirational adrenaline by decoding some of the best work from around the world, and shows how embracing uncertainty and harnessing courage leads to the best work. I am also a frequent advertising commentator in Canadian media. As one of the few female CDs in the world, I am also a vocal advocate for more women in senior leadership roles in advertising.

I'm currently the Chairman of the Global Creative Council for INNOCEAN. I'm from Australia and am the former Worldwide Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi. For 12 years, I took ultimate responsibility for the communications ideas the company created for some of the world’s major corporations including Proctor & Gamble, and Toyota. I was the Global Creative Director responsible for the launch and mass marketing of Toyota’s Prius, and it was under my leadership that the Saatchi & Saatchi network won almost 8,000 significant awards. My work has been documented in many books and endorsed by the industry’s most prestigious national and international award shows, and I won Australia’s first Gold Lion for Film at the Cannes Lions. I am also one of the few people to have ever won a D&AD gold award for advertising. I have been elected to the Clio Hall of Fame in the US, and the Writers and Art Directors Hall of Fame in Australia, and hold the first ever Honorary Doctorate in Communications from RMIT University. I also received the Clio Lifetime Achievement Award “in recognition of outstanding and ongoing contribution by an individual who is leading the industry forward.”

I am one of the world’s most awarded creative directors. I recently made history by leading Ogilvy & Mather to win Network of the Year at Cannes five times in a row in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. AdAge has aptly called me ‘One of the world’s most influential people in the communication business’. I went into advertising first at Leo Burnett London and then Chicago; and later in Singapore with stints at McCann Erickson and Bateys. In 2009, I moved to New York to assume the position of Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, a role that had me overseeing the work of the entire O&M global network of more than 500 offices. I created a concept called ‘Pervasive Creativity’, where everyone in the organization, regardless of title, has the responsibility to be creative. I am a multiple Grand Prix and Titanium winner at Cannes, have served as chairman on numerous advertising juries, and am a frequent speaker within the industry and beyond. I have taught master classes at Miami Ad School, Berlin School of Creative Leadership, St Martins and the Royal College of Art London. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and am also a contributing writer for The Guardian, and Forbes. Fun fact: I live in a converted 19th Century firehouse in New York City.

I am currently the Executive Creative Director at Tribal Worldwide. Over my 20-year multi-disciplinary career, I have helped build many brands including IKEA, Dove, Budweiser, McDonald’s, Volkswagen and Adidas, as well as Canadian brands such as Bell, Canadian Tire and President’s Choice. My work has been recognized at the industry’s top national and international award shows including Cannes, One Show, and Clios. Prior to joining Tribal Worldwide, I led the Loblaws President’s Choice business at john st., and in 2016, the retailer was awarded Strategy’s Brand of the Year. I believe that curiosity, an open mind and perseverance are the keys to success

I am the Co-Founder / CCO of Design Army in Washington DC. I am an award-winning creative director and savvy business leader, and have dreamed up and developed numerous high-profile campaigns worldwide. My hallmark is a distinctive union of the artistic and the commercial, proving that good design is the cornerstone of good business. I judge elite design competitions around the world including Cannes Lions, and served as the chair of the One Show Design jury. My work has earned a plethora of awards, including D&AD, One Show, Art Directors Club, Red Dot Award, TDC, SPD, and AIGA. I give design lectures and lead workshops across the globe. My clients include the Academy Awards, Adobe, GE, Disney, Bank of America, Bloomingdale’s, The Ritz Carlton, Marriott, The Washington Ballet, The Smithsonian and Lucas Film.

I am the Global Chief Creative Officer of McCann Health and am based at McCann Worldgroup headquarters in New York City. I am responsible for ensuring the highest level of creative excellence across the McCann Health global network of 60 offices across 20 countries over 6 continents. I am constantly on the move, leading Global Creative Seminars in cities like Johannesburg, Berlin, LA and Tokyo, or visiting my teams and inspiring change across McCann Health offices around the globe. Under my leadership, McCann Health won the coveted “Network of the Year Award” from Lions Health, part of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. My motto is “Push for the best. Work with the best. Deliver the unexpected.” Thanks to me, McCann Health has become one of the most creatively awarded healthcare communications network in the world.

I am the Global Chief Creative Officer at Cheil Worldwide. I built and led the teams responsible for award-winning firsts as diverse as Unilever’s smile activated ice cream vending machine, Foot Locker’s Sneakerpedia, Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty, and RBS’s GetCash mobile app. I am a recognized industry influencer and speaker, a two-time Cannes Lions Jury President, LI, and Clio Awards Jury president, and was recently named one of AdAge magazine’s “World’s Top 10 Digital minds”. My international industry accolades number more than 200, including Cannes Lions for Film, Print, Media, Outdoor, Cyber and Mobile. Prior to joining Cheil, I was European Chief Creative Officer and a member of Sapient’s global leadership team where I helped steer the company to in excess of a billion dollars in annual revenue, putting Sapient amongst Fortune Magazine’s 40 fastest growing companies in the world. M&C Saatchi, Saatchi&Saatchi, Ogilvy and SapientNitro have all won Agency of the Year titles during my creative leadership.

I am the Chief Creative Officer at Droga5. My 20-year advertising career has taken me around the world, most notably to Singapore, Argentina, Australia and finally New York City. I hit the ad industry with a bang and have won more than 100 major awards in the industry, including Pencils, Cannes Lions, Webby’s and even Facebook Studio’s inaugural Grand Prix. I have been on the worldwide creative boards of both Ogilvy & Mather and Publicis Groupe as Executive Creative Director and regional Creative Director, and I was the youngest member in the history of Ogilvy’s council. I have been at Droga5 since the agency’s early days and has seen the agency grow to nearly 600 employees. Along the way, Droga5 has been named Agency of the Year ten times, and is the only agency to appear on the Advertising Age A-List over six consecutive years.

I am the Brand Creative Group Head (writer and creative director) at The Richards Group in Dallas, Texas. Since joining the agency in 1999, I have written for clients including Motel 6, Famous Footwear, The Home Depot, Zales, Amstel Light, Red Lobster, H-E-B, QuikTrip, Central Market, and dozens more. I have awards from One Show, the Clios, the Effies, the Dallas Society of Visual Communications, the American Advertising Federation, the London International Awards, and the Association of Music Producers, and have won five Radio Mercury Awards, including (as creative director) the $100,000 Grand Prize. My work has been featured in Communication Arts, Print, Graphis, Advertising Age, and The Wall Street Journal. While I am a frequent advertising judge, lecturer, and educator, I also moonlight as an improv and standup comedian, emcee, TV joke writer, and voice actor. I am an avid cook, voracious reader, an enthusiastic but infrequent cyclist, and passionate collector (and imbiber) of single-malt scotch.

I am the Global CCO at Leo Burnett Worldwide, and Creative Chairman of Publicis Communications. I am responsible for setting the company’s creative vision, and lead the group’s unrivalled creative firepower. I drove Leo Burnett to become the most awarded network in the world based on Advertising Age’s 2015 Awards Report. I am one of the most awarded creatives in the industry and named by Campaign Magazine as the ‘No. 1 Worldwide Creative Director’. I have won 533 Cannes Lions, including seven Grand Prix, three Titanium Lions, three Glass Lions, the first ever D&AD White Pencil, and a Black Pencil during his tenure as Global CCO. I have had the honour of chairing the world’s greatest award shows, and am one of the only creative directors in the world to serve as a Cannes Lions Jury President four times.

I am the Founding Creative Director at Eardrum Sydney, and am a world authority on effective radio advertising. I started my career as an agency writer in 1987, winning a Clio Award for one of my first radio ads. I founded Eardrum in London in 1990, and launched Eardrum’s Australian agency in 2006. It is now the most awarded radio and audio agency in the world. My passion for the medium is fuelled by a determination to innovate, subvert and explore new ways for brands to connect to their audience through sound. My work is recognized at the world’s leading award shows. Recent highlights include three Gold Lions at Cannes, One Show Grand Prix, New York Festival Gold, and being named Radio & Audio Agency of the Year three years in a row by the London International Awards. My creative workshops never fail to enthuse advertisers and inspire creatives.

I am Partner & Managing Director at Genius Steals. My career began in 2009 working with hip hop moguls Jay-Z and Steve Stoute at their entertainment branding company, developing non-traditional ways for brand like Altoids, Target, Wrigley and Samsung to connect with their fans. In early 2011, I joined Saatchi & Saatchi’s New York office to lead social and emerging media, advising brands including P&G’s Pampers & Olay and General Mills’ Cheerios amongst others. I helped the agency to develop a point of view on social, guiding their own social media presence as well as their internal structure and setup for future projects. Before co-founding Genius Steals with Faris, I was most recently at 360i, an award-winning digital marketing agency. There I helped brands like Dentyne, and Oreo navigate the world of social and emerging media from creative ideation through to activation. This included being the lead strategist on the Cannes Grand Prix and Facebook Best in Show winning Oreo Daily Twist campaign, where I developed the strategy and interagency process necessary to deliver fresh creative content every day for 100 days and to ‘win the superbowl’ with the blackout tweet that birthed Real Time Marketing. I am passionate about moving the industry forward and believe that brands can create and curate culture, and connect to people in ways that create value for both.