The average person changes their careers five to seven times during their working life. But for me, the marketing and advertising industry is in my blood. For over thirty years, I have immersed myself in the hustle, the creativity, the fluidity and the challenges facing this industry.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but there’s an immense sense of accomplishment when I make a real difference for businesses. In this industry, like no other, the successful joining of creative and strategy can deliver unbelievable results.

As a high-schooler, I must have had an inkling of this – why else would I spend my well-earned annual holidays working at McCann Erickson, instead of partying with the rest of my cohort?

My passion for graphic design and advertising continued through university, but along the way, I also developed a knack for relationships and deal making.

One of my earliest success stories cam when I was at Greater Union Theatre Group coordinating and producing national campaigns for movie releases. I developed a contra deal with the Bowater Scott Group, opening the way for movies to be promoted via placements within products throughout Australian supermarkets. This concept has since been adopted nationally and overseas.

After those early years in the movie industry, I dived into the advertising industry head first, working at a series of advertising and graphic design companies, gaining valuable in-depth knowledge and contacts in the process.