Meet the NSW Mentors
Souad Saied

From a young age I was fascinated by creative careers in art, design, film, fashion and writing. However, whilst broadly creative, I didn’t have a particular strength or passion area and as I was academically strong, I was being encouraged down a more traditional path.

I consider my skills to be at the intersection of creative, strategic and analytical. I’ve also always been entrepreneurial by nature, and got my first job at 12 years old. When I was a young teen, I saw Kit Kat’s ‘Salmon’ advert featuring Jason Statham, and I fell in love with advertising. Advertising to me seemed like the business of creativity; the perfect place for someone like me.

Following my degree I went through a multi-round interview for a graduate job at Kit Kat’s agency, JWT, but before the program even started I found myself in Australia, embracing the summer lifestyle. Without a working visa or industry experience I hustled to find an entry-level position at a small start-up agency. To this day I have never made a TV advert, but I’ve never looked back.

My career has been an important focus for as long as I can remember. Entrepreneurial by nature, I couldn’t wait to start working and earning. I started working at 12 years old in the mailroom for a law firm after school and by the time I graduated from university I had worked in administration, retail, hospitality and run my own little business projects.

After landing my dream graduate opportunity at JWT London, and then finding myself enjoying the Sydney lifestyle on my gap year, I experienced a pretty critical career crossroads practically before I had even started. Do I take the dream job in a city that makes me miserable, or do I take the unbeaten path in a city I love (and then back myself to figure out how to get back on track later).

Despite the odds, I chose the latter, and from the day I started my first marketing job making community flyers and producing promotional campaigns at an unknown (and now defunct) agency, I have been focused on forging a bigger career in the industry.

Over the past 10 years, I have taken the backstreets to get to where I am. I spent 5.5 years learning the craft of client service working in a challenging and competitive small indie agency and climbing to Account Director. I then joined a medium-sized global experiential agency to experience being part of an international organisation, where I honed my networking, business development, pitching and growth skills. I lived in Singapore for 2 years to expand my experience to more diverse markets. Today, I am the Managing Director of one of Australia’s hottest independent agencies, and the Australian lead for one of the world’s largest networks (McCann Worldgroup) at 33 years old.

I have always wanted to run a business, and my current role provides me the opportunity to strengthen my commercial skills, and further develop my leadership skills. I know this sort of role is the perfect use of my strengths and capabilities and I look forward to working hard to establish myself as an industry leader in the coming years, with a focus on creating opportunities for underrepresented talent, like myself, who might also be forced to take the backstreets to reach their potential.