In only its second year, NSW is taking Assisterhood by storm with mentors in design, client service, strategy, tech, production, recruitment and more.
Each of our mentors has forged their own unique path to career success, and each understands the power and value they can provide both professionally and personally.
Without further ado, here’s your NSW mentor line up…
Mehnaaz Ahmed
Senior Brand Strategist at uberbrand
Branding strategist by workday, mom of two girls by life and inspired by other great humans daily. Been on both sides of the fence both working for global corporate FMCG client, both big creative agencies and small branding agency, worked across most industries and loved it all. Experience working across APAC & EMEA regions. Originally from South Africa Cape Town.
Extremely passionate about the creative and branding industry and amazing people in it! I've been blessed to have many great mentors and inspirational leaders through my work and life journey and ready to share and be the ear and smile people may need.
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Lisa Aitken
Brand Growth Consultant
An accomplished executive brand strategy director with 20+ yrs experience growing influential & iconic brands in UK, Europe, US & Australia; with a proven track record in developing brands that make an impact, connect with people & create value for clients.
Demonstrated success in identifying brand-led pathways for business growth & transformation, brand portfolio optimisation & equity maximisation. Proven ability in defining clear & actionable brand blueprints that guide the creation of meaningful products, services & experiences; differentiated branding, marketing & communication; and compelling narratives that embed the brand in the hearts, minds & actions of an organisation.
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Penny Brown
Head of Production at The Monkeys part of Accenture Song
Starting out as a co-ordinator in the creative department and after many years of working her way up to EA for the Executive Creative Director of Publicis Mojo, Darren Spiller, Penny is now the Head Of Production at The Monkeys (part of Accenture Song).
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Rebecca Chan
Marketing Manager - The Arnott's Group
Rebecca is an accomplished marketing leader and brand lead for one of Australia’s most iconic brands, Tim Tam. In her current role, she leads a cross-functional team to deliver commercially driven business outcomes with direct input and ownership across profit&loss, strategic planning, communications and expansion opportunities.
Her innovative approach has catalysed three consecutive years of growth for Tim Tam, capturing increased market share, attracting new consumers, and pioneering unique product occasions—most notably, a Tim Tam perfume, Gluten Free Tim Tam and premium Deluxe range. Rebecca's leadership style is characterised by her ability to inspire and cultivate passion within her teams, aiming not just for results but for excellence in how those results are achieved.
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Carolyn Cho
Client Partner at INNOCEAN Australia
Carolyn is a Client Partner at Innocean with over 18 years experience in advertising and marketing.
She started her career at Young & Rubicam Sydney and Ogilvy Sydney but has spent most of her career abroad in New York at Saatchi & Saatchi and London at Fallon. She’s been the client lead on many leading global, European, UK and Australian brands.
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Ryan Goldsworthy
General Manager of Practices, GroupM Nexus
I'm a super-connector with a knack for seeing the complete picture. I live for big projects, for innovation, and get a kick from delivering stellar results. I love leading people through empowerment; my team are my drive.
I'm an at-home DJ, a Wikipedia contributor, a mentor and a Street Librarian.
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Samantha (Sam) Heckendorf
Head of Brand at Tourism Australia
In short, ex agency person who landed my dream job selling Australia to the world.
By day, I’m an experienced integrated marketer with a proven track record of delivering end-to-end effective, award winning brand communications for some of Australia's most iconic brands.
My experience spans multiple sectors including Travel, Telco, FMCG, Alcoholic Beverages & Financial Services for clients such as Tourism Western Australia, Qantas, Expedia, MLA, Commbank and Telstra.
By night, I’m a mum to twin 5year old boys.
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Niall Hughes
Sydney Business Director at Thrive PR
Winner of Professional of the Year (Silver) in the PRIA’s Golden Target Awards, Niall has over 15 years of experience in PR and communications spanning the UK and Australia.
Niall is driven by his desire to create an inclusive industry and has spoken at the shEqual SH!FT panel on the representation of women in marketing creative, and has also pioneered a new disability employment scheme within his current organisation.
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Feryx Lim
Creative Copywriter at Paper Moose
Feryx is kinda like that girl from Mean Girls who wishes that she could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy. Mostly because she never wants anyone to feel like they don't even go here.
Passionate about diversity, equality and inclusion, she strives to instil a sense of belonging amongst young womxn in the creative industry. Feryx is currently knee deep in her second career as a Creative Copywriter after having worked as a Content Producer and Strategist for many years.
Storytelling has been a constant love in her profession and she's proud to be able to continue taking great ideas from keyboard to the world.
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Theresa Lord
Client Partner at EssenceMediaCom
With over 15 years of marketing and advertising experience, across client and agency sides, I've had the opportunity to work with some incredible brands, across diverse sectors and industries, including tourism, finance and government.
I'm currently working as Client Partner at EssenceMediacom. And outside of work, you'll find me hiking (mainly solo), mountain biking and yoga.
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Maddie Marsh
Client Partner at Meta
Passionate about brands and creativity delivering commercial results, Maddie has step-changed businesses through a relentless push for growth and possibility.
She spent 17 years driving growth through world class effective and award-winning ideas across a broad range of businesses in Australia, Europe and the UK at creative agencies such as Leo Burnett and Clemenger BBDO.
Curious about the future of our industry and keen to build her tech, commercial and innovation experience Maddie has spent the past 2.5 years as a Client Partner in Financial Services at Meta. She loves the fast pace, high performance culture of Meta which feels like a natural home for her infectious energy and provides endless opportunities to think about the box-solving problems using creativity in all its forms.
She is beyond delighted to have taken part in the inaugural program of NSW Assisterhood and believes first and foremost that our industry is about and fuelled by extraordinary people.
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Tamara McCann
Head of Lead Generation, GCS at Google
Tamara spent nearly 20 years leading some of the world's best brands at creative agencies. Then for the past 3 years she's been applying those strategic and creative skills to accelerate growth for one of the best innovation companies in the world.
Her teams and clients would call out her infectious energy, drive for results, and passion. Tamara is a leader of people and thrives off nurturing current and ex team members to be at their rockstar best.
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Clare Pickens
Chief Executive Officer at Leo Burnett Australia
I began my career in journalism and TV production before moving into advertising. Since then I have had the pleasure of learning under some inspiring creative and strategic leaders at agencies such as Wieden+Kennedy, Red&Co. and HERC. During a short career break, the moment I believe many of us in this industry have experienced, I took time out to travel, volunteered for three months offshore for Sea Shepherd and completed a masters in International Relations. I'm a new arrival here in Australia and I'm excited to join the team at Leo Burnett doing truly purposeful and human-centric, breakthrough creative.
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Souad Saied
Managing Director at Hero
Souad believes that humanity should be at the heart of every interaction, whether it be brand and customer, business and employee, or client and agency. As Managing Director at HERO Sydney, Souad partners senior executives to plan and deliver regional and global marketing initiatives at scale.
Souad believes in business as a force for good. She is a passionate DEI advocate and is a consultant on Rare with Google’s Leadership Accelerator for underrepresented talent. She is governed by the belief that if we start working, investing and knowing ourselves earlier in our adult lives then we can make the right choices (and the wrong ones) for ourselves, sooner rather than later.
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Hannah Sturrock
National Head of Engagement at Ad Council Australia
A bigger canvas – working almost as a pseudo 'management consultant' to the advertising industry – allows Hannah to zoom out from the day-to-day and work on long-term industry sustainability. Helping to author legacy initiatives like Create Space while building her own profile and brand gives Hannah autonomy and purpose, while also allowing her to support and connect people across the industry.
Having worked with disruptive and challenger brands, startups and social enterprises, Hannah offers genuine insight, direction and inspiration by asking better questions, re-framing propositions, synthesising diverse perspectives, and translating vision and ambition into stories that empower and connect, internally and externally.
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Bronwyn van der Merwe
Service Practice Lead AUNZ at Accenture Song
Bronwyn's mission in her role is to work across the Australia and New Zealand business in facilitating purpose-driven growth for clients across the offerings of Product Innovation, Marketing, Commerce, and Customer Sales and Service.
She has had the honour of being a jury member for various design awards including Women in Digital, Cannes Lion, D&AD and the Good Design Awards – always an incredible source of inspiration and jolt of creativity.
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Lea Walker
Founder at Mrs Walker
For over twenty years, Lea has been lucky enough to have worked for and partnered with some of the most respected individuals and creative organisations in Australia, London and the US.
She started Mrs Walker after leaving her role as Director of Recruitment for Wieden + Kennedy. The goal was to offer independent and bespoke Talent Consultation in Recruitment and Talent Operations to Agencies and Marketers around the world.
She has worked with the likes of Mother, BBH, BBDO, TBWA, Google, Special Group and Grey to name a few, on roles across all levels and disciplines, as well as Marketing leadership and in house agency roles for global brands. Her clients have so far extended to 17 cities around the world over the last 5 years of business.
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Renata (Nata) Yannoulis
Senior Strategist at TBWA/Australia
Renata’s career has spanned PR, content, social-digital management, brand and strategy disciplines. She is currently a Senior Strategist across the TBWASydney group. She has led the strategic thinking across education, FMCG, retail, tech and fashion categories.
In 2021, Renata became a founding member of the ACA Diversity and Inclusion Committee, where she played a pivotal role in rolling out the Create Space brand, research and findings.
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Trang Young
Data, Digital and Marketing Expert
Trang is a Senior Marketing and Digital professional leading large (50+) teams of marketing experts to deliver end to end, data driven, creative marketing experiences. 20 years digital experience and a recognised driver of digital advancement in ANZ Wealth through the ability to identify and embed emerging skills and technical capability.
A proven track record of demonstrating return on direct marketing investment and achieving sales targets through creating a culture of digital optimisation. A people leader, an agile enthusiast, and self-confessed geek who is a strong conduit between business and technology.
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Ready to become a NSW mentee?
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