Tell us about your journey into the role of Digital Sales Director at Seven West Media?  

I started my media sales career with News Corp WA as a coordinator within the Agency Sales team. Whilst in this role, I took the opportunity to learn as much as I could about the business, and what it meant to be an Account Manager. Luckily for me, I was offered the opportunity to be an Account Manager within the Agency team within the first year of my tenure. Digital wasn’t really a thing back then so the first couple of years of my career was focussed on selling print.

Opportunities came up to move more into the digital space which I took, eventually becoming the Digital Sales Manager – a role I cherished for about 18 months before News Corp WA sold PerthNow and The Sunday Times to SWM.

I switched gears and took an opportunity to move into the world of radio and regional TV with the team at Southern Cross Austereo where I was Agency Account Manger. This was a great experience which exposed me to other media channels but was shortlived as I was on a maternity cover contract.

After 13 months at SCA, I was given the opportunity to join SWM as a Digital Account Manager, again within the Agency team. After three years as Digital Account Manager, I was promoted into the Digital Sales Director role – a post where I have been for the past 2.5 years.

 

What does a typical day look like in your role?  

Within my current role, each day presents a unique set of challenges and tasks, primarily revolving around working with our sales reps to troubleshoot and address a wide array of customer enquiries and issues.

At the core of my responsibilities as Digital Sales Director is a focus on fostering innovation and enhancing our client offers as well as optimising internal operations and processes to maximise efficiencies. I am fortunate enough to lead a team of highly capable individuals, each excelling in their respective roles and enable us to continually explore novel approaches to our work.

Remaining at the forefront of industry best practices within the digital landscape is imperative, as well as keeping on top of market trends and in some cases, leading the market trends.

Every week presents new projects which demand urgent attention and requires my team and I to understand these business led initiatives, creating a strategy on how we can best commercialise it and then disseminating the information to our sales teams who will ultimately sell it into their clients.

 

What is one of the most rewarding projects you’ve worked on at Seven West Media?  

Over the past 5.5 years, I have been part of many different projects. The most rewarding though however has been being part of the working group for The Game – our tipping platform.

When I first started at SWM, The Game was just a tipping competition which we used to engage with our readers and clients alike.

Since that time, we have rebuilt The Game onto our own tech stack, and it is now also an app which allows multiple sports. It is no longer just a tipping competition but now a true sports tipping platform to be proud of.

From a commercial sense, it has grown into a commercial product worth approx. $1.8M a year in commercial revenue – and its only getting bigger!

 

Who or what inspires you the most?  

I find inspiration from people who have navigated or are currently navigating through adversity and emerging from such challenges with a newfound sense of strength and resilience. People who live through such trauma but remain humble and a steadfast refusal to adopt a victim mentality.

In times of stress, I often reflect on their journeys and it helps me put my own work-related challenges into perspective which inspires me to tackle any obstacles with a more positive outlook.

 

If you could give your younger self some advice what would it be?  

Stop worrying about what you can’t control. Take risks, and be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Don’t compare yourself with what other people do. Just do the best that you can, as long as you put in 100% effort with everything that you do.

 

What does leadership mean to you? 

To me, being a leader isn’t all about being in a position of authority. Being a good leader is about embodying the qualities and actions that can inspire and guide a team to success. A good leader leads by example, demonstrates integrity, empathy and a strong work ethic.

A good leader should communicate effectively but also listen to their team members, and foster a collaborative culture and environment where everyone’s voices can be heard and valued. They should strive to succeed not by stepping on others, but by bringing others up with them, empowering their team to achieve goals and objectives whilst offering support and guidance along the way.

A good leader embraces accountability and takes responsibilities for their actions but most importantly, is adaptable to change in the face of challenges. They should yearn to achieve results but also nurtures the growth and development of their team to create a positive and productive working environment… and have fun doing it!