What was your starting position at dentsu?

Communications Planner Executive for Carat way back in 2006.

What inspired you to follow this career path?

At the time, the UK ad scene was yet to digitize fully, and a lot of attention was still on the blockbuster TV-led campaigns that were gaining pop culture traction; think Sony Bravia ‘Balls,’ Honda ‘Cog’, and, of course, the Cadbury ‘Gorilla.’ For me, this seemed to be much cooler than careers my friends were pursuing in finance, law, corporate banking, etc.

What was your experience of getting into the industry?

Back then, Graduate recruitment schemes weren’t as popular as they are now. It was all about work experience, which typically meant knowing someone via family and paying for an expensive commute into London. After a short summer work experience stint at a small PR company doing a Tribes project for Channel4, I came to learn about Carat’s first grad scheme and then applied.

What were some significant opportunities that shaped your career?

I was very lucky to embrace rotation and mobility within the network, and I’m still grateful for the management teams that helped make it happen. After 2 years at Carat, I had an opportunity to transition to Glue London, one of the most innovative and inspiring agencies in town that was just acquired by the network. 7 years later, I followed up on another opportunity to transfer to the Dentsu MENA office, working on strategy, new business, and supporting product development. It’s now been 17 years at dentsu and I’ve had the opportunity to work on some pioneering creative technology, lead on strategy for transformational clients, and support product development that enhances our local offering.

If you don’t ask, you don’t get 😉

What challenges did you face?

Adapting to different working styles and cultures. First, in the transition from media to creative and, secondly, in the transition from the UK to the dynamic and more vibrant style of the Middle East. MENA isn’t just one market – you have to quickly understand the nuances and context of humans all the way from Morocco to Pakistan.

Looking back, what opportunities do you wish you had when starting?

More clarity on the different types of jobs and what they entail. It’s so much easier now with LinkedIn, Campaign, or even GenAI to guide you on a day in the life of a planner, but before all this, it was pretty confusing.

… a Glossary of all the industry acronyms would have been handy too.

If you could give one piece of advice to your former self, what would it be?

Learn Arabic