Abbey Wong | Director | Voice ESEA
At 25, Abbey is a director at VoiceESEA, an alumni trustee at upReach, and an Associate Data Science consultant at Capgemini Invent.
Wherever she contributes, her drive to create top-down change is evident. Throughout her projects, she enjoys uplifting systems using her quantitative data and tech skills, and insight into social mobility.
At Voice ESEA, an educational non-profit organisation focussed on tackling racism against East and Southeast Asians (ESEAs), she leads a 10-person team, creating resources and events for the public to learn about the ESEA community.
At Capgemini Invent, she organises the Women in Analytics and AI team, enabling social change through community events and collaborative, educational networks.
Sheryl Agyemang | Senior Marketing Manager | SunLife
A dedicated T-shaped marketer with over 12 years of experience in agency and client-side roles across a plethora of sectors and in multiple positions.
This has given me a wide view of the industry and enhanced my experience and therefore output. Beyond this I am big believer in positive change, what I mean by this is making work and life more equitable for people bit by bit whether that’s through education, lending my skills to organisations making change or leveraging my network.
Sarah Painter | VP, Experience Marketing | Merkle
Sarah leads dentsu and Merkle’s Experience Marketing team, developing and executing the commercial and experiential marketing strategy to support the growth and innovation strategy.
She also chairs the Parents & Carer’s ERG and recently launched dentsu’s Women in Tech network. Sarah previously led Merkle’s UK Customer Experience practice, which included teams across digital experience, creative, merchandising, and search engine optimisation (SEO). Before her CX role, Sarah led the UK SEO practice, building the team from the ground up and growing the Merkle SEO presence across EMEA. Prior to joining Merkle, Sarah worked in legal marketing at Covington & Burling and in the Finance and Strategy practice at CEB (now Gartner).
Runako Celina | Investigative journalist
Runako Celina is a multilingual producer and investigative journalist based in Bristol.
Her debut documentary, Racism for Sale, broke several records for BBC Africa Eye, becoming the most watched, saved and commented-on video of all time on the BBC Africa Instagram account. Her work has seen her short-listed and receiving a special mention at the 2022 BBC News Awards as a rising star.
She holds a Masters in Investigative Journalism from City University, and another in International Politics and African Studies from Peking University, China.
When she isn’t producing factual documentaries, she is an avid narrative filmmaker, visual storyteller and a hobbyist genealogist.
Kelly Ling | Head of Dynamic Creative | Dentsu
My career started as an animator in Singapore before relocating to the UK to pursue a Master of Arts degree (Animation).
Upon graduation, I landed a job as festival producer in June 2006 where I gained experience in event planning and management, marketing and sponsorship, product distribution, volunteer management.
In March 2010, I took a break from marketing, and joined the Fringe Society as an Office and Retail Manager. I supported customer relations, administration, operations, retail and merchandising, staff development, and management.
In May 2013, I returned to my creative roots at Whitespace a marketing agency, as Account Manager. During this time, I led a range of marketing projects and campaigns for clients across the public and private sectors including the mobile application 'Greener Journeys' that won the 'Best App Design' at the Scottish Design Awards 2014.
In September 2016, I joined Dentsu as Dynamic Creative Manager, where I served as the strategic lead on large client accounts. I went on progressing through several roles, leading to my current role as Dynamic Creative, Partner. Over the years, I have been instrumental in the growth of the dynamic creative product offering, operations, and team, delivering year on year profits of at least 20%. Addition to my role, I voluntarily contribute to various employee-led committees spanning Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, Mental Health, and Parents and Carers. More recently, I launched #IAmRemarkable, a Google initiative that empowers women and underrepresented groups to self-promote in the workplace, and challenge gender and cultural modesty norms.
Karimah Bangura | Journalist and Digital News Producer | ITN
I am currently a journalist and digital news producer at ITN Productions where I mainly edit news packages for social media about daily newsworthy events.
Prior to that, I worked as a junior journalist apprentice at Channel 5 News where I gained many practical and technical skills and graduated my apprenticeship with a distinction in early 2023.
I did my apprenticeship after leaving sixth form in 2020 because I was keen to get experience in working in the media industry. I always enjoyed creating engaging news content for people and telling stories in school so I love that it’s now my career.
Jessica Rhodes | Head of Marketing | BR-DGE
Throughout my career I have been pursuing my passion for creative communication, from sending a Lego pension man to space to managing nationwide CRM integrations and pioneering international campaigns.
As a highly motivated and ambitious individual, I have led successful multi-channel campaigns across FMCG, Finance, Languages and SAAS sectors. I am passionate about visually stimulating, insight driven marketing, delivering strategic communications and brand management to target persona behaviour, demonstrate financial accountability, and secure revenue.
I have over 10 years’ experience in Marketing and I’m currently a marketing leader in FinTech, directing the team at Scottish payment orchestration business, BR-DGE.
Throughout her career, I have designed and deployed multi-channel campaigns on complex financial concepts, across the UK, Europe, US and Australia. With experience both in B2C and B2B, I have had great exposure to varying marketing needs of international businesses, their different audience personalities, and is an advocate of simplicity in marketing using insight to drive relevant and engaging campaigns.
My portfolio is built on clear and creative campaigns; including virtual reality games educating audiences on financial models, sending a Lego man into space to amplify creative communications, and launching industry movements that promote community and collaboration, such as thebigleaders and The Marketing Meetup.
As Head of Marketing at a fintech firm, I lead a small team of marketers in curating hyper-personalised, content driven workflows and event campaigns to increase lead generation, client loyalty, and to inspire and educate the wider market on the evolving digital ecosystem.
Emma Saddleton | Global Media Strategy Director | dentsu
My passion and enjoyment in life comes from asking two questions: “Why?” and “Who With?”
I changed career at the age of 25 following completion of a MSc in Mental Health, because I strongly felt a pull to this industry and a desire to develop my personal interest in technology and media. A vocation in a faster paced environment and one which allows me to ask these questions more and more drove me to take a leap of faith in 2014 and start at my current company.
Why facilitates my curiosity and get to the heart of a problem, to work out what the next best steps are. I am a natural organizer and someone who strives for continued development and feel most fulfilled when building on my current knowledge and sharing this knowledge with others.
Who With refers to my passion for bringing people together and working out how to help them fulfil their potential. I believe the best projects and outcomes are results of collaboration, shared goals and purpose – either at work when coordinating teams, in life with friends or in sports such as rock climbing or most recently, completing (and winning) a White Collar charity boxing fight, raising over £2,000 for a suicide bereavement charity.
These two questions have helped me progress through my career so far, and facilitate my passion for continued development. I want to continue developing my skills in order to help others to reach their goals, across clients and my own teams.
Eloise Hunte-Wood | Producer | POW TV
As an ambitious media professional with a strong commitment to diversity, equality, and women's empowerment, I obtained a degree in Media and Communications from Bournemouth University and have since built a successful career in the industry.
My work with Faiths Forum for London involved creating informative social media videos about the charity's events and COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as a project commemorating the anniversary of the Finsbury Park Mosque attacks.
At POW TV, I helped to produce Driving Force, a groundbreaking series that tells the inspiring stories of some of the UK's most accomplished female athletes, going on to develop innovative shows, events, and charity fundraising ideas that support organisations both within and outside of the sports world, championing women's visibility.
In my day to day, at POW TV, I take immense pride in planning women-focused events, panels, and networking opportunities that celebrate the achievements of women in collaboration with organisations such as The Ned and Soho House. Through this, we offer women the opportunity to learn from successful women, regularly providing a plethora of women with my own mentorship and support.
My work reflects my unwavering dedication to driving positive change and creating opportunities for women, a passion that continues to motivate me as I progress in my career.
Dolly Carter | Reporter | Newsquest
Dolly Carter is a reporter for Newsquest's Suffolk titles - the East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star. Described by national award judges as a “tirelessly dedicated and constantly creative journalist," she is currently working towards her NCTJ qualification.
In her first year working in the industry, she has achieved over 50 front page articles and her stories have been picked up by an array of national publications. She has played a role in co-ordinating the paper's International Women's Day coverage and fought to hold the local hospital to account in reinstating gas and air for women on the maternity ward.
Dolly recently graduated with a First Class Honours in BA English Literature with Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. During her tenure as Editor-in-Chief of her student paper, it was shortlisted in the top ten student publications in the UK. Dolly was also shortlisted for a further three categories at the 2022 Student Publication Association Awards and was highly commended for the Billy Dowling-Reid Award for Outstanding Commitment.
