The future of Canada’s marketing industry will be shaped by its youngest talent—the super-worldly, plugged-in, brilliant and creative youth who are already making a name for themselves. Marketing put out the call to the industry to find the top 30 standouts under the age of 30 who have already made their mark on the industry.
From PR to advertising to media and beyond, our 30 Under 30 showcases the smartest, bravest and most creative ones to watch in the business.
Liberty Lee, 28
Account director, Citizen Optimum
Liberty Lee has a knack for making herself indispensible. In her second year studying communications at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, she approached Weber Shandwick about an unpaid internship. At the end of the term, the agency didn’t want to lose her and hired her a couple of days a week while she was still in school and gave her client responsibilities. She was 19.
Weber Shandwick kept her on after graduation, promoting her a number of times up to account supervisor, though it wasn’t just the bosses at the agency who appreciated her work—in 2007 she was named Young PR Professional of the Year by Asia Pacific’s Media Magazine.
In 2008, it was time for a new challenge and Lee joined with a colleague to start DEC PR. Here too, Lee went from one win to the next, adding clients like Electronic Arts and American Airlines. In 2010, she was named one of Australia’s 30 Under 30 by B&T Magazine.
While things were going well at DEC, in 2011 Lee moved to Canada when her boyfriend and now fiancé got a job offer too good to refuse. Though the media landscape and key players were all new (see Lee’s lessons about Canadian media in the Sept. 10 issue), David Brodie, Citizen Optimum’s VP of Western Canada, knew right away he had to hire her. She was actually over-qualified for the post he was trying to fill, so he found a new job for her. “We decided to carve out a position and bring her in,” he says.
He hasn’t regretted it. “She’s been an outstanding addition to our team,” says Brodie. Citing her tenacity, entrepreneurialism and confidence that belie her years, Brodie says Lee—since joining the agency just in March—has played a key role in client wins like HSBC, Royal Roads and the British Government’s “Great Britain” campaign. “She’s been a real driver for is in terms of new business.”
“Above all, though, she has been a huge contributor to launching our new brand and restructuring our agency in Western Canada and bringing us back to profitability.”
Lee joined the office during a time of transition. There had been some departures and morale was low, says Lee, who relished the challenge. “There was an opportunity to invigorate the office,” she says.
Lee set up one-on-one meetings with all staff to get a better sense of their challenges and needs. She also introduced weekly meetings for the whole team to touch base, share information, and brainstorm new business. Aside from the important and more immediate bottom-line impact of finding new clients, Lee sees the meetings as an opportunity to motivate the team and hopefully share some the enthusiasm she brings to the office every day.
“I genuinely really love what I do. So when I get up in the morning, it comes naturally to me to inject enthusiasm into my daily tasks,” she says. And that’s just not about making people happy at the office. It’s about making them better at their jobs.
“Loving what you do will make you good at what you do.”
For more with the 30 Under 30, pick up the Sept. 10 issue of Marketing magazine.
Photography: Darrell Lecorre
