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Burson-Marsteller 50 Under 30 Grayling

The UK's top 50 digital women under 30 - numbers 30 - 21 revealed including Boohoo, Manning Gottlieb OMD and Fetch

By Ishbel Macleod, PR and social media consultant

One Result

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50 under 30 article

August 18, 2014 | 8 min read

The Drum's 30 under 30 list has become a widely recognised platform over the last few years, celebrating the talented young women blazing a trail in the digital industry as they race their way up the ranks, caring not a jot for the sector’s continued male dominance.

However, this year a record number of nominations, many of which were of an incredibly high quality and accompanied by glowing endorsements, meaning that even after a round of public voting we still couldn’t whittle the list down to just 30.

The solution? What about ‘50 under 30’?

Over the next few days, we'll reveal 10 individuals each day, with the top 10 women revealed on Wednesday 20 August, when the feature is published in the print issue of The Drum.

Last week those who ranked 50-41 were revealed on Thursday, while the women who were voted into positions 40-32 were unveiled on Friday.

Today, we take a look at the women who cinched their way into the top 30 - including two who came in joint 30th place - and learn a bit more about the women themselves, covering Boohoo, Ketchum and Steer.

=30: Shannon Haigh, head of public relations, 10 Yetis

Describe your current role in one sentence.

I do whatever it takes to get media coverage for clients and manage a team of PR account executives and managers to ensure they do the same whilst keeping calm under pressure.

How would you like your colleagues to describe you?

I would like them to describe me as loyal, hardworking, inspirational and fun, but I know for a fact they’d describe me as a bacon-craving vegetarian with a knowledge of birds to match that of David Attenborough.

=30: Chanade Murphy, head of client solutions, One Result

Who inspires you?

I’m inspired each day by a lot of different people. My family, friends, colleagues, clients and other industry professionals inspire me. Richard Branson and Sheryl Sandberg are both inspirational professionally.

Describe your career so far in five words.

Exciting, diverse, challenging, rewarding, evolving.

=28: Amelia Humfress, founder and CEO, Steer

What is your biggest professional achievement so far?

It was pretty incredible to find out that we’d been rated as one of the best places to learn to code in the UK by The Observer when we weren’t even a year old.

What do you hope to achieve in the next 10 years?

My aim is to make technology education accessible. I also hope to encourage more women to consider engineering as a career and to start their own businesses.

=28: Christine Dobbin, digital strategist, Ketchum

Describe your current role in one sentence.

I work with brands to help them find their voice and personality online, while at the same time crafting the most engaging stories for their target audiences.

How would you like your colleagues to describe you?

I’d like my colleagues to describe me as straight speaking, trustworthy, creative, fun and someone they like spending 40+ hours a week with.

27: Naddy Onions, digital director, Grayling

Who inspires you?

Anyone with a creative mind. I’m in awe of those that can make me view challenges or solutions from a totally different perspective.

What do you hope to achieve in the next 10 years?

I’ve absolutely no idea – that’s half the fun.

26: Rebecca Weeks, group SEO director, Manning Gottlieb OMD

What do you hope to achieve in the next 10 years?

In 10 years’ time I hope to be one of the UK’s leading digital experts, recognised for award winning digital contribution to an ever- evolving industry.

If you weren’t in digital, what would you be doing?

I would be an actress. I have always loved the stage and I am still holding on to the dream of playing Fantine in Les Misérables.

25: Jody Shilliday, head of social and programmatic, Fetch

Describe your current role in one sentence.

Keeping up with (and anticipating trends in) the digitalisation of human communication and behaviour, and understanding the technology and platforms driving it.

If you weren’t in digital, what would you be doing?

I have a passion for craft beer and I’m a farmer’s daughter, so I would perhaps combine the two and take over part of the family farm in Canada or Ireland – I could grow my own hops and join the new wave of female brewers

24: Eleanor Wheeler, senior digital marketing executive, Boohoo.com

Describe your career so far in five words.

Challenging, but most importantly, fun.

What is your biggest professional achievement so far?

Within a year and a half my role has evolved from focusing on just one digital channel to managing a team in the delivery of all digital performance channels across 11 countries and counting. It’s certainly challenging, but I love every minute of it, thanks to the amazingly talented team I am lucky enough to work alongside.

23: Rebecca Burchnall, head of social media, PHD

What is your biggest professional achievement so far?

My biggest achievement so far would be moving into the role I’m doing now. Social is such a vibrant, growing and exciting channel that it challenges me every day, and that’s the thing I love about it.

What do you hope to achieve in the next 10 years?

I’d like to continue to grow and develop my career at PHD, possibly with a short stint abroad but always pushing to be the best I can be. I’d hope that in the future I could head up the digital team at the agency – and maybe one day the whole company.

22: Toni Cowan-Brown, deputy chair of digital, EMEA, Burson-Marsteller

Describe your current role in one sentence.

My role at Burson-Marsteller is twofold; on the one hand, I work on the EMEA headquarters team working on new business across the region and on the other hand I help lead our EMEA digital practice.

If you weren’t in digital, what would you be doing?

I would probably be in politics. I am very passionate about European politics and the role the EU needs to play in the world today. I take great pride and pleasure talking with people about the ongoing European project.

Lucy Divall, digital client planning director, ZenithOptimedia

What is your biggest professional achievement so far?

Getting dynamic creative working across a complex retargeting strategy for Compare the Market – and building the report to analyse it all (I love a good vlookup and pivot table).

Who inspires you?

Mark Zuckerberg – from an initially small scale site across his college campus he’s succeeded in developing the world’s largest social network. He was truly committed to Facebook and his dream for what it should be and he remains so to this day. It takes a lot of courage and determination to do that, especially when you often face negativity and criticism for your decisions.

Burson-Marsteller 50 Under 30 Grayling

Content created with:

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