Home » It’s B&T’s Celebration Of Adland’s Over 50s! Meet the projects* Carrie Barker

14 August, 2019

It’s B&T’s Celebration Of Adland’s Over 50s! Meet the projects* Carrie Barker

Did you miss the latest print edition of B&T? Well, if you did, you need to urgently subscribe here.

And undoubtedly one of the standout features in the bumper new print edition is B&T’s ’15 Over 50′ feature that shines a light on some of the mature, wiser sages of Australia’s advertising, marketing and media industries.

With ageism an ongoing issue throughout adland, ’15 Over 50′ highlights the importance of having a few “grey hairs” about the place and the huge loss of experience, expertise and knowledge that exits when industry veterans quit for greener pastures.

Kicking-off the first of our ’15 Over 50′ profiles is none other than the projects* managing director Carrie Barker.

A UK native, Barker has been at the projects* for almost 10 years. Prior to her current role, she has worked at big hitters such as Pacific Magazines (as the national sales director) and EMAP Australia (as managing director/CEO).

Barker has extensive experience in global development having launched the projects* with her partners in London, New York and Los Angeles. Here’s her experience in her own words:

Growing up, I wanted to own a sweet shop, but my Dad quashed my dreams at the age of eight when he told me it was low margin! What hope did I have? As an older teenager I wanted to become a PE teacher and I actually got a place at PE college, but changed my mind at the last minute choosing to go to university to do economics. I then went onto follow in my father’s footsteps and work in magazines. No regrets there!

Over the course of my career, plenty has changed; however, with the biggest change being technology. When I started out in my career, business was all done over the phone and through letters; we wrote letters to our clients by hand, which our secretaries typed up, and sent faxes as an internal communication tool. Computers and mobile phones changed everything beyond recognition. And, yet, stress wasn’t in our vocabulary then. I suppose it was a diluted version of Mad Men and, yes, everyone did smoke at their desk. And my boss had whiskey in his drawer!

As a young woman it was tough at times as advertising was very much a man’s world. I am so delighted that it is getting easier for women in our industry to rise to the top, enjoy more flexibility and pursue their dream careers. I hope that my generation has made it a bit easier for the generations coming up behind us and that we have total equality for everyone soon. I also hope that I have played my part in inspiring the young women around me to believe that anything is possible; they can be as successful as they want to be, work and raise a family, be themselves, and still stick around well into their fifties!

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would play you?

I would like it to be a happy, upbeat, popcorn munching delight, so let’s make it a musical starring Beyoncé!

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15 Over 50 carrie barker The Projects*