Strong leadership is built on a bedrock of guidance and mentorship from other leaders, according to three of the country’s most important agency executives.
With just one week to go until the B&T Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media, B&T has partnered with QMS to chat to leaders from across the industry about their careers and progression.
First of the cab are Louise Romeo, chief commercial & operating officer at Starcom Australia; Katie Vinck, head of trading & partnerships at dentsu; and Sian Whitnall, CEO of OMD Australia.
B&T: Who is one woman who’s had a memorable impact on your career, and what did she do that changed the way you lead today?
Louise Romeo: One of the most influential leaders in my career, and someone I am fortunate to continue working with at Publicis Groupe ANZ, is Imogen Hewitt, our chief media officer.
What makes her impact so significant is the way she consistently unlocks capability in the talent around her. What stands out about Imo is her ability to combine strategic ambition and high performance with genuine humanity. She sets uncompromising standards and strives for the utmost excellence, but balances that with empathy, authenticity and humour.
You leave every interaction challenged to think bigger, but also with a stronger belief in your own ability to deliver.
The most enduring lesson I have taken from working with her is the power of courageous leadership. Imo creates opportunities that stretch people beyond their comfort zones and backs potential before it is fully realised.
Great leaders do not simply recognise talent; they create the conditions for talent to expand. That philosophy continues to shape the way I lead today.
I believe a leader’s role is to create an environment where people can thrive, challenge conventional thinking, take calculated risks and grow into roles they may never have imagined for themselves.
Katie Vinck: I’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing female leaders throughout my media career, but the woman who has had the greatest impact on me is my current leader, Melanie McDonald.
I first worked with Mel when I started my first media role at Mitchell & Partners in 1997. From day one, Mel demonstrated kindness, hard work, loyalty, and an unwavering commitment to getting results for her clients.
I learnt so much from her in those early days and, nearly three decades later, we’re back working together and I’m still learning from her every day.
She taught me the value of hard work, resilience and focusing on solutions rather than obstacles. No matter what challenges come her way, she always finds a way forward.
That’s something I’ve always admired about her and a mindset that has shaped the way I lead my team today. I encourage them to stay resilient when things get tough, keep focused on the outcome, and always look for a way forward.
Sian Whitnall: While I’ve worked with many incredible women throughout my career, my daughters, Isobel and Anwen, have had the greatest impact on me and my leadership.
I’ve been incredibly fortunate in my career. I’ve always been championed, supported and encouraged to take opportunities, and as a result I haven’t personally experienced some of the barriers that many women have had to navigate.
If I’m honest, that also meant there were times when I was naïve to just how real those challenges were.
Becoming a parent changed that perspective. It’s only natural to want the world to be full of opportunity for your children. And if I see my daughters coming up against an unfair barrier, I can assure you I’ll be the parent causing all sorts of trouble until it’s removed.
Parenthood has made me a better leader. It’s reminded me that everyone is carrying something you can’t always see, and that my job isn’t to have all the answers. It’s to create an environment where people feel supported, heard and able to do their best work.
More than anything, it’s reinforced my belief that leadership isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about helping other people succeed.
B&T: What is one leadership lesson or habit you learnt from another woman that you now consciously pass on to your team?
Romeo: One of the most important leadership lessons I have learnt is that curiosity is a strategic advantage.
Long before AI, automation and digital transformation became the language of modern business, the strongest leaders I’ve worked with were already defined by their appetite to learn. They did not wait for change to arrive. They leaned into emerging technology, challenged established ways of working and saw operations as a powerful lever for transformation.
Today, we encourage our teams to approach change with curiosity. Whether we are embedding AI, accelerating automation or redesigning our operating model, we do not need to have all the answers before we begin.
What matters is creating a culture where learning is constant, experimentation is purposeful and our talent feel confident to navigate ambiguity.
Vinck: Another amazing female leader I had the privilege of working with early on in my career was Candice Cole.
Candice taught me that confidence comes from preparation and knowledge. She once said to me that if a client is asking a question, it’s because they’re looking to us for guidance and expertise.
If you’ve done the work, understand the facts and know your subject matter, you can answer with confidence.
I try to instil confidence in my team by encouraging them to back themselves and trust what they know. I want them to feel comfortable speaking up, sharing their perspective, and trusting their judgement.
Whitnall: One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from the women I’ve worked with is that vulnerability and strength can coexist.
Early in my career, I worked with female leaders who were comfortable saying, “I don’t know”, asking for help, changing their minds when new information emerged and showing up as themselves.
They taught me that authenticity doesn’t undermine your credibility, it strengthens it.
I think many leaders feel pressure to project certainty, particularly during difficult periods. What I’ve learned is that people aren’t looking for perfection. They’re looking for honesty, clarity and trust.
It’s something I consciously encourage within my team. I want people to ask questions, challenge thinking, stay curious and feel comfortable not having everything figured out.
B&T: What is one area where the media industry has made real progress for women, and one area where you think we’re still falling short?
Romeo: The most encouraging progress I have seen throughout my career is the growing visibility and influence of women across the media industry.
Women are leading agencies, shaping business strategies, driving transformation programs and influencing the future of how our industry operates.
Representation matters because it expands what our talent believe is possible and creates visible pathways for the next generation of emerging leaders to grow at every stage of their career.
As our industry continues to evolve, the organisations that will thrive are those that intentionally invest in emerging leaders and create cultures where ambition, well-being and high performance can coexist.
Progression cannot rely on resilience alone. It must be enabled by business strategy, leadership behaviours and opportunities for talent to expand and augment their skills for the next generation of work.
We need to continue to remind ourselves that leadership is not defined by the success we achieve ourselves, but by the opportunities we create for others.
Vinck: I think the biggest area of progress has been representation. Today, we’re seeing more women in senior roles, running businesses, driving change and making a real impact across the industry.
It’s encouraging to see that progress and the strong female leaders helping to inspire and support the next generation.
Where I think we’re still falling short is confidence and self-advocacy. I’ve seen many talented women underestimate their abilities or hesitate to put themselves forward.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt from the female leaders I’ve worked with is to back yourself. We need to keep encouraging women to trust their expertise, speak up, and have confidence in the value they bring.
Whitnall: Representation is no longer the conversation it once was. Retention and progression are.
Our challenge now is making sure talented women don’t have to choose between ambitious careers and other ambitions in their lives.
With the B&T Women in Media Awards just one week away, the conversation around what makes a great leader has never felt more relevant — particularly as the industry looks to the women already shaping its future and the leaders coming through behind them.
