Vicki Chen might be the driving force behind how Foxtel Media’s advertising inventory is forecasted, packaged, traded and optimised across platforms, but she is so much more. Vicki is a mentor, an advocate for women in the tech sector and an equitable leader. She also happens to be the winner of B&T’s Women In Media Award for tech, sponsored by Perion.
Catching up with B&T after her win, Chen, who serves as head of intelligence, trading and digital operations at Foxtel Media, said the win came as a complete surprise. “I’m so shocked. My heart is racing, and I feel so grateful and so blessed,” she said.
Chen has carved out an influential career in an industry traditionally dominated by men. “There are meetings that I go to, and not only am I the only female, but I’m the only Asian female as well. There are times when I feel that my voice goes unheard. So I had to overcome self-doubt and charge in even though I felt uncomfortable,” she reflected.
Her persistence has helped change the dynamic. “Over time, I felt that I didn’t need to do that anymore. I feel our industry has evolved a lot, and a lot of my male colleagues are now… quite willing to hear what females [have] to say as well,” she added .
At Foxtel Media, Chen has led forecasting initiatives for live sport, streamlined backend systems to improve campaign delivery, and reshaped the company’s programmatic strategy into a core digital growth engine.
Equally important is her leadership style. Chen leads a 21-person team with equal gender representation and has mentored women from junior operational roles into leadership positions at major Australian media organisations.
She is also proud to see the wider industry evolving. “There are a lot of tech players, especially the tech leaders, who are actually female… I’m so pleased to see that,” she said .
When asked what advice she would give to women aspiring to enter the ad tech space, Chen’s response was characteristically direct. “If they’re interested, just do it… even though you don’t think you know everything, you don’t need to know everything, because the tech space is evolving so much. No one knows everything. So the message to the young people is… don’t overthink, just do it,” she said.
