Kim Portrate has highlighted the importance of B&T’s Women in Media Awards, describing it as the perfect place for women in the industry to find their community.
Last year, the former ThinkTV CEO took home the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at B&T’s Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media, for her contribution to Australia’s media and advertising industries, alongside the lasting impact she has had on others throughout her career spanning decades.
Sadly, Portrate was in Africa celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary when last year’s awards was held—about as reasonable an excuse as any. However, she did prepare a short acceptance video on the night.
That said, Portrate is no stranger to B&T’s Women in Media Awards and has attended many, many times over the years.
It’s this experience that led her to say that attending the Awards is about far more than the trophies and titles. In an interview with B&T, she said the highlight of the event is watching the connection, community and deeply personal conversations take place between women navigating similar stages of life and career.
Entries are open now for the 2026 B&T Women In Media Awards, presented by Are Media!
“I think the awards are important for establishing and building relationships,” Portrate told B&T.
“I noticed at a lot of the tables, people who may not know each other, but are actually at the same stages in their careers, experiencing exactly the same kind of challenges.”
“Particularly if you’re a working mum, it can feel really easy to feel like you’re doing a lot on your own, and trying to manage all the responsibilities that come with both of those things,” she said.
“The number of women who have met at tables in similar situations, whether they were young and starting out in their career and still trying to figure it out how to get a promotion,” she said. “Or they had just had a baby, or even that their kids were just starting school and they were managing the transition of how that all worked.”
She said one of the most powerful parts of the night is the realisation that so many women are quietly experiencing the same pressures, insecurities and balancing acts.
“It was a really common theme that you would find people who were both like-minded, because the industry tends to attract a certain mindset, but also, irrespective of age, going through the same life stage,” she explained.
“So the networking opportunity wasn’t simply a professional one, it actually kind of helped people.”
According to Portrate, some of the most meaningful moments happen away from the stage entirely.
“There are conversations in the toilet, at the table, where people would just be like, ‘Oh, I understand exactly what you mean, I’m going through something similar’,” she said.
“So I think there’s this real strength in feeling that you are part of a community, and that you’re not trying to solve the world’s problems on your own.”
“It’s people finding their people, and they really do that.”
Entries are open now for the 2026 B&T Women In Media Awards, presented by Are Media!
While Portrate admitted she was initially shocked to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, she said the recognition ultimately made her reflect less on career milestones and more on the people who had helped shape her journey.
“I didn’t believe it when I got the call from B&T,” she laughed.“I just didn’t think of myself in those terms.”
Portrate said immediately after receiving the call, she started thinking about those who have helped her in her own career, and the importance of opening doors for others.
“One of the things I spent the last couple of years of my career doing was connecting university graduates with my network so that you could give them a start,” she said.
“I’ve always been very interested in developing talent, not in a ‘you need to do these courses’ kind of way, but in an introduction and networking kind of way.”
Over the years, Portrate said she helped place more than 20 young graduates into roles across different industries.
Portrate said a lot of her success boils down to “being in the right place at the right time”.
“Luck will get you through the door, it won’t keep you in the room. But you need to be lucky enough to have someone open the door for you.”
“As a senior person, it takes nothing to take a mid-level or junior person to a meeting and give them some exposure,” she said. “It costs you absolutely nothing, and they will be bigger and better people for it.”
Portrate believes creating opportunities for younger talent is one of the most important responsibilities leaders have.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges we have as an industry, that there isn’t that same kind of professional development happening in an organised and structured way anymore,” she said.
Enter B&T’s Women In Media Awards, presented by Are Media!
Looking back on her own career — from roles at Unilever and PepsiCo through to leading ThinkTV — Portrate admitted one of her proudest achievements was building the organisation from scratch.
“I remember turning up on my first day to the office, and it was me and two others,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Well, I better go buy some paper and some pens and pencils and a computer so I can get started’.”
But as challenging as the role was, Portrate said she was often too focused on building momentum to fully appreciate the scale of what she was achieving in the moment.
“When you start a business, irrespective of the level of support you’ve got, you’re generally so focused on getting the business moving in a positive direction that you probably don’t really think about what you’ve accomplished until after you’ve accomplished it,” she said.
