Spikes Asia has announced the launch of the first See It Be It career acceleration programme.

The initiative is designed to help women in creative roles achieve their full potential in their profession, whilst faced with diversity challenges in the industry.

Aimed to assist the next generation of female leaders to accelerate their careers, the SIBI initiative at Spikes Asia Festival provides three days of exclusive content, executive training, mentoring and unique networking opportunities, while nurturing a community of like-minded women who can inspire and support others on their journey.

Spikes Asia SIBI is open to women from across the branded communications industry working in advertising, marketing, film-making, innovation, editorial, design, PR or a related discipline.

The 10 female future leaders selected for the first See It Be It will receive a VIP experience, including a complimentary pass to the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, a curated executive learning programme, mentoring sessions with industry leaders, profile building opportunities and accommodation.

Heading up the programme, the first Spikes Asia See It Be It Ambassador has been announced as Valerie Madon (right, feature image), Havas Group’s chairwoman, Singapore and CCO, Southeast Asia.

Madon said: “The opportunity to be the Spikes Asia See It Be It Ambassador goes beyond fulfilling an occupational responsibility.

“It feels like a timely calling for me to give back to our industry in a meaningful manner, given all the fortunate experiences I’ve been blessed with. From amazing agencies to Facebook to being a mother of a 7-year-old daughter, I’ve grown so much and also realise there’s still a lot we can do to empower more women in the world to flourish.

“As the industry gets more demanding, we need to help more, share more, listen more and collaborate more to get over tougher times together. If every woman contributes even in small ways every day, I believe we’ll see a significant change in the coming years.”

Joining Valerie Madon to run the programme is SIBI alumni Lizi Hamer, regional creative director, Octagon who leads SheSays Singapore, a community built to support more women into the creative and digital industries; and Knox Balbastro, staff content strategist at Alibaba Group. Both Lizi and Knox were from Cannes Lions See It Be It class of 2016.

The inaugural Spikes Asia SIBI is delivered in partnership with Salesforce.

Salesforce APAC senior director of marketing Wendy Walker (left, feature image) said: “We are proud supporters of the See It Be It programme and delighted to see it launch in Asia. Developing future women leaders to reach their full potential, empowering women and strengthening the diversity of leaders are beliefs strongly aligned with us at Salesforce.

“I’m excited to see the impact of this programme on the careers of the participants as they further develop their creative thinking and leadership.”

The See It Be It initiative first launched at Spikes’ sister festival, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in 2014. The programme is developed and funded by Cannes Lions to drive equal representation of female and male creative directors across the industry.

Earlier this year SIBI also launched at Dubai Lynx for the MENA region. Since its inception, SIBI has grown to become one of the most competitive global development initiatives in the industry.

Spikes Asia See It Be It is now open for applications. For further details and information to apply, go to: https://www.spikes.asia/the-festival/see-it-be-it.The application deadline is 16 August with participants being announced in early September.