PHD Australia CEO Laura Nice and Howatson+Company copywriter Cindy Diep have urged women in advertising to stop comparing their career trajectories with those around them, instead encouraging them to focus on their own “swim lane” and embrace the fact that careers rarely follow a straight path.
It comes as B&T wraps up the Women in Media Superwoman Series, presented by Are Media, ahead of the B&T Women in Media Awards taking place tonight.
The vodcast series, brings together established industry leaders and B&T Women in Media Rising Stars for candid conversations about career journeys, leadership and the realities of working in the media, marketing and advertising industries.
The final episode, hosted by Better Homes & Gardens Australia editor Megan Osborne, pairs Nice, who was on B&T’s Women in Media Power List in 2025, with Diep, a B&T 30 Under 30 Creative Winner in 2025 and Women in Media Rising Star Winner in 2024.
‘The minute you look over it might slow you down’
For Diep, whose own career has moved from account management into creative, PR and health advertising before landing at Howatson+Company, the lack of a traditional career path has ultimately become one of her biggest strengths.
Rather than seeing career progression as a race against colleagues, she said one of the most valuable pieces of advice she had received was to think about a career as a “swim lane”.
“One of my past managers and mentors gave me this awesome advice: think of careers as like you’re kind of in a swim lane,” Diep said.
“You’re focusing on yourself. The minute you start looking over at someone, you might compare yourself, compare growth and the trajectory of people.”
Diep said it can be easy for people early in their careers to assume everyone will progress in the same way, but argued that careers can take vastly different directions.
“I think when you’re younger and starting out, it’s easy to think that everyone grows the same way,” she said.
“It’s like focusing on your journey and what are the steps you think you need to make. The minute you look over it might slow you down. Like, keep looking forward at yourself.”
For Diep, the advice reflects her own “wonky” career journey, which has been shaped less by a rigid plan and more by following opportunities where she could learn from new people and experiences.
She said managers and mentors have played an important role in helping her understand what she wants from her career, particularly when the answer is not always immediately clear.
“She’s always drill in on me, like, ‘What do you want? What do you need?’” Diep said of former manager Bridget Young.
“I think that was a really good experience working, you know, when you’ve got managers and people who want to help you.”
Becoming your own version of a CEO
For Nice, the idea of carving out your own path has also applied to leadership.
The PHD Australia CEO recalled entering her first CEO role believing she had to fit a particular image of what a chief executive should look and act like.
It was coaching from a mentor, Arabella, that helped her rethink that assumption.
“She said to me, ‘Stop looking at the CEO role through the previous CEO, or the previous CEOs. Start looking at it through what’s your version of that role,’” Nice recalled.
“That really helped me reframe it.”
Nice said that lesson has stayed with her, particularly when it comes to how she shows up for her team.
Rather than adopting the stereotypical image of an untouchable CEO, she said she wants people to feel comfortable acknowledging when they are struggling and asking for support.
That became particularly personal when she stepped into a CEO role while going through a divorce.
“I was going through a divorce, and it was like you’ve got to show up and say you think, show up and be this person,” she said.
“But inside, you’re going, ‘I’m not okay today. I need to just have a break, have a minute, or have a conversation with someone, and get some support.’”
Nice said the experience reinforced the importance of creating workplaces where people can acknowledge that they are not OK, rather than feeling pressured to leave personal challenges at the door.
“You want people to feel in a safe place that they can go, ‘I’m actually not okay today. I need to just have a break, have a minute, or have a conversation with someone, and get some support.’”
For Nice, leadership should therefore be less about performing a particular version of a CEO and more about creating an environment where people can show up authentically.
“I think it’s really important that we’re redefining what those roles look like,” she said.
What does success really mean in 2026?
Despite their different career stages, both Nice and Diep offered similarly intangible definitions of success.
For Diep, winning currently means maintaining momentum, continuing to learn and avoiding feeling stuck.
“Winning to me is just like maintaining momentum and making sure I’m never like feeling too stuck or stagnant,” she said.
She added that she wants to surround herself with people who challenge her and from whom she can continue to learn.
“For a career standpoint, making sure I’m growing in those ways is like winning for me at the moment.”
Nice agreed that traditional career milestones – whether winning an award or securing a piece of business – are ultimately temporary.
“It’s great to get the wins, but it’s all short-term,” she said. “You win a piece of business, great, you celebrate it. Next thing, it’s all about onboarding it. Or you win an award, it’s great, you go back to the office.”
Instead, Nice said the real measure is whether she still enjoys the work.
“If I stop enjoying this, then I’m not winning anymore,” she said. “If I feel like I have the Sunday dreads and I think, ‘Oh, I don’t want to come to work today,’ then that’s when I’m – that’s time to look at something else.”
And while Nice acknowledged the enormous disruption AI, innovation and automation are bringing to the industry, she said those willing to embrace the change will ultimately be better positioned.
“Those that lean in and go, ‘Do you know what? I’m going to learn it. I’m going to understand it. I’m going to think about how I can apply it,’ they’re the ones that are going to win,” she said.
Watch the episode above to hear the full conversation…
