After appearing in The Drum’s Top 30 women in digital media under 30 last year, fellow nominee Jillian Ney (doctor of social media and academic researcher at Strathclyde University AND Yomego’s research &  insight director) got in touch for an article she was writing for the3rdimagazine.
She wanted to celebrate appearing on the list, saying that when she reads about women working in the digital media industry it’s usually about the lack of female talent or speculation on how we can encourage more women into the industry.
“Personally, I feel that this angle is a bit doom and gloom and I’m not even 100 percent sold on the fact that there are hardly any women working in digital media – even so, how can we encourage more women into digital when we pursue the lack of talent angle? It’s not very inspiring!
Thinking about it further, as a women working in digital, I have never felt underrepresented or that I’m not as influential as my male counterparts. Right, OK, I’m in a pretty unique position with my doctorate in social media but over the years I have been in contact with creative, influential and inspiring women.”
Needless to say, I agree. The few questions she asked are below…
- Your career journey: I’ve had an unusual mixture of roles throughout my career, starting in tech PR, moving into journalism, doing a bit of client-side work and now returning to a creative agency. The skills required to do my job are a total mixture of all of these, and without that awareness of relationship-building, editorial and in-house  I wouldn’t be able to do what I¹m doing now.
- Do you think that being female has impacted upon your career progression? Not at all. While many within the industry seem fairly focused on the issue, I’ve been much more interested in getting on with things and just doing a good job. That said, I haven’t had children yet, so perhaps that’ll change my views  but if anything my age has been more problematic.
- In general, do you think there is a male bias in the digital media industry? Not really, it’s just the case that SO many of the most vocal thought leaders are men. That isn’t necessarily a reflection of the industry itself. We’re a near 50/50 split here for instance; and many of my peers work in similar environments.
- Do you do anything to attract more female talent to your organisation? Not specifically. I hire people with the right skills, regardless of their gender  and that’s something we do at TMW across the board.