Meeting of the Minds brings together two different points of view from an industry rookie and an experienced expert.
The Mediaweek series aims to showcase their diverse perspectives, thoughts and opinions.
This week’s Meeting of the Minds sees Sev Griffiths and Alana Mazza from Bohemia reveal their leadership heroes, current streaming binge and career goals.
Sev Griffiths, general manager at Bohemia Group
Best career advice – Always be open to evolve, learn, change and trust your gut. It is never wrong.
My favourite podcast/read – I am halfway through reading Atomic Habits by James Clear recommended by my boss. I always thought I was an organised person until I started reading this and realised my habits are pretty slack. This will be a big focus for me going into 2024!
Current streaming binge – I just finished Beckhams on Netflix. and I have a new-found admiration and love for them both. What a career and what resilience and depth of character David Beckham displayed throughout his career. Victoria, amazing strong female in both career and family.
Leadership hero – Hero places too much pressure on our leaders. I learn from each and everyone and they all have different hero qualities. I think you tend to forget our leaders are human.
I wish someone had told me – I will change this to I wished I had listened…to when people told me to be more confident, buy a house in your 20s, don’t spend your money on clothes and holidays ?
Guilty content pleasure – Too much time on Tik Tok. How do I ween off it?
Best training course/session – I recently did a couple of days at a health retreat and they had a lot of mind and body well being sessions that you can apply to your day to day work. I am going to bring these exercises into work.
Your mentor – my sister, Sev Celik, Commercial Director at Tonic Health has been and will always be my biggest and best mentor. Us having the same first name
Hot medium or show – Sex Education is such a great series. Gillian Anderson is incredible.
Favourite media event – It would be SBS Tour De France. What an experience, cycling alongside the south of France, past fields of sunflowers and lavenders. Eating amazing food and drinking gorgeous wine. Riding down Mount Ventoux!
Wish I’d done that – I never had the gap year and went straight from Uni to Work. I never had the Aussie backpack travel experience.
Career goal for the new year – Do some amazing work for our clients and develop our talent at Bohemia to be the best in the industry.
Alana Mazza, media executive at Bohemia Group
Best career advice – Always say “yes” (within reason of course). I’ve found that where I’ve grown and learnt the most is when I’ve said yes to any and all opportunities that pop up. These opportunities can be big or small and can vary from joining the social committee at work to putting your hand up for a pitch, so it’s important to seize all opportunities no matter the size.
My favourite podcast/read – I love the podcast ‘Sounds Like A Cult’. The hosts break down modern-day phenomena we all follow and discuss whether they can be considered a cult or not. In terms of my favourite read, I’m a bit late to the trend but I just finished listening to the audiobook version ‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ by Jennette McCurdy (aka Sam from iCarly) – it was unexpectedly incredible!
Current streaming binge – I have been loving sporting documentaries at the moment. I just finished Break Point on Netflix which delves into the highs and lows of upcoming tennis stars and I’m also binging the Beckham documentary on Netflix as I’m sure everyone else is!
Leadership hero – I’m going to be cliché and say my mum. I think she is the smartest person I know and the way she carries herself is how I aspire to be.
I wish someone had told me – When presenting, focus on exactly that; how you’re presenting yourself and how you’re communicating your points. Communication is 55% nonverbal and 38% vocal with the remaining 7% being the actual words you say. So basically, don’t write out your notes word for word!
Guilty content pleasure – Not that I ever feel guilty about watching reality TV but Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives franchise have got to be some of my favourite shows ever. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and New Jersey are my favourite franchises and I also just started watching the new Sydney season which is good so far but then again I am only one episode in.
Best training course/session – This may be biased since I am an NGEN Committee member but any NGEN training session. From communication to networking to organisational skills, the NGEN training program seriously covers it all.
Your mentor – Both my manager and director are my main mentors at the moment as I admire them both a lot in terms of their knowledge, leadership skills and work ethic.
Hot medium or show – I’ve been loving street posters lately. There’s something about them that’s a little edgy and different to your traditional OOH formats. They’ve got character.
Favourite media event – NGEN Halloween and VMO’s Indie Melbourne Cup were both cracker events last year and I’m sure they will be again this year.
Wish I’d done that – No regrets but I do always look back on my uni years and wish I had done an exchange experience overseas.
Career goal for the new year – I’d love to start writing more industry articles and also help out with more pitches within my agency.
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Top image: Meeting of the Minds – Sev Griffiths and Alana Mazza