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 month’s Meeting of the Minds sees Olivia Sullivan and Gipi Gopinath from Enigma reveal their leadership heroes, current streaming binge and career goals for 2023.
Olivia Sullivan – media coordinator, Enigma
Olivia Sullivan
Best career advice – Don’t be afraid to ask for help as everyone has to start from somewhere, and there is no such thing as a silly question, as someone else is probably wondering the same thing.
My favourite podcast/read – ‘The Girl That Fell From The Sky’ by Emma Carey (I met her in person and she is an absolute legend and so down to earth). Her saying “If you can you must”, is one my favourites, as if you have the opportunity to do something, you should because you never know how life is going to play out.
Current streaming binge – Not binging anything at the moment, but the last thing was the White Lotus
Leadership hero – My old Franchisee, as she worked hard in a competitive male-dominated industry and continues to succeed. With the media industry being heavily dominated by males, I think that will change but the timeline it depends on us. With the industry constantly changing with new trends and platforms to learn, we can also have time to learn and accept with breaking the gender parity. With the Founder of Enigma being a female and my leaders being female there is great hope.
I wish someone had told me – How different it actually is from having free time at Uni to working full time
Guilty content pleasure – Watching cute cat and dog videos
Best training course/session – the MFA Digital Foundations, as it helped me learn about media and kickstarted my career.
Your mentor – Can I have more than one? I would have to name three: my Group Director Sally Lawrence, my Manager Phoebe Burgees and co-worker Courtney Birch (aka the people that I always annoy with questions). They have taught me such over the last 6 months – from assisting me with the tone of emails, to having a work-life balance and that it is okay to step away from the screen and have a cry, because in the end we are human and don’t need a valid reason to feel a emotion.
Hot medium or show – TikTok, I use it as my search engine
Favourite media event – I haven’t been to one yet, but enjoyed watching the Television network upfronts
Wish I’d done that – Believing in myself from the start
Career goal for 2023 – Being an introvert, my goal is to present a report to a client. I am getting there step by step from being inspired by watching my colleagues present presentations and communicating more in WIPs.
Gipi Gopinath, head of performance, Enigma
Gipi Gopinath
Best career advice – Your future career progression is yours to own and create
My favourite podcast/read – Jay Shetty’s book ‘ Think like a monk‘ and his podcast. eToro social investing platform Podcast
Current streaming binge – Manifest
Leadership hero – Barack Obama. His leadership style was marked by a combination of vision (hope and optimism within the American people), communication skills (connect with people from all walks of life), inclusivity (promoted diversity in his team), emotional intelligence, and resilience (GFC, political and international conflicts some of the challenges he was persistent and resilient), which earned him widespread admiration and respect as a leadership hero, including mine.
I wish someone had told me – How short our life really is
Guilty content pleasure – Reddit & their million chat rooms
Best training course/session – RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) training on Leadership. The program was designed to provide the knowledge, skills and tools we need to become more effective leaders. It was interactive, engaging, and focused on real-world challenges and opportunities that leaders face in their organizations. I came out better for the experience.
Your mentor – Jay Shetty. There is no-one more authentic and transparent than Jay and he brings that approach to his mentoring-style . He shares his own personal experiences, struggles and insights in a relatable way that resonates well with me. It has helped me with positivity and an uplifting attitude that inspires and motivates others. He has made me focus on gratitude, mindfulness and purposeful living. Has guided me to build on empathy and compassion – which means connecting people on a deeper level which helped me understand the struggles and provide support and guidance in a non-judgmental way
Hot medium or show – YouTube
Favourite media event – Anything inhouse that celebrates our people
Wish I’d done that – Created a passive income 30 years ago
Career goal for 2023 – To optimise our growth potential in the Performance space.