Her Story
About Catherine
My career path has been very unconventional. I was an art major who also earned a psychology degree because I was fascinated by how the brain worked, especially my own brain since I was diagnosed with ADHD and auditory processing disorder at a very young age. I thought I was going to be an art therapist, but I ended up getting a job in fashion design, which I loved until the financial crisis hit. I went back and got my master's degree in special education and became an educator for 7 years because I really wanted to give back to other neurodivergent thinkers. But I really missed being part of the creative field because I feel like that's a part of who I am. I pivoted into project management at Tracy Locke advertising agency, and they gave me my first break. I learned so much about the world of advertising, and while I wanted to be a creative myself, I ended up liking project management because I had a lot of transferable soft skills. Instead of working with different thinking children, I found there were a lot of people in the creative field who think very differently and process things differently in the workspace. I felt like I was not only making sure projects and campaigns were getting done on time, but I was also a translator between creative people and logistical thinkers, like the creative team, account team, and strategy team. After a couple years and having my son, I started doing more consulting because it gave me flexibility to be present and do things on my own time with my son, but also really help advocate for teams and projects. I love watching something come from nothing and become something tangible, whether it's a sweepstakes campaign with Mountain Dew or PepsiCo, a sponsorship for a major music festival, or working with a major insurance company. Part of my consulting is helping teams work smarter, not harder, making sure they're spending more time working than figuring out logistics. Now I'm transitioning toward working with teams to make a more neurodivergent-friendly workplace, because a lot of people are getting diagnosed later in life and the workplace is not set up for them.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Catherine
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say that wrenches will be thrown into your career coming out of nowhere, and there's nothing you can do to control it. I had the dream job in fashion, the financial crisis hit, and that was completely out of my control. So wrenches will be thrown in, things might look bad, but no matter what happens, whether it works out the way you want it or whether it works out in a different way you didn't think of, it's going to be okay. Things might end up differently, you might take a different path, or just because there's a setback, it doesn't mean it's the end. It might seem like a disaster then, but if you just keep going, everything will work out, and things will fall into place as it's meant to be. But it will be okay.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think a lot of people are worried about where their careers are going with AI coming in. I know AI is very scary, especially in the world of marketing and advertising. Some creatives are concerned about what if someone uses ChatGPT to do all their copywriting or Adobe Express to create their logo. But what I've noticed on projects is AI does not replace humans, and it doesn't replace that human content of people who've been doing this for years and years. I think AI can actually, if done right, give a more clear direction of where projects should go and what clients are looking for. It looks like a challenge up front and it's a concern, but I've been taking AI classes on the side. Like in the movie Hidden Figures, Octavia Spencer's department was worried that computers would replace all these mathematicians, so she trained everybody on how to use those big IBM computers. With this challenge of AI happening, either learn about it and evolve with it and learn how it can work for you, or just stand there and watch it and be scared. What I tell people is AI is just a new tool. Yes, it is very scary, but I think if we choose to learn about it and evolve with it, we'll find that it actually can help us.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say empathy is a huge one. Carl Jung was a psychologist who had this phrase: thinking is hard, so people judge because it's easier. Instead of being quick to label somebody, I believe in taking the time to be curious about your team and other people. You don't have to be someone's best friend, but if you just make the choice to understand them and feel them, because empathy is a choice, I think it actually ends up helping with working more efficiently as a team. Understanding on a deeper level how someone thinks and works, and what motivates their behavior, that little bit of empathy goes a long way. I think empathy and curiosity are key, but also knowing how to motivate someone and acknowledging people, because people come with all these really different skill sets. I think it goes a long way to really highlight someone when they've done something well. If you acknowledge someone's hard work and what they do right, they're more likely to stay and come to you and keep doing things for you. If I feel seen by a direct report, I'm going to do everything I can to help them out, and when someone feels seen, they come to me and there's more of an open rapport. Even in my personal life with my son, if he's not ready to talk about his day, I let him know Mommy's right here, you know where to find me. But I also look for the back door, instead of asking how his day was, I ask who made you laugh today or who did you play Mario with, just kind of working around them.
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