Her Story
About Hana
I have been working in marketing and advertising since 2009, and I've held the title of Senior Project Manager since 2017. Currently, I'm a Project Manager at Dentsu. I started my career in printing, working at a print shop in San Francisco where I did a lot of ads in the tech space and fashion space. Everything has been connected throughout my journey, but the greater part of my career has been in advertising project management with a specialty in creative advertising. Right now, I'm working on Adobe, which involves tech and tools for creatives, and we're trying to garner adoption and use of some of the more fresh tools that have come out around AI. As a project manager, I handle the who, what, when, where, and why - figuring out who we need to do the work, where the ad needs to live (whether that's social, digital, print, or an event), what we're trying to sell, and when we're pushing that promotion. My role is to get the message to the right people at the right time, on budget and on schedule. I work with a lot of different roles and responsibilities, from copywriters and art designers to salespeople, strategists, producers, and legal teams. We're kind of generalists in that way. My greatest pride and joy is anchoring everything in relationship and really knowing that everything stems from there - your communication with people and how you honor them, their talents, their skills, their time. I really love the moniker I've sort of put everywhere that's relationship-driven, and that's paid dividends throughout my entire career.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Hana
01What do you attribute your success to?
My greatest pride and joy is anchoring everything in relationship and really knowing that everything stems from there - your communication with people and how you honor them, their talents, their skills, their time. I really love the moniker I've sort of put everywhere that's relationship-driven, and that's paid dividends throughout my entire career. When you hear about network and the value of network time and again, that's kind of been true for me my entire career. The quality of my relationships and the strength of my community is the through line, whether that's at work, nonprofit, or in my personal life. Everything has layered upon itself, just sort of the tapestry of career in that way, and that has been the education that really supports my own confidence and leadership today.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The profession is very old and it's evolved very quickly, especially in the last 10 years. There are new tools every day, and the challenge is helping people be open and adaptable to change when it's so rapid and can be very exhausting. A hallmark of my time recently has been reaching out to young people and helping them adapt to maybe a new policy or a new tool, supporting them through that with a lens of confidence and capability in themselves. The industry has multiple generations working in it, so the question is how do you help the ones that have been in the industry for a while, like myself, remain open and adaptable to change.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The through line in everything I do is the quality of my relationships and the strength of my community, whether that's at work, nonprofit, or in my personal life. That is still very much my pride and joy of life. I anchor everything in relationship and really focus on how you honor people, their talents, their skills, and their time. I'm a big family person, and community is central to everything - whether that's culinary adventures, arts and crafts, or my work. The through line always is the quality of my relationships and the strength of my community.
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