Mackensie Truong

I would say that my family has a lot to do with it, especially with leadership qualities that definitely come from my dad and the work that he does. I come from a very sports-dominant family, and my dad has shown me what it takes to be a leader and how you bring that into your professional life, and how you find that balance in your personal life. My husband and my son give me the motivation to show up every day. Being a working mom is a whole other thing, but they're what keep me going.

I would say leading with confidence. When I was at High Noon, especially being so young and it being my first time in the agency world, I was kind of the face when prospective clients would meet the agency. At times, I would feel very timid. One time, someone told me to just lead with more confidence, and I remember ever since they told me that, something just clicked, and I just kind of took it and ran with it. It's something that I bring to my day-to-day work and day-to-day life, whatever the case might be. I feel like everyone needs a little boost of confidence every now and then.

Be yourself, show up, and be a good teammate.

The thing that comes to mind is AI, especially in the marketing world. Nowadays, when you're watching videos or seeing ads, you don't know if it's real or if it's fake, and that's kind of scary. On the flip side, as a project management person, it can really help with efficiencies, processes, and workflows, and that's what I do like about AI. But what I don't like about it is the fact that people just don't know if what they're seeing on social media is real or fake. It's important to still have that human element when you're in marketing, leveraging AI and making sure that you're still having eyes on things and not fully relying on it, especially from a creative perspective.

I would say relationships are super important. Building and maintaining relationships in both your personal and professional life are really important and help define who you are as a person and how you show up every day. I think being loyal, whether as a worker, mother, friend, or teammate, is crucial. Being a team player is also key. I grew up playing softball and actually had the opportunity to play at the collegiate level, but I decided to just focus on my academics. I loved the team aspect of everything, and that very much rolls into your professional life as well. If you enjoy the people that you work with, work's not really going to feel like work, and you're kind of all in it together. You rely on each other to get things done, and that's what makes a great team.