Rachel Ransom

I attribute my success to my ability to never let somebody put a cap on what I'm capable of, whether that was circumstances, because I don't have a college degree. I got the opportunity to either enter the workforce in an area that I was excited about, or to enter more debt, and I was at that juncture where I could either finish my degree, go into debt, or I could start living life and start learning skills. I attribute my success to being willing to do the grunt work, to fight for myself, and if there weren't a seat at the table, to pull up my own chair and make room for myself. I also credit all the people along the way that have encouraged me, and the people that have told me no, because the people that have told me no have fueled me to grow. Sometimes you can find the most fire within yourself by the people that underestimate you.

I've received two pieces of career advice that have stuck with me. One, a high school football coach who was my algebra tutor told me, 'use what you know to help you with what you don't.' I have held on to that quote from him, because nobody can know everything, but you know a little bit, and so using what I know to help me with the things that I don't just gives me a sense of, I can keep going, I can ask for help, I can take that next step forward. It doesn't create immobility, which sometimes when people don't know everything, they think they can't ask for help, or they think they don't know enough. The second piece of advice is: don't let people put you in a box. The world is an amazing place. Shoot your shot. You never know. Ask, learn, become a student of someone else, because you can learn a lot, and people are willing to share if you just keep asking, and humbling yourself, and admitting that you don't know everything, and that there are still things to learn. Don't let people pigeonhole you and stick you in a box and say you can't do something, because maybe you can. Fail forward, fail over and over and over again, embrace being uncomfortable with failing, because then you will continue to fail, but then you will eventually succeed.

I would tell young women entering marketing and advertising that it will be hard, because the market changes so much. But one of the great things that we have as women is we have an uncanny ability to sniff out bullshit - our guts are so strong, we have the ability to walk into a room and to tell whether people are authentic or whether they're genuine or not, and that is a huge superpower that women have. The ability to be nurturers, but also to be a boss and to get things done - as women, we can balance that complexity very well. There is value to be found in being a woman in marketing, that you can stand your own, you can hold your own, and still do it in a caring and loving way and hold boundaries. That is a melting pot of complexity. I would say show up every day, be 1% better than you were the day before, and champion yourself. Find a group of people that accept you for who you are, and will advocate for you when you are not in the room. Find people that will brag for you when you are not in the room. Those are your true friends, those are your true allies, and they will help you get far in business.

One of the biggest challenges and opportunities right now is AI. Everybody thinks that AI is going to be the solution to everything, but AI cannot sit at a table across from a business owner and hold their hand while they are crying because their business is in disrepair, and they don't know what to do. AI is an incredibly powerful tool, and it can make us more efficient. It can give some great ideas and make you think about things in a different way. But at the end of the day, it will not replace the heart-to-heart connection that you have with people in marketing and advertising. That challenge that AI is bringing is also bringing an opportunity for women in my industry to double down on the importance of relationships, and why relationships matter. Human connection is just something that AI cannot replace. It's impossible.

Being resilient is one of the most important values to me. I lost both of my parents within 5 years of each other, and I'm an only child, and that taught me a lot of resilience. Life can give you - everyone will experience some type of adversity, some type of event that can change your life, but finding within yourself the resilience to be your own champion, to fight for yourself, fight for what you want. Resilience is one of the things that I value so much. The other value is genuine authenticity. Everyone is so over - society now, everybody is branding themselves. They are trying to sell themselves. They are trying to put their best face forward, but at the end of the day, we're all genuine humans, and we all have flaws, and those flaws can create the most beautiful touching points and the most beautiful relationships for people. Never hide away from being your genuine self, because there are people that can connect with you, and that will resonate with you. You don't have to be a person for everybody. Being resilient and being genuine and authentic are things that I value and take into business with me every day.