#BehindtheSelfie with... Stella Carter

1. Where do you live, work and play?

Live: Sydenham, Johannesburg.
Work: Stratitude, Randburg.
Play: Mostly in the Norwood, Greenstone area, and my garden.

2. What’s your claim to fame?

I don't have a specific claim to fame, but I am a very positive and optimistic person, and will tend to look at the opportunities or positive outcomes in everything life and work throw our way! It’s far more fun to be happy and optimistic – this country is so full of opportunities, you just need to open yourself to it. My claim is to always find the positive in every situation.

3. Describe your career so far.

My career has been amazing so far. It has taken me down a vast journey of learning, research, multi-tasking, client engagement and relationship building.

I started out as a conference producer for an international B2B conference company, many years ago. I got to research with people from various industries, such as mining, HR and finance, and at various levels – from mine managers to CEOs and HR executives.

From there, I moved to the marketing and comms industry and have been learning, growing and loving this industry for the past eight years. I’m now at Stratitude, heading up the client services team, and I’m loving it!

I love engaging with different people. I think it’s why I’ve always been drawn to a role that enables me to engage at various levels and on various platforms, from very formal corporate settings to the very informal social setting. I love it, the more diverse the better.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

My very favourite things are my husband and kids. After that, my favourite things are training, running and hanging out with my girls, drinking a few gins, laughing and just enjoying life.

Plus a little online shopping, and people watching.

5. What do you love about your industry?

I love that no day in a strategic full-service agency is the same. I’m able to deal with clients in vastly different industries, which requires creative and strategic thinking when looking at campaigns to suit and meet their varying needs and objectives.

I love seeing strategy come to life and reaching desired objectives and outcomes. I think it’s one of the most rewarding parts of the job for me. No day is boring, and no two days are the same.

 

 

 

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The rock stars behind our bronze award for Best Integrated Marketing Campaign by an Agency for our#Bringbackthemiddleman campaign for Indwe Risk Services. #newgenawards #winners #teamstratitude #OneStepCloser

A post shared by Stratitude (@stratitude) on Oct 2, 2018 at 5:42am PDT

I work with an amazing team, who are skilled at what they do and all eager to learn and do more. It’s inspiring and it makes the job and the environment that much more enjoyable.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

There is definitely no “average” workday. My days are generally filled with client engagement, either through meetings, or campaign reviews, or whatever it is we have going on that day.

My role is very hands-on and includes a lot of interaction with the account management team throughout the day.

It’s the diversity that each day brings that keeps things interesting and opens many opportunities to grow our offering, showcase amazing work to a client, or just sit back (only for a moment) and take in the great work done by the team.

7. What are the tools of your trade?

Strategy as our bible, along with a multi-tasking, solutions-focused attitude. And question, question, question – the better you understand why you’re doing something, the more accurate your how will be!

8. Who is getting it right in your industry?

Not to blow our own horn, but I really do think we at Stratitude are getting it right. That’s not just based on my opinion – we can see it in the success of the campaigns we run, in how we are reaching and exceeding client objectives and definitely in how clients are staying with us, year on year.

I believe our success is rested in how we approach strategy and then follow through with campaign execution. It’s the core of all we do and guides us throughout the process, from campaigns to channels used, messaging, tone and more.

As a strategic full-service agency, we’re able to ensure the strategy is implemented across all marketing channels, and our messaging is consistent throughout.

It’s a winning approach, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to learn. We’re constantly researching, trialling and exploring new and better ways to keep us and our clients ahead of the curve.

9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on.

There’s an opportunity for the industry to share more knowledge, experience and learnings in a non-competitive way.

10. What are you working on right now?

As mentioned, in this role, every day is different. At the moment we’re renewing contracts, looking at campaigns to support new budgets and strategies for the year ahead, continuing with new business drives, upselling to existing clients, and overall ensuring our clients receive world-class service from a world-class agency… you know, all in a day’s work!

We are always looking forward, at how we can keep innovating – remarketing campaigns, marketing automation, referral campaigns – we are constantly on the lookout within our international agency network and in the industry at new and fresh ways to run campaigns.

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

I find the industry likes to use “on trend” a lot – I have found myself using it time and again, when explaining to clients why we’ve gone with a particular design, font, colour or campaign.

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

Normally, in the early hours of the morning when I’m working out. It’s the time in the day when the rest of the house is sleeping, and it’s just me and my thoughts. I’m able to process things from the day before, filter through the clutter and better prepare my mind for the day ahead. I find it to be energising and definitely helps with my state of mind – it keeps me sane!

13. What’s your secret talent/party trick?

I can tie a lemon rind into a knot with my tongue. It’s a show stopper, but it’ll cost you a tequila!

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

I am definitely not a technophobe. But I am sometimes technologically challenged – however, I am enthusiastic about new technology if someone can just do me the favour of summarising the user manual.

However, I’m lucky to have the support of an amazing, very capable digital team to guide and educate me along the way. They keep me and the agency “on trend!”

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

A lot of pictures of my kids, music and a lot of Pinterest pins.

 

 

 

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We love our #OneStepCloser campaign. Here it is in full. Well done #TeamStratitude!

A post shared by Stratitude (@stratitude) on Oct 12, 2018 at 9:33am PDT

I love Pinterest – it’s my go-to for most things in my day/life!

16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Learn as much as you can. Don’t rush into a specialist sector or field like PR or digital, try everything. Immerse yourself in the learning and diversity that this industry offers. You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn if you’re just open to it.

Simple as that. Visit Carter’s MyBiz profile or follow her on StelC5 Twitter. You can also click here for more on Stratitude and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.