Anne-Marie has honed her consultative skills in over 20 years with VSA, spending the first half of her career in strategy roles. She was instrumental in helping the agency transition into building brands founded in business strategy and performance.
Anne-Marie has honed her consultative skills in over 20 years with VSA, spending the first half of her career in strategy roles. She was instrumental in helping the agency transition into building brands founded in business strategy and performance.
Anne-Marie has honed her consultative skills in over 20 years with VSA, spending the first half of her career in strategy roles. She was instrumental in helping the agency transition into building brands founded in business strategy and performance.
Anne-Marie has honed her consultative skills in over 20 years with VSA, spending the first half of her career in strategy roles. She was instrumental in helping the agency transition into building brands founded in business strategy and performance.
VSA’s CEO Anne-Marie Rosser was recently interviewed by AdForum's India Fizer to discuss how she believes the advertising industry can create more gender parity.
From the importance of cultivating a network early in your career to combating ageism, check out Anne-Marie’s thoughts on fostering better workplaces for women below, or view the original article.
There are so many simple but meaningful things that we can do. For starters, I try to always say yes to young women who reach out to me asking to learn more about the industry. It’s easy to do and I always want to encourage young women who put themselves out there.
I also tell women early on to build their network and to nurture it. It’s something I didn’t know starting out, and it’s imperative. Calling women into group conversations is really important, particularly in a hybrid workforce. Fostering a safe space where they can be heard and have room to contribute builds confidence.
And finally, from what I’ve seen, women in general tend to have more impostor syndrome. So celebrating successes, calling out women’s achievements and encouraging women to advocate for their place are all key leadership contributions to helping younger women succeed.
This is a broader societal issue, but I think one simple way is to demystify the topic of age with women. I don’t try to hide my age, and I comfortably tell people my age—even if I understand that this may cause discomfort. But we have a long way to go in this regard. There is still a heavy bias that women of a certain age have nothing to contribute and the best way to prove this wrong is to be active and to stay in the workforce in leadership positions as long as men do.
One of the best aspects of being involved in marketing is that it allows you to peek behind the scenes of multiple industries and companies without having to work in them. I’ve been able to see firsthand the company cultures in multiple finance firms, the tech sector, CPG and retail. Within those, you sometimes see microcosms of cultures that appear to more consistently support women and those that don’t.
I was lucky enough to get to have a seat at the table with Fortune 100 CEOs from when I was relatively young. This exposure gave me the confidence to demand a seat at the table in my own company throughout my career. It’s also allowed me to accept that I don’t need to model my leadership style based on my male colleagues—I can put forth my own leadership style, driven by empathy, humor and accountability.
There is still a heavy bias that women of a certain age have nothing to contribute. The best way to prove this wrong is to be active and to stay in the workforce in leadership positions as long as men do.”
The question positions women as “digital pioneers,” and I just think this is inherently powerful in and of itself. Having young women who are fluent in technology from the jump feels like an important change because it’s so integral to our world now. I see young women already changing the workforce by better understanding their value, more clearly competing for work or mindshare within an agency, and advocating for their own growth and compensation. It’s exciting!
