In this series, AdNews spotlights young talent in the Australian media, marketing and advertising sector. This time it's Carat programmatic manager Edward Ye.
Time in current role/time at company:
Two and a half years at Carat, one year as a programmatic manager.
How long have you been in the industry?
Just over four years.
How did you get here? Was this always the plan?
Programmatic advertising was not my first career choice. I studied Accounting at university and that is where I started started my career. But after working as an account for just over one year, I realised I prefer more face-to-face networking and stakeholder management which marketing provides.
During my university studies, I had the privilege to study abroad and it was during this time I decided to for two companies. I fell in love with the marketing and advertising industry and decided to actively seek roles in Marketing/Advertising when I returned to Sydney and landed my first role as a programmatic assistant at Resolution Digital, working on the McDonald’s programmatic team for two years before taking the next step and moving to Carat Sydney working across Microsoft as a programmatic executive for one year and I am now in the Woolworths programmatic team as a programmatic manager.
Who is your right-hand who guides you day to day?
My two amazing mentors for sure, Lara Gouliotidis (programmatic lead) and Laurence Demousselle (programmatic solutions lead). Lara is always there to support me when I need it the most, guiding me with my development and supporting me with any challenges on the job. Laurence is there to push me to be proactive and take the next step, putting me on the spot with questions and testing my knowledge of programmatic (which I find refreshing and is the best way I can learn and consolidate my knowledge!).
What’s the best thing about the industry you work in?
The awesome people that I work with and the fun personalities I get the opportunity to meet regularly. The work environment/culture is amazing, which makes me feel included and comfortable in the workplace. Not to mention being able to build professional relationships and rapport with various stakeholders (publishers and clients). Oh, and the brekkie/lunches and events/activities we get treated to.
And the biggest challenge?
I started my career in advertising one month before COVID (Jan 2020), I was in the office for three weeks before the national lockdown was put into action. I had to learn programmatic working from home which was a big learning curve. When the lockdown was lifted briefly in July 2020, I had to go from working from home five days a week to being in the office five days a week, which took me a while to get back into the groove.
A recent challenge I faced was putting my hand up to do my first-ever debate. The preparation and lead-up to the event were nerve-racking and it was challenging given I had less than two weeks to prepare my argument (debating against the programmatic question might I add – ironic!), so that was a big challenge. However, I was grateful I was given the opportunity and took the courage to step out of my comfort zone to give it a go. One of the best decisions I have made recently as I learned plenty from the debate and to make it even sweeter, we won the debate by one point!
Whose job have you set your sight on in the future?
I won’t call out any names, but the next step in my career is a director role.
Where do you turn for inspiration?
Apart from the great Lara and Laurence, I turn to my lovely colleagues for inspiration within and relating to work and my family for inspiration outside of work.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you:
Outside of work, I DJ at parties and events as a side hustle (still fairly new to this) and I am always looking to expand my knowledge base and exposure as a DJ (shameless plug: my IG is DJ_edgye).
In five years’, time I’ll be:
Be in a leadership role in digital advertising and if all goes well, make DJ a side hustle with regular gigs and hopefully be a residential DJ at a local pub.
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