In our next interview of the “Meet the A-Team” series, we talk to Sheily Lee, our Media Buying manager, as she shares her experiences, inspirations, learnings so far, and all the good things she is looking forward to in the times ahead.
Tell us a bit about your background and what landed you at AVOW
Five years ago, I got the opportunity to join a Master’s program at the University of Saarland in Germany. My original plan was to return to my home country (Malaysia) after finishing it. However, while writing my Master’s thesis, I found a working student opportunity in mobile marketing based Cologne. This is how I started my journey in this innovative industry, which I am now very passionate about.
When Covid started in 2020, I had just taken on a new job in digital marketing and relocated to Berlin. It was exciting but extremely challenging because of all the pandemic restrictions and limitations.
I had been in touch with the AVOW team at different times, but timing was never a match for me to consider joining them. At this point, my back then employer, unfortunately went out of business, and since I had been hearing a lot about AVOW still growing their team and tapping into mobile OEM advertising, I reached out to Robert (AVOW’s CEO) to learn more about what they were focusing on… the rest is history! It has been almost a year since AVOW opened the door for me to join them, and I went from working on direct media buying only, to running all training and day-to-day support for the newest members in our Supply team.
I am very grateful to the company, particularly to Robert, for this opportunity and for the support I have been provided with so far.
What is it like working in a diverse team that caters to so many markets?
Frankly speaking, sharing such diversity is a great experience!
All of us come from different cultures and backgrounds and still have a very aligned way of communicating and making things happen.
I think one of the keys to success is that our team understands that when dealing with work, we are all in a professional environment, and we don’t take things personally. This is especially important because we may have different ideas about how to achieve the best results for all sides of our business.
I am someone with a strong personality, who likes to get things done, so sometimes I may come across as very straightforward during meetings. These are the times when I appreciate our team culture and synergy, because people know how others tick, and we follow the motto of “being in this together to achieve a common goal.”
In addition, I think AVOW is doing a great job organizing our “Happy Hour” events with many themes that reference our cultural backgrounds. Our colleagues and friends get together at a party in our office to enjoy some good food, have fun, and celebrate our achievements.
What’s something that you experienced that can only happen here?
Clear goals and direction: Unlike big corporate companies, where the departments have different goals and follow an unclear mission, at AVOW, we work towards the same objectives, where we aim to deliver the best result for our business partners and to continue growing our company to become the biggest industry leader.
Transparency & trust: AVOW works with complete transparency towards its employees and business partners. Our team holds a monthly company-wide meeting to share important information, news that will impact our business and an overview of what we have achieved during the last period. This creates engagement and trust for us to support the company’s direction.
Thoughtfulness and learning from mistakes: AVOW offers an environment that allows us to make mistakes and to learn from them in order not to happen again. As media buyers, we must try various methods to make the campaigns work. A lot of them are new or complex, and we will not always get the right ones on the first try. However, we are not blamed for this. Instead, we get the opportunity to learn from various methods, and then we optimize the campaigns to get the best results using our learnings.
Responsibility: I appreciate the combination of tasks and responsibilities assigned to me. I am here to help our team figure out solutions that help us achieve our company goals. The fact that I am not only dealing with numbers and campaign optimizations but that I also help train and oversee team members allows me to learn and grow my business and people-related skills, as well as to improve my way of communication (which is very valuable whenever you have an introvert personality, like me).
Flexibility: AVOW offers its employees an “open stage,” where we explore different ways to solve problems and discuss opinions and ideas freely, so we learn and grow together.
Challenges: Mobile advertising is a very challenging and fast-paced industry. Rules and regulations change all the time, and often this creates limitations and issues that need to be quickly tackled. Although solving these situations may sometimes be frustrating, this is also an opportunity to learn and gain satisfaction with your achievements.
Is there anything you are planning to do soon that you have never done before?
Not for now. At the moment, my priority is actually to do something a lot of us have taken for granted in the past and which I learned to appreciate a lot during these last two years – I am planning a trip to go back to Malaysia to visit my family and friends and to spend some quality time with them.
Earlier this year, I was able to go back to Penang Island, Malaysia, for the first time since the pandemic started, and I realized how important it was for me to see my loved ones after such a difficult period we all had.
At AVOW, there is a remote-work policy that grants a period of time you can work from anywhere. For international employees like me, this is essential to find a good balance and keep the connection to your home.