SuperAwesome is committed to a diverse workforce, with women in key leadership roles, including our CEO Kate O’Loughlin. The wider Tech industry, though, still lags behind – according to a recent study by the Women Tech Network, women make up only 35% of the workforce, while the FTSE 100 has more CEOs named Andrew and Simon than female CEOs.
To celebrate International Women’s Day (and March being Women’s History Month), we sat down with Kate to talk about her role at SuperAwesome, her career in the AdTech industry, and her advice for the next generation of aspiring female leaders.
What inspired you to pursue a career in AdTech?
I started my career as a Systems Engineer working on a ground system for government satellites. Working on the data architecture for a massively complex system with many different users was both fascinating and extremely challenging. I loved working in data, but I wanted to try something new, and fortunately, Joe Z and the early MediaMath team took a chance on me to switch industries and job disciplines to become a Product Manager. I was eager and psyched to apply my technical and data interests to a then-burgeoning ecosystem of programmatic ad buying. To be honest, I knew nothing about marketing and media when I made the switch, but I worked hard to be a curious sponge and apply my experience as usefully as possible.
Have there been people who advocated for or sponsored you in your career? How did they impact your journey?
So many people! And in so many different ways. Just a couple are… the late Jeff Pulliam and Jim Ivey back at Lockheed Martin when I started my career. They pushed me way past my comfort zone, giving me (probably too much) latitude to try new things and make mistakes. They gave me an environment to fail, and that sponsorship through ‘trust’ was everything to me. Jeff’s obituary says, “He was a true leader, knowing how to hire the best people for the job, knowing how to get the best out of people, knowing how to make people enjoy working their tails off and having those team members admire and respect him…With Jeff, there was no “after hours;” it was any and all hours.” I was one of those people I wish I could tell Jeff how foundational he was for my career – I miss him.
At Tapad, Vivian Chang was a peer, and our mutual sponsorship of each other took the form of sharing our experiences, being generous with our time for each other, and having the other’s back even when – structurally in the company – we could be competing for resources or prioritization. We were both at points in our careers where we were going from Product Managers to more commercial leaders. We needed each other to grow, and we did that by advocating for each other – we raised each of our boats.
Fast forward to recent times, Dylan Collins, the founding CEO of SuperAwesome, spent years coaching and supporting me to be in the position to take over as CEO. It was extremely unnerving how he’d talk up the work I did to others, but I realize that advocacy was a key part of his sponsorship of me. His feedback when I was ready for it – and especially when I wasn’t – helped create opportunities for me that I didn’t always fully believe were possible.
What are some challenges you have faced as a female leader, and how do you overcome them?
I’ve faced challenges that are pretty common among other women, like using my more empathetic style to be positive and not a sign of weakness. Of course, self-doubt creeps in at times, and I definitely still do power poses in the ladies’ room before a big meeting to pump myself up. To overcome them, I try to remind myself that I’m capable, but if I flop, I will have learned. Resilience is a pretty powerful antidote to facing challenges.
How do you pay it forward to the next generation of female leaders? What advice or mentorship do you provide?
To pay it forward, I try to be transparent about my life, my journey and my struggles so that the next generation hopefully can see that it’s a real, but not insurmountable, endeavor to lead. At the time I entered the workforce, there weren’t many women in tech leadership so it was hard to imagine if it would be possible to be that plus a good mother, partner, daughter, and friend – other things I wanted for my life. Hopefully, by being transparent now that I’m doing a bit to show others that they don’t shy away from being a leader because they want other things too.
Finally, do you have any words of advice you would like to share with young women aspiring to become leaders in their respective fields?
Having the willingness to take a non-linear path forward presents you with options and risks that are often worth taking. And even if you don’t have all the experience or expertise you’d like to try something, go for it anyway. The Hewlett Packard study found that men tend to apply for jobs when they meet ~60% of the qualifications, while women typically apply only if they meet 100% of the requirements, which is emblematic of women undervaluing their potential. I say – just put yourself out there and give it a go!
