AT&T's Christina Beaumier on Speaking the Language of TV and Digital

Oriana Schwindt amp160Wait West AfricaChristina Beaumier amp160laughs Every decision made sense at the time amp160I was a paralegal for the Department of Justice for two years at the Office of Consumer Litigation The Peace Corps was a way to have an impact amp160The work was so different from what I do today amp160I had no running water or electricity amp160A lot of my day was spent taking care of myself going to the market getting water amp160But you know what I carry with me amp160The ability to communicate amp160You wouldn39t imagine how political a village is in West Africa amp160Where I was living it was a melting pot of a lot of cultures and tribes who39ve been in the area for a long long time plus different religious leaders and modern institutions like schools and hospitals and governmentsI had to work with all these different people amp160I had to understand their motivations fears andamp160biasesamp160and work with them in a way that they would support driving forward whatever initiative I was trying to do whether it was educating people about malaria or prenatal care amp160Funny enough that39s still relevant for me amp160It39s a core skill of mine being able to navigate a different world whether it39s navigating an agency or client or ad techamp160 amp160Schwindt amp160Does it sometimes feel as though the various sides of the ad business are speaking different languages Beaumier amp160At least a few times a day I39m asking quotWhen you say X what do you mean by that amp160Premium what do you mean by that amp160Marketplace what are you referring toquotamp160 One of the reasons why convergence has been such a tough nut to crack is that everyone has a different set of needsSchwindt amp160What have you brought with you to ATampampT from your other rolesBeaumieramp160 The role I played at Xaxis was sort of building its proprietary products and interfacing with the sellside living on the edge of the buyside amp160I got to know the players and do evaluations around ad tech and informed POVs over where the industry was headed amp160That was hugely beneficial because you39ve got that breadth on what everyone was doing and also what buyers wantamp160 The reality is on the buysideamp160 Google was an amazing experience to see how it operates and the strong culture it hasamp160built amp160It helped me reimagine what work can be likeamp160 Iamp8217m excited about the opportunity to create our own culture at XandrSchwindt amp160Speaking of culture the media world is undergoing its own set of cultural shifts particularly when it comes to the treatment of women in the workplace amp160What39s changed since you entered the industryBeaumier amp160This is a meaty topic and one I39m passionate about amp160What I39ve seen over the years in the industry is the focus going from not even awareness of women to quotOkay let39s try to be diverseamp160 We realize there39s not a woman at the tablequotamp160 We went through that phase of quotWe need representationquotamp160 Now the next step is inclusionI feel like where we39re heading is it used to be just womentowomen dialogue amp160What I39ve seen since the Me Too movement is more participation from menamp160going quotHow can I helpquotamp160 If we continue to just be women talking to women about how we can improve the situation with women and we remain the same percentage of women in leadership roles I39m not optimistic we39re going to move the needle amp160We need to engage all of leadership amp160I39ve found a lot more openness to that conversation lately not only awareness but desire to changeSchwindt amp160Have you had any mentoring relationships that have had a big effect on you Beaumier amp160As I think about mentors the most effective ones have been those that have practiced radical candor amp160I found that so powerful amp160If the listener is open it just can be groundbreakingamp160When we say quotmentorshipquot I automatically think of the programs that companies I39ve worked at have set up that are like quotMeet your mentor once a month amp160Here39s some money to go have lunchquotamp160amp160Itamp8217s a good start and I like to think I39ve been a good mentor in those contexts amp160But for me the most effective models I39ve had were where someone knows my work and can give me critical feedback in a way where they39ve put in a lot of thought and careSchwindt amp160What are some of the big trends you39re keeping an eye onBeaumier amp160Definitely convergence the desire of consumers to consume their content anywhere they go amp160What I think is interesting too is all of the ad tech capabilities the digital side of the industry has built what I don39t think the industry has done well is put the consumer first amp160Just because we can retarget someone with what they just browsed doesn39t mean we should amp160They build a new ad type or inventory model but they don39t think about what that39s going to do to the user experience and the user39s desire to come back to that propertyamp160 Think about it not just at a campaign level but a broad picture of quotHow is this good for the consumerquotamp160 With ATampampT it always starts with the consumer amp160What value are we bringing to themClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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AT&T's Christina Beaumier on Speaking the Language of TV and Digital

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AT&T's Christina Beaumier on Speaking the Language of TV and Digital

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