If you can dream it, you can achieve it.
Katherine Bowens- Chicago Advertising Federation Rising Star Award Recipient, 2024
I have spent the past decade of my career on the business side of Hollywood, and have spent nearly 15 years in Digital Advertising. My industry is one of the most exclusive industries in the world, and I didn’t just land a seat at the table while having zero direct connections, I have maintained it for nearly 15 years. The urban myth in Hollywood is that in order to end up in the industry, you HAVE to know someone— by way of another person in Hollywood, or by way of a powerful person. And while that is all very true for the most part, that was not the case for me.
Life is a set of circumstances, decisions, and outcomes, and I truly believe that it all happens for a reason and in divine order. I believe that nothing is just happenstance. I am proof that if you listen to God and what you are told to do, that there is no limit to the places and spaces that you can end up in.
Below are some lessons that I learned in my journey to successfully achieving my career dreams, and achieving the near impossible:
Your dreams are a canvas for what could be. I am proof that you don’t have to physically see it to be it. I didn’t know that any of the jobs that I have held to date existed growing up, but I dreamed of having the life that I saw on T.V. and in magazines every single day. I loved fashion, glamour, media, and entertainment, and was naturally a “people person” with the “gift of gab.” So many moments in my life were incredibly dark, and the only light that I had was to dream of the impossible and believe that God could get me there. My personal and professional dreams eventually came true— I ended up working at Starcom Mediavest, one of the largest media agency holding companies in the world. I was a Sr. Digital Account Manager at CBS/Paramount, working on Digital Advertising campaigns for the Grammy’s and The Superbowl. I worked for the newspapers that I read and admired the most, landing jobs at Tribune Company (supporting the LA Times, and Chicago Tribune), and The Chicago Sun Times. And then finally, I landed a job at Spotify working on brand partnerships across music streaming and Podcasts, managing campaigns for some of the world’s largest brands. These were ALL dream jobs for me, and it all started with dreaming about what I thought was impossible to achieve.
When life gives you lemons turn it into triumph. I made the decision to leave my mom at 16 years old to live with family in Burr Ridge, IL, where I had access to support, a better education, and college opportunities. My single mother loved me and sacrificed so much for me, but she eventually suffered from alcoholism and depression and could no longer properly care for me. I thank God that my family could take me in, and this set the foundation for where I am today. Life is full of highs and lows. I’ve experienced many tough situations including being laid off, fired, and bullied. I have experienced loss of family members including my mother, have had struggles in my family relationships, financial struggles, breakups, heartbreak, and sickness—I’ve been through it all. However, in every storm that I had in life, I managed to turn my rain into sunshine by putting my faith in God during my darkest moments, which is something I learned as a kid when everything around me was dark and working against me. I have always found the positive in my circumstances, and I am thankful for my life’s journey and the lessons that have come with it. Life is not about the cards that you were handed, it’s about how you play your hand.
Sometimes the decisions made for you turn into the best ones, or at least point you in the direction of your path and destiny. I did not want to go to Marquette University. I had my heart set on going to the College of DuPage, a 2-year community college in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and then transferring to a university. I didn’t want to go into debt, and I wanted to stay in Chicago. Marquette University had partially admitted me (because of my test scores) under the condition that I attend a summer program, called the Freshmen Frontier Program, or FFP. Marquette also gave me the most money to go there— which ultimately ended up being the deciding factor in my attendance. During the summer program leading into Freshmen year, I would attend FFP where I took college courses and upon successful completion, I was fully admitted to Marquette University. I HATED the idea, especially since it would mean that I would spend my 18th Birthday on the 4th of July in Milwaukee of all places….. (GROSS). Being in FFP also came with a whole built in social and professional network that I was connected to all throughout college, and am still deeply tied to today. My peers in FFP went to the best private high schools around the country and came from some of the most exclusive communities and most prominent families in the US. Marquette University, its status, and the network that I built there has no doubt helped propel me to where I am today. Looking back, I am so glad that my family forced me to go to Marquette University— I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Your network is your net worth, and often times is created unintentionally. When you go through life, you build meaningful relationships and connections, or they are sometimes forced on you. Life happens and you meet friends, start a new job, your sister gets married, or you are forced to attend Marquette University and the Freshmen Frontier Program. I ended up joining my first non-profit board, MAFA Chicago— a non-profit with a purpose of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Chicago advertising and communications industry— based on the coolness of the founders. These gorgeous ladies are and were BAD ASS, and I was in alignment with their mission. Being on the board of MAFA Chicago connected me with so many powerful and like-minded people who have no doubt helped elevate me in my career through their advice and support. Some of my professional relationships were built intentionally, but the majority of my professional relationships were naturally formed from mutual experiences and interest, and by just being a good person and caring about people. I have gained so many friends from working in the industry and have been incredibly blessed to have gotten career advice from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood. I can even say that I have talked to and gotten advice directly from Hollywood and Entertainment living legends, and it didn’t happen by forcing or controlling my relationships.
Follow what you love, and it will lead to your destiny. I have always been drawn to Entertainment, Music, and Celebs because what I saw in the Entertainment industry and in the media was so far from my reality. So in college when I got a C in my Intro to Psychology class— (I went in as a Psychology major)— and my grades were struggling in general because I was a social butterfly adjusting to college, I said “Well I like people and talking- how about Communication Studies?”. I took an Intro to Advertising and Public Relations class because Advertising was glamorous to me, and I imagined the possibility of working in the big leagues of Advertising. Could I be one of the 10% that would work on the world’s largest brands? Could I work on Super bowl campaigns? The answer was yes, and I did it too! My dreams came true from following what I loved.
Learn the politics wherever you go. I was fired from my first dream job about a year and a half into my role because I didn’t understand office politics. My performance reviews weren’t bad, my team and my advertising partners liked me, but I wasn’t able to rotate to another account. I was determined to get promoted, and from my limited understanding of promotions I believed that I had to rotate to another account to get promoted. So I went over the heads of every direct manager above me and expressed my concerns of being held back from being promoted by not rotating to my SVP, who I had a great relationship with. The SVP agreed that I should be rotated and put my hat in the ring, so I was ecstatic. I wanted to be on a consumer digital account, but I ended up on the complete opposite. I didn’t know anything about TV Buying or Sports, which the desk was heavy in. To add to the situation, my direct supervisor was 8 months pregnant and ready to go on Maternity Leave, and my Associate Director was set to go on sabbatical shortly after my supervisor was set to leave during the peak of Upfront launches. The Director on the team was pretty hands off as far as being in the day-to-day weeds. And I was also the ONLY media associate. My new account selection was made in May, and by June I started transitioning, with an official start date on the new account in July. By September, I was put on a PIP plan- or a Performance Improvement Plan because I was really struggling in the role for many reasons. And then by October, I was fired. After this happened I got a hard introduction into office politics, and how to navigate them. I did so many things the wrong way because I didn’t know any better, but I learned from my mistakes. The truth is, you can’t avoid office politics in some form or another—regardless of what someone may tell you—so learn them and know them well.
Learn to be great at your craft, and build a positive reputation. When my connections didn’t get me in the door, it was my resume and experience that did. When you are new, there is a tendency for many to appear that you know everything to avoid looking stupid or unqualified. But the best time to ask a million questions is when you are new. You can frame your questions in a way that let you still have dignity. As a new person on any team, it is important to take notes, and to learn what you can from historical information. Take advantage of being new in your role and build your tribe of people who know the answers to your questions and will help you succeed. Then once you understand your job well, get people to vouch for you and give back. The unfortunate reality of being a black woman in Corporate America is that you don’t get the chance to fuck up as much as your more privileged peers. It is important to build positive relationships and to have a good reputation. I have found that the best way for me to do this is by being a source of information and knowledge, and by genuinely being a good person and caring for others.
When you have a goal, set the path to get there. As someone coming from poverty, my first goal was to stay steadily employed so that I could live. I spent many years purely living in survival, so I always made sure to become as good at my job as possible by learning the ins and outs of the role, by using others as resources to learn my role, and by using external resources to build onto my expertise so that I wouldn’t lose my job. After landing my first dream job, my second goal was to work for a T.V. network. I knew that Digital Advertising was the future, but I just didn’t know how or what it would look like in the future. I had the vision and was able to see that the industry was trending upwards in Digital Advertising by how much the younger generation— which I was part of— was using the internet, and by staying informed on industry trends. I decided that I wanted to become an expert in Digital Advertising, and my strategy was to learn as many parts of Digital Advertising as possible and the easiest way to do this was by having multiple Digital roles. So after my first Digital Media Associate role, I took on a Campaign Specialist role where I learned to traffick ads. Then I became a Digital Account Planner, where I learned how to pull inventory and build media plans. By the time that I had become a Digital Account Manager, I had worked on the agency side building RFPs, and helped place Digital ad buys. I had trafficked the ads and managed delivery, reporting, and optimizations. And I had put together sales plans and worked on a sales team, which ultimately gave me all the experience I needed to perform my Digital Account Manager role. While the jobs that I landed immediately after Starcom weren’t at a TV Network, they allowed me to continue to increase my pay, and to build experience in my craft as I continued to strive toward my goals. Not only did I reach my goal, I achieved my wildest dreams by setting a goal, and taking small steps to achieve it.
Find your power and use it. We all have some form of power, but we live in a world that does everything to strip us of our individual power. I did not realize that I had power until an executive mentor of mine gave me a book titled “Power”, which described word for word some of the qualities that I already had and outlined things that I was already doing. I used to think that corporate America was a meritocracy, and I was ashamed of my life story because the world had conditioned me to think that way. But then I realized that part of my power was being able to gain a seat at the table in the first place, despite my background. We all have a source of power, but it is often tamed or controlled. If we all used our individual power, and our talents and gifts for the greater good- our world would look much different than it does today. So find your power, use it, and then don’t ever let anyone take it away from you.
I am proof that if you have a dream, you can achieve it- regardless of how impossible it may seem or feel. So run full force toward your dreams!
