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Thank you to the 1,400 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 questions!
I hope reading
7 Questions with Nina Neme
helps you in your leadership.
Cheers,
Jonno White
7 Questions with Nina Neme
Name: Nina Neme
Current title: Chief Creative Officer and Co-founder
Current Organisation: Senuelo Advertising
Born in Argentina and based in Adelaide, for the past 7 years I have been working as Chief Creative Officer At Senuelo Advertising.
Confident, tenacious with a proven track record for first class digital marketing management and client satisfaction. Always on task with an ability to identify key marketing strategies and implement account direction positively.
An excellent digital communicator and leader with an emphasis on utilising the strengths of colleagues and creating an environment of forward thinking ideas driven by business needs, sales targets and innovative marketing solutions.
Nina Neme -
Chief Creative Officer
Nina is a seasoned professional in Media, Art & Strategic Communications. She is a born creative industry leader driven by her passion for building brands into love brands.
She holds a Bachelor's degree of Media and Arts and postgraduate studies in Brand Management Alignment certified by the University of London and Content Creation, Advertising & Social IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) certified by Northwestern University Illinois.
Nina has a comprehensive background in marketing the education industry and NGOs having undertaken major roles in digital advertising art direction, designing social media campaigns and content creation. During the last 6 years, she has been working closely with clients of high calibre such as Greenpeace, StudyAdelaide, Carnegie Mellon University, University of South Australia and Flinders University.
She uses social media tools and platforms to design, manage, and optimise social campaigns to promote growth and position brands in the global digital marketplace, developing targeted content to spark dialogue with social communities. She analyses brand purpose and customer experience to determine what needs improvement, creating state-of-the-art solutions.
She is responsible for the creation and coordination of our marketing strategies and the director of all video and graphic content for Senuelo, making sure our communication assets are aligned with communication strategies in place. Nina oversees every step of our content creation processes with her unique artistic perspective. She is the hands-on leader behind the success of innovative social media campaigns such as Challenge4change, Wait No More and MyAdelaide with more than eleven millions views and interactions.
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1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?
The biggest challenge as Senuelo Advertising Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer is to continue growing the company whilst keeping our working culture alive. At Senuelo we believe in loyalty, honesty, and human connection. We have the necessity to grow not only as an agency but also as human beings. It is easy to get lost in the rush and forget the important things in life, and for that, I have the crucial yet challenging job of keeping our values up and working with them at every step.
2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?
I am passionate about the art of communication. I see an opportunity to create in every corner. Creativity has always been what fuels my life. I believe great creativity should dare to communicate a perspective. So, after years of studying and working in different companies, it was time to make my dream come true. An advertising agency named Senuelo that actually dares to communicate a point of view. I dreamt with an agency that understands that the most important thing is to connect, that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. I dreamt it and I made it real. I just want to clarify that nothing of this would have happened without the help of my partner in work and in life, Daniel. Together we made a dream come true.
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
I’m really sure that my daily routine will change a lot now that I have become mum of Luna, my first child. I’m still on maternity leave but in a few weeks, I will start working full-time again. So, I will know then.
Before Luna, I usually went to the office from 10AM to 7PM during the low season. Then, I went to the gym or went out with friends and then had dinner at home because I was born in Argentina and there, we usually have dinner really late. So late that all the restaurant's kitchens are closed by the time I’m hungry.
During the high season, I usually spent the whole day at the office. So my day looked like: wake up, have breakfast, go to the office (buy coffee on my way), work until 8 or 9 PM, go home, have a shower, have dinner with my husband, chat about life, family or work or just watch tv and go to sleep. At the office everyone follows a calendar that all the team can see. We find this very useful for all of us to be on the same page. On Fridays, we have our planning sessions where we set milestones, tasks, and deadlines for the following week.
4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?
I think a lot about what we do as an agency is about convincing the client to let us guide them. It is time consuming and sometimes you have to go through unpleasant situations. So, I've learnt that before starting selling your ideas to a client, before exposing your heart to them, we need to make it clear that we are partners. We don’t necessarily work for them, that is not who we are. They need to trust us and understand that sometimes to communicate they need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?
Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years by Nelson Mandela and Mandla Langa.
After reading this book, which I recommend to everyone, I understood that there is no final goal. There is a path where you need to look back and forward constantly to remain in it and not get lost, but always keep going.
I leave here a quote for you: “I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not over." Nelson Mandela.
6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?
Understanding that no matter the obstacles, the circumstances don't define you. The way you act in those circumstances does. Accepting that I can fail or make mistakes and learn from it. Also, by keeping studying, knowledge is never enough. But most importantly, listen. Listen to what others have to say. Being open to criticism and improvement is crucial to build leadership capacity.
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?
A meaningful story as Chief Creative Officer was the time when we defeated a really big brand in the name of the environment. We were a team of 7. Not too many but just the right people to make it possible. We had one mission. We were in charge of making noise. Create a campaign that catches the eye and annoys a big fish. We did it. How? With hips of creativity and lots of work. We created a parody video combined with a billboard and a social media campaign that generated a culture change. We not only annoyed the big fish but also, we got to put him in a place where he needed to sit and start negotiating. That day we deleted the word impossible from our dictionary.