Liz Harper on LinkedIn: AI is ripping apart the ad world and isn't it about time (2024)

COMMUNITY AS THE ULTIMATE FLEXAbout a year ago, in the depths of the newborn fog, I saw a meme that said “The Real Flex is a Supportive Community.” No truer words have been spoken.After an encouraging response to my “new gig” post, I’m following up to say a big THANK YOU to that community who helped me along the way. My community was there when I was admitted to the hospital at 24 weeks pregnant and had a premature baby 2 weeks later; and in my beautifully supportive community most certainly helped to lead me to my new gig with the startup, Springboards.ai .I believe Gratitude goes a long way, drives you to focus on the good and in turn means that more good finds you. With that, a big thank you to:
Sammie Dobbs for endless hours of listening and informal coaching over the last nearly 18 months. We spoke from my home office in the days post-layoffs, whilst Johnny napped in the Bjorn (the only way he’d sleep in the daytime!) and on the beach in the Central Coast while our girls played together in the ocean. If you’re looking for someone to help you figure out what it is you want out of your next professional step OR to help you grow your team in a considered, compassionate way, Sammie is the woman. Laura Retsos: for the original hook up with Springboards co-founder, Amy Tucker. Brekky on me!Bill Doig for the encouragement to step out of my professional comfort zone and for asking “If not now, when?” Two startups and a baby is not exactly a recipe for a relaxed and easy life, but we’re doing it: together.My Board of Directors during this transitional phase (including but not limited to Ellie Rogers Karen Taylor Sophie Shepherd Charlotte Goodsir) for listening, talking, for challenging me to write down what I want (NOT the one liner/job title, rather the stuff I actually want FROM the job, like compensation, team quality, manager, travel +/-, learning, career progression and skill growth) and for the encouragement to try something new.Community is something special; and it’s much greater than a network. So build yours; curate it, nurture it and lean on it. And then pay it forward❤️. https://lnkd.in/gQPAgBgU

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We're looking for Engineering talent! Interested in AI? Love building? Join us at Springboards where we are building tools FOR people that will help us revolutionise the advertising industry - an industry I love. To my network: DM if you're keen!

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Big time life and work update time… TLDR: I joined an Australian startup, Springboards.ai , am working with some truly awesome people, and building some awesome stuff.Do you ever put off writing something on LinkedIn because you think you really need to “take the time” to do it right? Me too - but this morning I thought, “screw it - let’s just throw some stuff into the notes app and see what sticks…” That and thanks to my post asking about who might be at Cannes in Cairns yesterday, I thought it was probably fair to share a life/work update:) PS pls still DM me if you’ll be up in Cairns next week!Most importantly, the mini-life update (because it always connects to the work stuff): little Johnny the miracle dude is nearly 17 months and doing wonderfully. He’s walking/running, babbling, eats tonnes and (unfortunately) gets sick way too much. Normal toddler stuff; see pics for proof. Big sis is also amazing, although dangerously bordering on tween-y, so any tips there are appreciated!On a professional front, I haven’t rushed the job thing; having gone through the trauma of having a micro-premie and an extra-long NICU stay, as well as the everyday challenge of full time parenting a newborn and a 7/8 yr old, I knew that my next gig outside the home needed to be ‘right’ from a growth, strengths, and mindset perspective. And I knew I wanted to do something different and “additive” in my career journey, after 15 years at top ranking global creative agencies and 5 awesome years at Facebook/Meta.So with that brief in mind, I’ve joined Amy Tucker Pip Bingemann and the team at Springboards.ai as Director of Agency Partnerships and I am STOKED. If not now, when?!Springboards is a made-specifically for agencies suite of tools that simply puts AI in the hands of agency planners and creatives to get to better creative ideas, faster. The product is EXTRAORDINARY, the team is SMALL but MIGHTY, and we are already growing FAST into markets and agencies all across the world. We’ve even had to shut our sales doors while we scale a partnerships team to meet the demand (yes, we’ll be hiring in USA and EU too, so HMU if you’re keen).Most of us know that AI will change (and is already changing) work as we know it. I also believe that the very smart and very creative thinkers (aka PEOPLE) at agencies will remain the most valuable assets in our industry, because they will be the ones harnessing AI’s power alongside human insight to improve strategy and the work.I am seriously excited to help agencies build value for their business and clients once again; and I am thrilled to be connecting again with an industry and people that I love.And a huge thanks to those of you who were amazing supports to me on this crazy 18 month journey from layoff to baby to new gig. There are way too many people to mention so I think I’ll just have to do another post on the network/community effect!

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It may not be the French Riviera, but next week I'm stoked to be headed to Cannes In Cairns, and wondering if YOU will be there too?Drop me a line if you'll be there because after a damn good break, I'm looking forward to catching up with my industry mates ❤️

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Today, for the first time in 18 months, I dove back into the world of outside-the-home work and attended an amazing Communications Essentials workshop by Kwong Yue Yang and LifeHikes® (aka OWN THE ROOM). Many thanks to Bill Hoogterp for the offer and to WooliesX for hosting us at 372 Elizabeth Street. In the last couple days, I’ve been a bit nervous! Being in primary baby carer land for over a year, I asked myself: How rusty am I? Will my brain still “work?” Am I still an effective communicator? How will little Johnny go without me for 9 hours? How the heck will I get out of the house and to the bus at 8:15am (yes, thank goodness we live close to the city)?But peeps, let me tell you….It was fun.It was challenging.But it was also exhilarating.
Most of all, today gave me confidence. Which goes a long way, especially as I prepare to return to work from a longer than planned, but so very right gap. I learned a lot today and reminded myself of more. And unsurprisingly, I absolutely loved connecting with talented folks from Woolworths Group, Google , Mastercard and , not to mention my RPA NICU Bestie Catharine Wong . I may not be “back in business” yet, but after today I am looking forward to it even more. Bring it on!

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Insanely proud of my hubs Bill Doig for launching his “other baby” to market today! It’s been a bit of a hectic year for our clan (!) but I couldn’t be more pleased for his new endeavour. Massive Congrats to Bill and his biz partner, Adam Moses, on - now open at Hibernian House, Sydney!

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Want to make the universe laugh? MAKE PLANS. TLDR: I had a 25 week preemie 👶 in Jan, I’ll be on parental leave for a while ✌️Long overdue update incoming… I started writing this update about 100 times but just couldn’t pull it together. I’m ready now. At the end of 2022, fresh off redundancy in the November round of the #metalayoffs , I was full of plans. Namely, plans of January #networking and #meetings and coffees and beach days; and professional plans to do more #publicspeaking , and take on a contract/project gig or two between the end of my notice period and second baby’s due date. Wait, what?Yep. For those of you with whom I am not connected on those “other” social channels, I was pregnant and due in late April (surprise!). In my mind this was plenty of time to bring in some cash flow and then clock off for maternity leave around Easter. I do love a plan, but the universe is forever reminding me I’m not in control! So instead of “working the plan”, I find myself today holding an almost 6 month old baby boy 😍. You see, little Johnny came really, really early (at 25+6 gestation) and was really, really small (naturally). I went into the hospital before New Years;after he arrived in Jan we spent 110 days in the NICU, came home in May and my brain has been way too all over the place since then to go for those FL gigs, or (frankly) to update LinkedIn 🤣Thankfully everyone is healthy now. His lungs are a bit vulnerable, but Johnny is like a normal 10 week old (his “adjusted” age) and is very cute; big sis is relishing in her new role; and hubs has been pretty amazing, even with all he has going on professionally. To say we have been fortunate in our journey to date is an understatement. Our experience has been a Masterclass in #resilience , #community , and believe it or not, #gratitude ; I’ve learned SO MUCH about going back to basics and just focusing on controlling the controllables. And I can’t wait to share more of those learnings as I know these are all skills that will serve me well, regardless of next #professional step!Perhaps most importantly for this forum: I’m officially on parental leave til further notice; likely until the end of the year (which feels as though it’s around the corner!). I’m excitedabout finding a new role that brings together my passions for partnership, marketing, creativity, technology and driving real business results. And am very open to chatting about that if you’ve got something brewing!In the meantime, I’m soaking upalllllll the baby cuddles… and am up for coffee (lord knows I need it!) or walking meetings - as long as the miracle koala baby can join. And finally, apologies to anyone I left hanging in Dec/Jan - I am revisiting my inbox shortly❤️. I'll be in touch.#parentalleave #experience #nicubaby #business #marketing #personalgrowth

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Well, it’s been a month since the mass layoffs at Meta where my role was made redundant. And I don’t yet have a new job. It that time we took an overseas holiday to spend Thanksgiving with USA friends and family, my immediate family got COVID upon our return (somehow I stayed clear!), my husband had a (minor but emergency) knee surgery and my daughter is finishing year 1! When it ☔️ ☔️it absolutely pours. Today I ventured into the city (Sydney) for some meetings with my network. And with Christmas/ year end around the corner, I’ve been reflecting on all this recent life craziness, especially the redundancy. I know I ran an excellent race at Meta. When I think about it, it was a helluva ultra-marathon that spanned Sydney to San Francisco, Melbourne to Singapore and Auckland to New York! I not only penned our Partnership strategy for Creative and In-House Agencies; I socialised it up the chain, and rolled it out to thousands of people across ANZ and APAC with gusto. I built community whilst creating and nurturing partnerships with creative agencies and in-house teams from scratch: moving from zero trust to a partner to call to help make things great. I planned, curated and hosted APAC-wide virtual innovation events for the creative and media industry that attracted 1000s of people. I spoke on countless stages, in large and small rooms, and on screens across Australia and New Zealand, inspiring people about the power of collaboration and platform-first creativity to drive business and brand results. I taught community leaders, NFPs and small business owners how to use Groups to connect with their audiences and Fundraising tools to drive donations. And recently I spent a fair bit of time getting these same large and small groups excited about the the Future of an Immersive Internet: the Metaverse.But despite that and my immense gratitude, being made redundant from a job I loved, that recognised my contributions, and that by all accounts I was really, really good at, is crushing. It renders a feeling that I can only call grief. And boy was I straight into that: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, and finally, acceptance. Our time back in the Pacific Northwest around friends and fam helped me process a lot of that grief. And whilst I know that something better is on the horizon, being back in Sydney and in the marketing/media/creative community has brought me back to this all important question of “what’s next?!”So before we break for Christmas, I want to send a big thank you to you who have reached out for a chat, and especially to those who have so graciously offered to help workshop my thoughts and desires for the next chapter. You know who you are <3. With each passing day and each connection coffee, lunch or walking meeting, my outlook improves. Pls HMU to meet up & chat opportunities, as I look forward to more of these in the new year!Happy Holidays to all xx#redundancy #metalayoffs #business #gratitude

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