EP33 Georgia Scott: Building a dynamic career while shattering glass ceilings in PR, Media, Creative and Digital

In this Episode 33  my next guest is Georgia Scott , Head of Marketing at Adobe for the key markets UK , Ireland ,Middle East & Africa .
Have you ever wondered how a former copywriter became a PR , media and creative digital  powerhouse? Meet Georgia Scott, the Head of Marketing at Adobe for UK, Middle East and Africa and former General Manager for Saatchi and Saatchi Australia. Georgia's journey is one of strategic decisions and constant evolution - from going freelance, to exploring e-commerce, to leading teams in creative advertising. Her story is evidence of the power of soft skills, the value of curiosity, and the importance of daring to fill knowledge gaps.

For those of you contemplating the challenges of work-life balance and the pressure of being taken seriously as a woman in your career, Georgia's story will resonate. She shares her struggles, strategies, and the invaluable lessons she's learned along the way. Our conversation explores the complexities of being a working parent, finding balance, and creating a supportive environment for personal and professional growth. Georgia's narrative is an inspiring testament to the power of staying true to your values while navigating a dynamic career.

We also delve into the wider context of women's professional development and the shifts in work culture. Georgia provides insights into how organizations can better support the professional development of women, and shares her experiences on changing work culture and finding purpose. Georgia believes in the power of flexible working arrangements and the importance of building a supportive circle. She also talks about her involvement with the First Light Trust charity, an experience that has amplified her sense of purpose. Tune in to hear Georgia's story - an enlightening journey of strategy, resilience, and purpose.




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Transcript

The trailblazers Experience : 0:14

Welcome to the Trailblazers Experience podcast. The podcast that's all about candid conversations with women sharing their career journeys, highs and lows, lessons learned and sprinkled with some Trailblazer takeaway tips to guide you at the end. My next guest is Georgia Scott, head of marketing at Adobe for UK, middle East and Africa and previously was general manager for Saatchi and Saatchi Australia. She has 15 years experience. I could spend all day reading her CV, but I'm happy to have you. Welcome, georgia.

Georgia Scott: 0:50

Thank you so much for having me. Having listened to the other women that have graced your podcast, I am really, really honored to be here.

The trailblazers Experience : 0:58

That's the whole idea. It's all about giving the young women out there, or people who are navigating their career or trying to understand what next? What do I do? Who are these super women? And then you just find out we're going through the same struggles, challenges just like everybody else. Yeah, they're like the swan that you see, and then they're paddling their feet.

Georgia Scott: 1:22

Yeah, absolutely.

The trailblazers Experience : 1:24

Yeah, definitely.

Georgia Scott: 1:25

I feel like that's one Exactly.

The trailblazers Experience : 1:28

Yeah, that's me every day, all day. Talk to me about your career and how. If I think about digital e-commerce marketing, it's not been around for a very long time and it's been cited as the fifth industrial revolution. The sixth one is probably AI, as we speak, as we live it. But what made you decide to say I think this is something I could start a career in. Take me all the way back, gosh.

Georgia Scott: 2:02

Well, I mean, I've had a rather eclectic career. I think I feel like I've touched every facet of marketing in some way. I started in PR, social media, media, digital, creative so I feel like I've kind of almost come full circle. The digital part actually, in all honesty, was by accident and it was actually due to a friend of mine. I feel like it was kind of when social media for businesses had just kind of started taking off and a friend of mine worked at a media agency called TPG and I loved copywriting and that was one of the things that I'd always been really good at in PR agencies.

Georgia Scott: 2:47

And one of the things that I had started doing in the PR kind of world was taking these quite traditional brands usually and they were retail, so beauty, handbags, et cetera, watches, and not just writing the copy to go to the journalists or writing the kind of press releases to go out, but also being like, oh, we should start writing their social media posts, we should start creating kind of what their brand might look like online. And I was very junior at this point and I just really enjoyed it. And I think because I enjoyed it and I was just interested in it and because I had a passion for copywriting. I ended up just kind of becoming the go to person.

Georgia Scott: 3:26

I didn't really understand it, if I'm honest, from like a media as a media tool. I just knew that it was engaging and it was another channel to put out, put out copy. And she said, oh, there's this great job in my agency. She was like you should come and take it Just to lead the social media. And I was like I don't feel like I know enough about social media. And she said, well, no one else does, so you may as well. So I was like, okay, well, I'll figure it out.

The trailblazers Experience : 3:55

And that was really interesting. That was so interesting about the copywriting piece and translating it to. Actually there were no guidelines, there were no rules in a way. There was no one checking, you know, so it was like well, yeah, exactly. It's like well, I have 200 words, I'm just going to put it out there and see what happens, and probably people were not as sensitive.

Georgia Scott: 4:19

There was no cancel culture there, so it was like put it out there, see what happens, and it's okay, it was so interesting and mainly that agency looked after financial services industries and so it actually became and I really grew in my role there and I ended up running kind of the whole digital team there. But the thing that was so interesting was guiding these very nervous, sensitive, highly highly scrutinized businesses through what might a social media presence look like for them, and I think that's when I became, I'd say, a bit more strategic, was trying to figure out and understand to your point what are the guidelines Like? What can then can't they do?

The trailblazers Experience : 5:05

That's so interesting. I mean, yeah, very sexy industry to be a social.

Georgia Scott: 5:11

No, I'm so dry, I'm so dry, but you know that's a good challenge. It's a good way to start out.

The trailblazers Experience : 5:19

Yeah, and I like the message around. You know, you just took a chance in terms of you didn't know anything about it and someone said, hey, do you want to take this on? That is sometimes how life is, where you get an opportunity, and is what soft skills do you have to actually take this to the next?

Georgia Scott: 5:36

level, Absolutely. Like I'm such a believer in soft skills, kind of not only over hard skills, but really that that is the number one thing that I now hire for. Like I think most people can learn most things if they're the right type of person. Like if you are smart, if you're a quick learner, if you're driven, enthusiastic, like you know, just just seeing an opportunity and running at it and figuring it out is I tend to find that the team members that I have that perform really well are just those types of people and you could really give them anything.

The trailblazers Experience : 6:13

Yeah, and you've had a really good you know career. Just looking at you know the LinkedIn. So you started off with that. And then how did the journey progress from there to you know being GM at Sachi and Sachi. So it's like come on, girl.

Georgia Scott: 6:28

I know that was. I have to say that was an amazing job and cut a bit short for family reasons and I had to move back here. But I think if I had to sum it up, it is probably that attitude that I've always had, which is that I do run at opportunities, Like I think, if you know where you want to be and you know that you've got what it takes from a work ethic perspective to get there, you've just really got to kind of take the jump and then also really networking like I always say yes to an opportunity to meet someone. Like at the end of the day, I think having the skills and having the personality is one thing, but knowing when an opportunity arises is all down to who you're connected with, what you know, what conversations are happening in what areas.

Georgia Scott: 7:17

So for me, I always put a great deal of emphasis on network, but not just from my own perspective for the business that I was running. So, whether that was a small social media team, whether that was a marketing department, what you can tenfold your impact with the right partners in your marketing. So, whether that's through more kind of structured partner marketing, whether that's through media relationships, those are the ways that you can tenfold your budget and to begin with I had small budgets right Like I wasn't being given giant budgets to do these huge campaigns with, and I think that's really where my career took off, because then I would start having really interesting conversations with someone that had sponsored something that I'd done and I'd find out about this amazing role or new company that they might have bought and I would kind of get really interested in that. So I think that kind of always looking at the ecosystem, always looking at the partners that you should be working with. They don't just serve the business that you're in, but they serve you.

The trailblazers Experience : 8:20

So there's a bit of curiosity there as well, isn't it? In terms of, you know, not just looking at the ecosystem, but a general interest for businesses and what's happening around you.

Georgia Scott: 8:31

Yeah, I'm absolutely a bit. I'm a bit obsessive about it, like I'm. I think. If I was to sum up my personality, it's it's I just love solving problems and that that that comes in different shapes and sizes, and I think that's why I've had different shaped jobs. But solving problems whether that's the organization and the marketing team and how to better structure them to get a better output, whether that's a brand that I was looking after when I was agency side, whether that's a big creative brief and we don't know how to tackle it Like solving problems to have business effect is the thing that I think I love the most.

Georgia Scott: 9:05

So, yeah, so I I toyed around a little bit in the UK in e-commerce for for a few, for a few years.

Georgia Scott: 9:13

Like I ended up running a small marketing team for a SaaS company and then I quite quickly realized that kind of what I was saying earlier that nobody was really focused at that time on partner marketing and and also kind of how you could quite quickly build out a decent marketing plan with three or four partners. So I decided to go freelance because actually that really served me best. I'd already built this great network. I had all of these companies that maybe didn't have a huge amount of money to throw at a resource, but they desperately needed a marketing plan, they needed to go to market, they needed a partner network built for them, they needed relationships with publishers, and so going freelance for me was an was an awesome opportunity because I was able to kind of basically go into these businesses, build them a plan, set them on their way and then go on and do the next one. And then my kind of career took a bit of a turn because I met my now husband and moved to Australia.

The trailblazers Experience : 10:13

So, which was a bit of a you wanna talk to me about freelance, because you know usually that they are I always say meet three or four types of people. So the one that just said look, I never wanna work for anyone ever. I wanna be my own boss, have the entrepreneurial spirit and built amazing businesses. You know, we've met so many people who've just done that and I'm in awe. And then there's some that go the classic I've gone to uni, I worked now for someone and I'm gonna start my own business, and then that trajectory. But you worked and then said, well, I'm gonna go freelance for a while. Did that? Dipped into that, obviously moved to Australia because love took you there In a way. But, to be fair, georgia, that sort of led to the GM role at such and such. What inspired you to say, right, I've been freelance, I've worked for myself, but now I'm ready to take on this leadership role. You know, managing this organization, people, big budgets. Was it then a quick decision or was there pause in between that?

Georgia Scott: 11:15

No, so there was actually a role that I took. So when I first moved to Australia, I in all honesty needed a visa, so I had to get a permanent role. I couldn't be freelance, I think, at that moment in time. My plan had to be freelance for a while because I was really enjoying it and I felt like I was learning a lot. And I got a role as a strategist, as a digital strategist for an agency quite a small agency, but they had really interesting clients and I've always liked kind of writing plans and strategies for brands and businesses.

Georgia Scott: 11:46

So I got that role and then I kind of just naturally started noticing all these things that were wrong with the way that the business was run. I was like this doesn't seem very profitable and this is a really slow way of doing things and actually we could increase our content production by five times here if we did this. And literally over kind of like eight, nine months of being there, they made me GM because I think just I feel maybe in a bossy way, but I just wasn't actually doing it anyway. And that's when I realized that actually kind of team leadership and management and also the operational side of marketing creative businesses is something that I'm really really passionate about, and it was really building that business and I built that business kind of over two and a half years there two and a half to three years that I realized, I guess, a new confidence in myself like that. I naturally fell into that role. So I didn't I think I would never have applied for a general manager role of a digital agency that that wouldn't have happened. But because I fell into it and naturally did it and was successful at it, it gave me time to this new confidence of, oh, actually kind of maybe I can do this.

Georgia Scott: 12:56

And then I kind of I was looking at my experience and where I had gaps and I think that's another thing that I think people should always do is lean into where you don't know things. Like, I think that's scary for people and people like to stay in their comfort zone, but for me I'm like, okay, I don't know anything about this, this is a gap for me. I've never done big brand creative work and I want to. How can I do that? And that's when I kind of managed to step into a role at Clemenja BBDO. I looked after a number of their accounts and then I ran their account service department, which was about 40 people, about kind of 18 large clients, brands like BMW, l'oreal, mars, et cetera. And yeah, and from there, from there, I kind of realized, well, this is what I want to do. I want to manage and motivate teams to achieve great marketing business outcomes. And that's when Saatchis happened, was after that.

The trailblazers Experience : 14:00

I think there's something to be said about how you went into a role for a smaller agency and you probably grew up from a revenue, profitability, efficiency structuring and I think that's something maybe we shouldn't be afraid of to say, even if you have your eyes set on a larger organization that you'd love to work for. Build your C-SWIT skillset as you said, problem solving strategy with a smaller business so you can have much bigger impact swiftly, maybe lower risk in terms of making mistakes, so you can fail fast, fail forward.

The trailblazers Experience : 14:39

And, yeah, that intuition of yours of just wanting to. You love leadership and you probably are natural in it, but you also want to make the business better, which I think is a very good trait to have, so something I think you've just leaned into as well.

Georgia Scott: 14:54

Yeah, and I think, yeah, you're so right about small agencies and I think, as an industry, I think something that I'm really passionate about changing is I think we're really snooty about where people come from.

Georgia Scott: 15:09

I think if we're client side, we look for people to come from very similar businesses and brand names that we recognize. If we're agency, we kind of have a top 10 agency list in our head and we look for people that have got that brand and that agency name. When actually, if you're in a smaller business or a smaller agency for a period of time and you do have to develop a really broad skillset because you have to do a lot and you have to figure things out You've got to be about four or five roles simultaneously, you've got to make great work on less budget. A lot of the time, you've got to be really quick and competitive and I think if you take the opportunity to develop your skillset there to your point, it is so beneficial when you take that into a larger business and I really wish that HR and recruitment and talent departments looked more at that and less necessarily sometimes at the name.

The trailblazers Experience : 16:13

I totally agree. I mean, I was looking at you know, when you go on Google and say so, what are the top C-suite skills, or GM skills and its emotional intelligence strategy, problem solving management, change management, because guess what girl? How often is a business changing critical thinking, decision making, conflict resolution. You know, you're wearing many hats and it's not the brand that you're coming from that will teach you. It's, you know, going through it and learning through the different organizations as well.

Georgia Scott: 16:48

Yeah definitely, definitely. So yeah, that's definitely a big learning Not to be, I mean obviously. Look, you definitely learn different things at large organizations. You know Adobe is so much bigger than any business I've worked for before. You know 30,000 employees. So there's definitely a different skillset that you have to learn to manage businesses that large. But I don't think necessarily Ivor is better, ivor is better.

The trailblazers Experience : 17:15

Let's talk about your milestones. So what are some key milestones that you are proud of? So things that you said you know what I did, that I'm really proud of that in my career so far.

Georgia Scott: 17:26

I mean I would say that, yeah, the GM role at Sarchi's was a really pinnacle moment for me. I'd actually wanted to get into creative advertising for a really long time and one of the reasons that actually I mentioned this kind of frustration with recruiting known brands is that I've been rejected from applying for jobs a lot. Can you talk about that.

The trailblazers Experience : 17:48

How many jobs do you know, I think? Did I tell you this? I keep a folder where I oh, that's a good idea. I keep an email folder. I don't actually say what I actually named it, but I literally all the rejections I've gotten over the years. I put them in there, yeah.

Georgia Scott: 18:10

And it's a like a vendor folder.

The trailblazers Experience : 18:13

No, it's actually just to remind me, no, that you just have to keep trying that thing of when one door closes, you just keep going 100%, 100%.

Georgia Scott: 18:24

It's just that reminder that when I say you know sometimes you have to knock on 100 doors and that one that opens is the one for you, yeah, so, yeah, I think I would hate to think how many jobs I applied for that I mean numerous, and also how many conversations I had with recruiters who just told me no, you're not no agency, you know, none of the big creative agencies are going to hire you because you don't have creative agency experience. And you know. It just used to frustrate the hell out of me because I was like I know that I can do, I know I can do this job. And actually, to you know, credit to my ex CEO at Clems. I remember that she, I remember saying to her when she kind of gave me this very large role and I said, you know, I've never made a TV ad and she went, ah, you'll be fine.

Georgia Scott: 19:18

She was like. She was like, if you can do all of these things, she was like it's just a different, you know, format of advertising. She was like, if you can do the digital part, you can do the creative part. She was like and you know, obviously we'd had lots of conversations by that point, but I was really just at that point shocked to have somebody show faith in my capabilities as an individual rather than necessarily kind of the list of things that I had done.

The trailblazers Experience : 19:48

Honestly, I think and you just need the fact that you've shouted her out is that she trusted in your capabilities and said that you can actually do the job. I think a lot of the time when you've been shot down in a way saying, oh, you don't have this, you know skill set, you've never done this before and you start to internalize it and believe that probably you're not good enough and you're not the right person for a specific role. But if someone just lifts you up and said I think actually you've got the skills, the transferable skills, to achieve this, you've got a team you can need, you can delegate, you understand the concept that's sometimes it's just that one person to lift you up and bring you into that, so that's really interesting that you've always wanted to do it was always in the backbone of one thing you wanted to achieve and add to your career.

Georgia Scott: 20:40

Yeah, so I mean, I just the amount, that's what I'm saying. Did you have a vendetta folder? Because the amount of messages I wanted to send when I got the Sachi and Sachi role To all of the people that had told me that I was never even going to get you know, like an account manager role, Wow, so yeah, so that was definitely a really good pillar of success for me, Along with really, like in all honesty, just happy team members that then want to follow me where I go. So you know all the people that you know when I left, Clem and Joe who wanted to come and work with me at Sarchis, or all the people you know, even people that work in Australia, who when I was at Adobe, were like, oh, I'd love to come and work for you again.

Georgia Scott: 21:24

Like, for me, that is a real. That's probably. The other thing that I'm really proud of is that I did it, I guess, with kind of holding my values, true, and I'm not. I'm sure everyone didn't love me, but like, at least I would hope that the team, the majority of my team members, enjoyed working for me and would want to work for me again. That's that's another really important thing for me.

The trailblazers Experience : 21:50

I think that also resonates. I think you are, you exude it as well. You know that there's something about your personality. You know we only met you a few times, but I think that also resonates. And then people do want to follow you, you know, along on the journey and that also helps for that team culture which is so important nowadays as well. There's a McKenzie report that was talking about you know what's important?

The trailblazers Experience : 22:14

Skills versus education, as people now move into understanding what Gen Z is going to be, and obviously education is important. Skills and experience is sort of top on the list there. So, like you said, building those transferable skills, those capabilities which is learning by doing in whatever job role that you've started being curious, is a really big thing, and developing it over time and building your team with you Because, yeah, great, I love so much Georgia over my career, the fact that I can literally say in every organization how many people I've, you know, developed and they moved on to do great things. That's what you want. You want them to spread their wings and fly, yeah absolutely.

Georgia Scott: 22:59

I mean it's. It is the best feeling, like seeing people that you've you feel that you've hopefully helped in some small way, kind of do better and gain confidence. I think that's kind of what you were saying earlier, but like gain confidence in their own capabilities and do well, it's, it's the absolute best. But I think that of not just people that kind of have worked for me, but like of any of my female friends or colleagues kind of me, seeing my friends do well or women that I've worked with is the best. And I was messaging a friend of mine yesterday actually and I was asking about her work and how it was going and she's just doing amazing things and I said, oh my gosh, I'm just in awe of you like and what you achieve. And she just she said like she thinks I'm the only person that said that, other women that said that to her and I thought, well, that's really sad. You know that we're still not necessarily genuinely happy for other people when they have success.

The trailblazers Experience : 23:56

Yeah, we definitely need to celebrate women as much as possible. I think you know that's sort of sort of the purpose of the podcast is to shine a light and say, girl, you did that, we're really proud of what you've done and yeah, I think we need to do more of that. That should be a name definitely moving forward. Let's talk about challenges. So what challenges have you faced? Because you know it's not all rosy growing your career and, especially as a woman, I think you know we need to just to bunk the myth of everything that we're going through and maybe help shed light that there going to be some challenges. So what challenges have you had? Let's talk about challenges. So what challenges have you faced? Because you know it's not all rosy growing your career and, especially as a woman, I think you know we need to just to bunk the myth of everything that we're going through and maybe help shed light that there going to be some challenges. So what challenges have you?

Georgia Scott: 24:53

had.

Georgia Scott: 24:53

Look, I think most women would say this, but I do think there are challenges.

Georgia Scott: 24:56

That particularly is kind of like a younger female, I think in some ways there's this like it's very small gap that you, that you're expected to fit in, so you have to be kind of old enough that you're taken seriously, but not too old, because as soon as you're too old, of course you're also rich enough.

Georgia Scott: 25:13

So there's this small kind of window in which a woman is kind of, I guess, taken seriously enough that they must be good at their job. And I would say, you know, like I remember earlier on in my career, always lying about my age, because I felt so pressured that, well, you can't possibly have a, you know, a 25 year old head of marketing or whatever. That'd be insane, and I think that that's definitely been a challenge and I probably still think about that a little bit, and maybe that's just something that I'm overly concerned about because I faced it previously. But I I'd say that's been a challenge and I don't know if that's something you think about, but I do think there's this weird moment in time where females are kind of perfect for senior roles and either side of it, they're slightly disregarded. Honestly, you're.

The trailblazers Experience : 26:09

You're speaking to someone who's gone through that as well. I thought is that at a certain age that you then move into senior roles? Is there like this sweet spot where they think that you're ready? But you know, we're seeing some people who built businesses and they are CEOs of organizations and they're under 30. So I'm hoping it's changing over time because we need to get over, you know, being ages, being sexist, being. You know all the isms that are out there that just stop us in our tracks. And organizations should just hire great women, no matter what age they are, no matter what they look like, no matter where they're from. Great women with great capabilities and to steer an organization. I think should be important. But I feel you because you think, oh, am I too young, am I too old, am I not the right? You know, is this the right time? And then when you have children, it's in compounded as well.

Georgia Scott: 27:03

Yeah, I mean, I would say that's probably my other. That would have been the other challenges. You know, it's one thing running at your career when you're not a mother, it's and that's the challenge, right. You're permanently wondering who you're letting down. You know, am I being a bad mom? Am I being a bad employee? Am I being a bad boss? Just the balance of those things. And look, I definitely don't think I've got it at all, and some days I'm feeling more on top of it than others. But I think learning, learning to say no on both sides of the fence and kind of understand the best, the best of my ability, that I do look after myself enough to do both jobs I think that was a challenge. That, yeah, I struggled. I think I've leaned too hard both ways up until now and I think I'm in a good spot. Let's talk about that.

The trailblazers Experience : 28:04

So how do you manage? You know, self care and what does work life balance. What does it mean to you?

Georgia Scott: 28:12

So, I don't think. Yeah, I'm definitely not the best, I'm definitely not the best at it. There are definitely people that I think have it more sorted than I am, and even my team at Adobe are always screaming at me to stop saying yes to things. But I do try and build in time for the gym, try and build in time to hang out with my son and just be more flex and just being more flexible with myself, like I mean, if I have to catch up with work after hours, if I maybe don't have kind of a linear day, but that I make it work for myself. That's probably like my self care, I think, is feeling that I'm on top enough of my day that I'm able to kind of spend time both on work myself and my son.

The trailblazers Experience : 29:02

That's a very good one, saying the power of the power of no. There is strength in saying no to things. I think that's where you create your own balance, and balance is defined as to how you want it to be. I think we are. So. Some people like 95, some people do 93, take break, do things with their family, their kids, and then they're back on. You know, 9 to 12 or 9 to 1 am, I think, whatever works for you, because it's all about living a fulfilling life, and fulfilling life is your career, is your family, is your friends, is your network, it's all together in to find.

Georgia Scott: 29:37

Yeah, absolutely. And I am definitely kind of that type of person like, if I can, if I don't have kind of meetings or whatever I do stop a bit early. I really enjoy like some quality time of my son, and then I'm kind of very partial to picking it back up with a glass of wine, 8, 30 or whatever and finishing off what I've got done. But yeah, I, I think I think it's important for me that I don't also beat myself to too much about how much I do care about work and how much I want to put into work.

Georgia Scott: 30:07

I think I also went through a time of being like feeling really bad about it, that I, you know I want to be at work, or that I have a long day and I but I care and I want to be there Also, then not being kind of harsh on myself for for caring that much about it, and I think, yeah, so look, I'm sure I'll have another week soon where I don't feel like I've got the balance, but for now I feel that being kind to myself is probably the number one thing that I'm working on. You know, it's not necessarily about having a bath or whatever, it's just my internal dialogue and having a kinder internal dialogue, no matter kind of the week, is probably the number one thing.

The trailblazers Experience : 30:47

I love that message of being kind to yourself. That is a really good one, and I. It's a simple one. You know, easy, simple, and you take it one day, one task at a time. That's all we can do.

Georgia Scott: 31:01

Yeah, it's not easy, though is it was so bad at it? I think that's a very female thing as well.

The trailblazers Experience : 31:06

How important has networking been in your career and you talked about it at the beginning of the podcast about, you know, networking and building that internal PR and external PR in terms of your network. How pivotal has that been for for your career networking.

Georgia Scott: 31:25

Totally pivotal. Totally pivotal. I would not have my career, I don't think, without that, and it's mainly just about kind of timing and opportunity. Like I really do think life is about timing. Like you know, you can be the perfect person for a role, the perfect person for a project, but if the timings don't add up or you didn't know about it or whatever, you've got no help. And I think networking, having relationships and therefore you're always one step ahead on timing and you can make timings work for you.

Georgia Scott: 31:59

You have kind of maybe a knowledge of things that maybe someone else doesn't like. I think that's that's amazing. And then also just having people to fall back on to ask for advice, like the amount of times I've rung someone and gone like I'm doing this project or I've got this meeting or this presentation coming up, I would love to pick your brains on it and to get somebody else's opinion. That isn't necessarily in your team or in your kind of organization. I yeah, I mean that's been pivotal to me as well like I've had just so many amazing people help me and guide me through decision making or kind of little things along the way. So, yeah, I'd say it's 100% pivotal.

The trailblazers Experience : 32:43

Just circling back to what you said about timing, I used to struggle with that, I think, in terms of thinking everything was aligned, thinking I was right for the role, for the project and you know, meeting someone and thinking this is actually going to work and actually just wasn't the right time. And as you mature you then hindsight is an interesting thing you then realize actually it wasn't the right moment for us to connect. And sometimes you connect with people in your network Five years later and actually that's the right moment to do something together.

Georgia Scott: 33:17

Yeah, absolutely, that's so true, that kind of the hind like because hindsight can be dangerous, I think, you know, especially on a career perspective, because you're like, oh, like, should I have taken that role, or should I have stayed, or if only I jumped more of that opportunity, or whatever. So, and again, that's the kind of being kind to yourself thing, right, that's the not beating yourself up Part, because, yeah, I mean, not that I'm a particularly spiritual person, but I do think you just, in some instances, if you've done everything you can, you just have to trust that the timing, the timing will be right and you know that the right things will happen at the right moment.

The trailblazers Experience : 33:56

Yeah, definitely, and also they're letting go piece, like you said. So you know, once that moment has passed, that career opportunity that you could have taken, that would have, could have, should have letting it go and moving forward as well, I think is really key. Yeah.

Georgia Scott: 34:11

I mean even like, for example, that the leaving the satchels role, like for me that was devastating because I felt like I had, you know, finally got this pinnacle role that really, you know, and also there was a lot of ego in it for me that you know, to the point, to the naysayers I was like I've done it and then just so quickly, kind of being just after a year I have to leave, when there was so much more than I had to do, and to move to the UK and kind of find there wasn't maybe the equivalent, which was what? In that moment of time I felt that I was looking for that. That was really, I think, mentally challenging for me to go. Okay, well, like what, what next? But actually you know, I have been so much in Adobe and actually I do think it was the right time. You know, weirdly felt like totally the wrong time, but it was the right time for me to take this role.

Georgia Scott: 35:06

And you know, I was always kind of the digital person in the creative agencies and I mean I was. But oh my gosh, I look back now and I'm like, wow, I don't think I even was like my knowledge now compared to my knowledge then is infinite and with you know, obviously, the kind of acceleration of AI and where the industry is heading, how timely that I ended up at Adobe, who really are leading and at the forefront of AI, and like, wow, this thing that I felt was actually not necessarily kind of the perfect move for me actually has, in hindsight, been perfectly timed.

The trailblazers Experience : 35:46

That's so interesting. I think sometimes we're also stuck on titles. Yes, stock on titles, and in various organizations I've met people who their titles are strategically lead, but they're managing a massive team globally and they are very senior within the organization, presenting at boards, etc. And it took me a very long time to also say actually, do you know? It's finding value in what you're doing in the organization that you're in. So you've just talked about how Adobe there's so much there to unpack and you're already in the AI revolution. It's moving really quickly and you get to be part of things that are evolving in the industry, which is fulfilling for you as well.

Georgia Scott: 36:33

Yeah, absolutely yeah. So with you on the job title, I do think there's, I think also, you know, for women that have tried really hard to climb a ladder, it can be hard. I think hard field is for them to be like, oh, but I want this amazing title or I want this, because I feel like, but actually the more you're kind of looking at what you're learning, or what kind of yeah, what gives you value or joy in your role and what's going to make you better for the next role.

Georgia Scott: 37:03

You start assessing things very differently.

The trailblazers Experience : 37:06

That's true, and you also touched on one thing about asking you know for advice. I think that I've learned as well speaking to other women in different careers and just understanding how they may have had to have a sidestep in terms of the journey because of moving countries or just things that happen in your life, that you know you have to then make a change as well and, honestly, those nuggets of information that they've just shared, they also respect it as well. When you say, oh, actually, you know, I'd like to have your advice on a few things, they feel honored as well.

Georgia Scott: 37:40

Yeah.

Georgia Scott: 37:41

Absolutely, I have like honestly, like the Adobe role, for example, I reckon I spoke to like four or five people and I was like what do you? Because, like I was a bit, you know, emotional about the move and I felt like I kind of and I at the time I had a kind of a couple of very different job, kind of not offers necessarily, but roots that I was kind of exploring and I felt quite like this is a bit of a pivotal moment. I only had a short time at Saatchi's, like what is the right route to go down, and it was just so amazing to have this collection of brilliant people to kind of give me really pragmatic and fantastic counsel on making those choices.

The trailblazers Experience : 38:22

That's amazing. You know, when you look back Georgia, you know we talked about. So if you were to say, spend back time, what kind of support should we, as you know, as senior leaders, even just organizations, do to better support women for their professional development?

Georgia Scott: 38:39

based on your own experiences, I think the first thing is to be better at creating, like, emotionally safe environments. Like I don't, I still think we have a fair way to, I think kind of on paper a lot of the time. We say that we have the right things and that we support women, and there's one thing having programs in place and there's another thing creating emotionally safe environment. You can't write that down, you can't document an emotionally safe environment, and I think that is where we need to move towards, because while people are afraid to ask questions or to kind of really say what is getting in the way or where they want to be or what's upsetting them or what they don't think they can do, you can't really help people.

Georgia Scott: 39:27

And I think that's something that I still witness all the time is that we don't create the space for people to kind of be concerned or worried or confused.

Georgia Scott: 39:38

Like you must know your next job, or you must know what your career path is going to be, or you must know the next job you want to take in this place, you know, or whatever. Like I think so. For me, that's the number one thing that I think leaders need to focus on is kind of how can I make my employees feel safe enough to raise things with me. And then I think the second part is a bigger focus on those how we kind of assess the soft skills and how we assess the people's personality and, you know, yeah, their credentials and that side of things, because I think we still actually have a very historic recruitment processes. I think, and I know actually quite a few great businesses are trying to change that, but I do think we have an old way of recruiting and I think that gets in the way of women's progression a lot. So I'd love to see change in that area.

The trailblazers Experience : 40:40

Yeah, it's thinking about not just a culture shift, but also understanding the needs and requirements for today's society itself. And how do you make it work? It's things like hybrid, remote, flexible working. What does that actually mean? How? How can we empower people? How can we upskill? Do we have the right tech to support? Those are things that weren't even thought about before. Yeah, 100%.

Georgia Scott: 41:08

Yeah, I mean, look, I am really thankful that I'm working mother in this day and age, like I don't know how I would have done it in the days that you had to be in the office, you know. Nine to five every day, like I, you know, I am so thankful that I get to have more flexibility built into my day. So I do think, you know, we should all be really thankful that most of us have a level of that, but there's, in my mind, still a long way to go, I think, and some businesses are better than others.

The trailblazers Experience : 41:42

Yeah, definitely One step at a time. I guess you you can do it in your capacity, or I can exactly teams. I mean, it's one step, one, you know, one staff member at a time. Trailblazers, right? Yeah, girl, that's what we are. I've seen that you've now moved on to being a member of a board of trustees for folks like trust for veterans. How tell us about your involvement and the significance of this for you?

Georgia Scott: 42:09

I'm so excited about this I mean I am I feel probably most people I think have this like you're kind of doing your day to day and you can really love what you're doing. But I'm sure I hope it's not just me that I permanently go a little bit like does it matter? Like am I doing something that actually matters? Like obviously I care a lot about my job, but I do get caught up that I would love to do something, I guess, bigger than myself and bigger than potentially kind of selling technology or whatever brand it is that I'm supporting. So I've been looking to kind of get more involved for a while.

Georgia Scott: 42:44

When this opportunity presented itself and I know the again from a networking perspective, I know the CEO of this, of this charity and we just had a conversation because actually even kind of the articulation you just gave of that charity, of the charity of first light trust, does not do it justice and they need so much work. So it's not actually just a charity for veterans, it's any emergency services member. So anybody that has been in the police or the fire brigade or an NHS worker or a worker, anybody that's effectively experienced trauma working on behalf of the public, really they do not have the right support. I think people expect people to come back from whatever kind of battlefield or even from a traumatic event, kind of in our home yard, and be okay. But actually people can't witness horrible things day after day and be okay. And a lot of these people really fall through the gaps because to you and I they might look like they're fine, but they're actually kind of a very high percentage of the homeless population, and with kind of lack of support comes all of the things that we as a society kind of try to prevent, right.

Georgia Scott: 44:00

So, whether that's kind of domestic abuse, alcoholism, drugs, homelessness, and so for me this is just a fantastic opportunity to be involved in a charity that's focused on prevention of something rather than necessarily cure or something obviously both are important but to be involved in the prevention of just terrible scenarios for so many families right, not just the people but families and it just feels like something I could do. Like I just think there's so much that you know they don't have necessarily a lot of funding, they don't have marketing teams, and I, yeah, kind of jumped at the chance to start working with them and hopefully helping them to raise more funds. So that's really my role there. And yeah, I'm still in kind of the learning phase, because it's 10 times more complicated than I had initially thought and yeah. So I'm just kind of trying to learn how it all works at the moment and then, before I jump in and start rebranding the whole thing, yeah, and you know it's your first.

The trailblazers Experience : 45:07

Would you say it's your first board role? It's my first board role, yeah. Yeah, I was at a talk where Patrick Dunn talked about usually when you join a charity or an organization, you are wearing many hats, yeah, and actually that's okay because you get to get stuck in and then obviously the processes come in and then at some point you're just advising yes, so that will come, yeah.

Georgia Scott: 45:33

I know and that's the thing I'm going to have to really watch out for, as it is reminding myself that I'm a board member not actually the entire marketing team and do it. But yeah, it's a it's. It's really interesting and I'm really enjoying learning more about not just being on the board, but obviously also the charity industry as well.

The trailblazers Experience : 45:52

So yeah, we'll definitely put it in the show notes. I think you know it's good to create awareness for these organizations and good for you. I think you think it's it's something to do with yourself and your own personal journey, looking for purpose, you know, outside of marketing.

Georgia Scott: 46:11

Yeah, definitely. I just I think in terms of, yeah, as we talked about the value we derive from a role, right, like, I think there's different parts of someone's happiness that you get from different places, and I think for me, the kind of doing something that I really feel is helping people and value is just a like a box that I guess wasn't really being ticked for me anywhere else in that kind of the things that make me happy as a person. So, yeah, it's definitely not altruism, so but it is something that I'm really really enjoying.

The trailblazers Experience : 46:51

Let's talk about your core values and ethics. What are the things that mean the most to you?

Georgia Scott: 46:57

I think the number one thing that means the most to me is that people are kind, like being kind, like I think, and compassionate, and trying always to see things from someone else's perspective, like even to the level that, like I read a lot of books and I'm really interested in trauma and the effects of kind of like trauma on individuals and generational trauma on individuals, and so you never really know what someone has gone through or why someone is the way that they are. You know even people that I fundamentally might dislike or that I find really difficult to work with. I'm always at least trying to see things through a lens of you know, you don't know why this person is behaving this way. You don't know what's happened to them this morning. They might have had a horrible argument with their spouse, or, you know, they might have just found out that a loved one's sick, and so for me that's that is a really strong value of mine. And then the other one is always kind of care, and I mean care and everything. So I think my team would always say, like I really care about doing the best that you can do in whatever you're doing. So if you're going to do a job, if you're going to do a small marketing event, if you're going to do a podcast, like to respect people's time, respect the money that you're spending, care enough to do a good job, like that's that's kind of really all I ask of my team. Like I think if you care enough, then I know that you're always going to have done a good job. And like maybe you'll need tweaking and we'll work on it or we'll change it, but like I think that's that's a really strong thing for me, that everybody cares about what they're doing.

Georgia Scott: 48:39

And then I guess the other value for me is that we should enjoy it, like I just I want I want to enjoy my day. I don't want, I don't want the Sunday blues and I've only had it a couple of times like in jobs it's just the worst. That's the worst. Like life's so short, like and it's okay to be anxious about something like kind of I still get anxiety before the presentation or whatever, but like the thought of being miserable going to work or kind of spending the whole day before dreading something like I would just feel awful if anybody that we worked with or anybody in you know felt that way. So that's something I mean. It's sometimes hard, sometimes we have to do really boring or stressful stuff in our jobs. But I don't want. I want it to be, as you know, enjoyable as it can be, and I think if you do those three things, then everything else is kind of okay.

The trailblazers Experience : 49:34

I totally agree about that, and you know that Sunday blues thing is, if you're, you know, dreading going into work or starting the Monday, then there are some things that you need to reflect on and maybe change, because life is too short. Yeah, it just is, and you know it's good to love your work, but it is just work.

Georgia Scott: 49:52

So, like having Sunday blues, you know all day is just yeah, no, not for me. I'm sure you've had it. You would have had it. A few jobs, surely?

The trailblazers Experience : 50:01

Yeah, definitely, and there's always that point of introspection where I then say, okay, why am I feeling this way, why is this still happening and what can I do to change? I've come to realize that there are things that are within my control which I can change, and there are things that are outside of my control and anxiety comes, you know, stressing over the things that you can't change, yeah, and sometimes tough decisions where I've said, okay, this isn't working for me and moving on to something different. But it's tough, yeah, it is tough and yeah, so Sunday blues, I kind of always tell my team if you start having Sunday blues, we need to talk.

The trailblazers Experience : 50:44

Tell me exactly. We need a chat. We need a chat. Yeah, I'm not doing my job, if you got.

Georgia Scott: 50:47

Sunday blues yeah, georgia, it feels like you have some really great foundations just from a personal, professional perspective.

The trailblazers Experience : 50:59

Who is your close circle, that that holds you together and has kept you, kept you going and keeping? So you know, vivacious energy and optimism and just in everything that you do, who is my club? I think I've got the bet.

Georgia Scott: 51:14

I mean I'm not going to be like I think I've got the bet. I mean I think the good thing honestly actually about having moved countries and moved jobs, you know, and careers a few times, is I just think I have an amazing circle of, and broad circle of, friends and I probably have different people that I go to just like things, different things Like. But I know the people that I would need to call if I kind of need someone to have a stern word with me, like if I feel like I'm spiraling about something or like I have any feeling that I'm maybe not doing the right thing, like I know the people to call who will just give me a no BS kind of straight up answer and be like Georgia no, that's a bad idea.

Georgia Scott: 51:53

That ain't happening. And then, equally, I kind of know the friends that I need to call, like if I'm feeling like, oh, like I'm just having an off day, that are just going to kind of like lift me up and just give me the boost that I need. And then I also I'm really close to my mom. I speak to my mom at least every other day and she's my number one cheerwoman, 100% like in my corner. I mean, she probably maybe too much thinks that the sun shines out of my, but like you know she's, which is, but just you know, she, she absolutely is in my corner and you know, if I'm mad about something, she's mad about it. I love that. Yeah, I'm like, yes, she's mad with me. So so that.

Georgia Scott: 52:40

And then you know, I am definitely lucky enough to have, you know, have a husband that's also really supportive with my son and like looking off, you know, picking him up, never giving me, you know, making me feel bad that I've not been around to maybe do the pickups and things. And I think that is really important to to have a home environment that you come back to, that you're not feeling like, oh my gosh, you know, have I, have I balanced things right today? Or have I done it? You know what? You know? Have I made the wrong decisions throughout the day to balance my life? So yeah, coming home and knowing that I've got a kind of really supportive system, you know, and also a you know huge momma's boy of a four year old, that that's the best. I love it.

The trailblazers Experience : 53:24

They say you know, look at the five people in close people in your life, whether it's professionally or personally, and that will tell you a lot about the direction your life is going. So, yeah, it feels like everything's all good your side.

Georgia Scott: 53:39

Yeah, I think, I think you've got to have good friends. You've got to have good friends like you've got to have good friends and you've got to have good female friends, because, look, my husband's lovely, but blokes are rubbish. Like they're going to give you a practical answer for everything. Like you know what I mean, like you know, like my mom's there hating, hating with me, like if I'm mad about it.

The trailblazers Experience : 53:58

she's like yeah, I totally agree with you.

Georgia Scott: 54:01

Yeah, you know, whereas my husband's trying to give me a very practical solution to the problem and he's like, well, what you should do, I'm like no, I don't want to give me a solution, just be mad with me. So you've got to have females.

The trailblazers Experience : 54:14

Yeah, I always find, because I'm the oldest of eight. But eight brothers and sisters, and yeah, yeah.

Georgia Scott: 54:21

Oh, you've got class to five.

The trailblazers Experience : 54:22

You've got your crew. Yeah, I used to take on the role of solutionist a lot when they were growing up and at some point I said I need to take on the role of just active listening, just listening and saying, yep, I'm okay with whatever. I'm mad at that person as well. Yeah, I'm on your side. Yeah, whatever decision you're making, I'm with you. I think that's been a shift, but also for me, for my own sanity, I think that's been good as well. Sometimes you just need to just be with them in the trenches while they're going through what they're going through and let them persevere and come out.

Georgia Scott: 54:55

The other end I'm agreeing with you as well for myself. Like kind of the active listening part is, I think, something everyone needs to work on.

The trailblazers Experience : 55:05

But yeah, it's not easy. Georgia, amazing. Let's summarize trailblazer takeaway tips. What nuggets are you living for our audience?

Georgia Scott: 55:19

All right. So I think, as we've established network, don't say no, say yes. Like it's kind of awkward I feel like to ask other adults for like coffees or drinks or be like, hey, can I take you in? Kind of pick your brains on whatever. But honestly, most people are to your point, are flattered to be asked and I think I think don't presume that the people's answer would be no kind of so I think that would be my number one thing just ask, definitely ask.

Georgia Scott: 55:52

My second one is I mean my second one is a bit of a work one at the moment if you're a marketing and you're not kind of all over AI, that I mean in terms of that kind of wanting to be a scientist, wanting to be curious, wanting to learn, like I think now is a time more than ever where you know it kind of feels like all over again. Back when I was like first kind of being curious around social media and it just it really was the basis of my career and I feel like we're in this to your point when this time again. So now is the time to be over curious. And then the third one I think is the last one we just spoke about, I would say making sure you have a close circle of friends and people that can help you guide you through, kind of those key moments, the people that are going to give you rational decision making, the people that are going to cheer, lead you and the people that are going to tell you hell's, no, don't do that.

The trailblazers Experience : 56:44

I love it I was going to say. Fourth one is be kind to yourself.

Georgia Scott: 56:47

Oh, the fourth one is be kind to yourself always, but I'm and I'm still learning that. So if anyone has more tips, let me know.

The trailblazers Experience : 56:54

I know, yeah, the worst fire to be fighting is the one in your mind, and inner peace and being kind is so important.

Georgia Scott: 57:02

Yeah, that's a good saying. Is that we need? I need that on like a my fridge every time I go to it.

The trailblazers Experience : 57:13

George Scott. This has been amazing, delving into your career, your background, your personality. I think you're an amazing young woman. I'm going to use that.

Georgia Scott: 57:26

Yeah.

The trailblazers Experience : 57:27

And I think you've shared really some great tips that would definitely help someone out there, no matter what they're going through. And to your point about you know, AI is that new technology that we should be all trying to learn and investing in and just being curious, I think is really important. So thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Georgia Scott: 57:47

This has been so fun. I've enjoyed every minute of it, thank you.

The trailblazers Experience : 57:51

This has been the Trailblazers Experience podcast. Turn on the woman about the podcast and remember to do the usual Share, like subscribe. We are on all streaming platforms and see you soon, Thank you.