How did you get into the industry and what has been your journey so far?
I didn’t start in ad tech at all. I started in theatre and film in Los Angeles and San Francisco, running costume departments and building experimental pop-ups for brands before “experiential marketing” was even a thing.
That world teaches you very quickly how audiences behave; what grabs attention, what people ignore, and what actually stays in people’s memory.Turns out theatre people and ad tech people aren’t that different, they’re both obsessed with attention.
Luckily my background skillset translated surprisingly well into the technology world.
Over the last twenty years I’ve helped early-stage technology companies grow through every major shift the industry has experienced; from the early direct-response network days, through the rise of programmatic, into the attention economy, and now into a world where AI is increasingly mediating how audiences find and interact with content.
If there’s a theme to my career, it’s probably the art of the pivot, taking lived experience from one industry and applying it somewhere completely different. Today I spend most of my time helping publishers protect yield and rethink monetisation strategies in a market that’s changing faster than most people realise.
It’s definitely been a wildly unconventional route into the industry but that non traditional perspective has turned out to be a real advantage.
What struggles, if any, have you had as a women in the industry?
“I sometimes think this question itself reveals part of the problem.
When people ask women about their “struggles,” it quietly assumes that being a woman in the room must automatically come with disadvantage. That framing alone can carry a subtle hint of “less than” — or at least of being “othered.”
Of course the complexity here is real. For decades women have been fighting for access, equality, and representation in this industry. But even as progress has been made, there can still be an underlying sense that you’re expected to prove what you’ve overcome in order to validate why you’re here. I’ve certainly felt that at times in my career, maybe not overtly, but in those subtle moments where you realise you're being weighed on a different scale.
I’ve been in digital advertising and ad tech long enough to have started before the never-ending “Year of Mobile,” and we can all agree the industry has evolved dramatically since then.
Today, for me, the interesting conversation is really about how we currently define leadership in our industry.
For a long time, leadership here has been viewed through a fairly narrow lens. Historically, it mirrored male career patterns. As the equality conversation has evolved, the industry has rightly focused on supporting women balancing leadership and family life. That progress matters.
What we’re still learning is that women don’t arrive in leadership through one single life story. There isn’t one version of a woman in this industry, and the assumption that there might be has quietly shaped how ambition, success, and even “struggle” are interpreted.
Now let’s talk, irony for a minute!
Advertising is built on creativity, relationships, instincts, and ideas. Emotional intelligence isn’t a “soft skill” here, it’s a commercial advantage. The leaders who understand people best tend to build the strongest teams, the boldest ideas, and the most resilient businesses.
The traits that make great leaders in advertising are deeply human ones - not gendered ones.
We’ve made enormous progress. But like most creative industries, evolution tends to happen in waves. I think we’re still in the middle of the next one.
Which women do you look up to and why?
Many of the women who have inspired me most have done so through the lives they lead.
Inspiration doesn’t always come from titles, it often comes from the way people move through the world. From women who stand confidently in spaces where they don’t necessarily look like everyone else in the room. From the quiet acts of courage and generosity you witness in passing. The woman who lifts someone else up even when she can’t quite do it for herself, in that moment.
I’m especially inspired by builders, the women who create new spaces rather than waiting to be invited into existing ones.
That mindset is exactly what drew me to startups and ad tech in the first place. I’ve always been energised by environments where people are experimenting, shaping new ideas, building communities, and rethinking how systems work. Many of my influences come from disciplines that intersect within our industry: technology, AI, architecture, and design because they reshape how we think about systems, structure, and scale.
And perhaps most powerfully, I’ve always been motivated by the voices that quietly suggested I couldn’t.
Those biases, even the whispered ones, have pushed me to stretch further, challenge myself more, and try to create space for others to do the same.
Because sometimes inspiration doesn’t come from the spotlight.
Sometimes it comes from the people who quietly break the rules that should never have existed in the first place.
Where you would like your career to go over the next five years?
Over the next five years, my focus is actually quite simple: steady, meaningful growth.
We’re operating in a moment where the industry is shifting incredibly fast, new technologies, new platforms, and evolving audience behaviours are reshaping how people discover and consume content. In that kind of environment, the most valuable leadership isn’t reactive, it’s thoughtful and strategic.
For me, that means continuing to help build Optima Tech into a truly first-in-class partner for publishers, a company known not just for technology, but for helping our partners navigate real industry change, particularly as new technologies reshape how audiences discover and engage with publisher content.
I’m motivated by building things that last: companies, partnerships, and systems that create real value over time. Leadership that adds genuine value, rather than chasing the next trend.
In many ways, the new skill in our industry is balance - knowing when to move quickly, but also when to move steadily and deliberately.
Beyond any single role or company, my aim is to remain constant in how I show up: impactful, authentic, and transparent, whether that’s in tech platform, brand partnerships, or the broader ecosystems we help shape. Because in a rapidly shifting industry, the real measure of a successful career is impact.
What advice would you give other women in the industry?
Build supportive communities. Ask for help when you need it, and be generous in offering it to others.
Be intentional about where you spend your energy. You don’t have to be everywhere, just in the places that truly matter for your growth.Trust your instincts. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s worth paying attention to. And if you have an idea for how things could be better, operationally, culturally, or systematically: don’t wait for permission to explore it.
Most importantly, learn to tune out the noise.
Focus on the work, the people who believe in it, and the difference you want to make. Everything else becomes easier to navigate.
Joy Dean, VP EUK Publisher Revenue Growth/Global Marketing Strategy at Optima