Everyone wants to be a media girlie… OK, maybe not everyone, but let’s be honest, there’s a reason so many rom-com heroines are journalists and publicists. However, actually succeeding as a media girlie isn’t as easy as Kate Hudson made it look in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Becoming a leader in the communications industry takes grit, skill, and more than a little passion. Luckily, there are plenty of female communications leaders for the next generation of media girlies to look up to.
At the 2026 New York Women In Communications (NYWICI) Matrix Awards, a ceremony to celebrate the accomplishments of women in communications and the arts, Her Campus spoke with some of the most powerful and accomplished leaders in the business — from television executives to agency CEOs to influencer marketing leaders — to get insights on what ambitious Gen Zers can do if they want to follow in these women’s footsteps.
The communications field is seeing massive changes, thanks in large part to the prevalence of social media and the disruption of AI, but today’s leaders are hopeful for the opportunities new college graduates will have on the industry — and the impact they will make. Here’s the advice they had to share for the future female leaders in communications.
- Debra OConnell – Chairman, Disney Entertainment Television, The Walt Disney Company
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Courtesy of NYWICI “My first piece of advice for women coming into this incredibly dynamic industry is to be curious and to be a student of the industry — to learn as much as you can about a wide variety of things. Anyone who has interest in our industry typically has a heart full of curiosity and a mind that wants to think about how you can connect with others. And that’s one of the biggest and most important opportunities for someone entering in the world — thinking about networking, thinking about connection, and thinking about what it means to speak to others.”
- Abbey Klaassen – Chief Executive Officer, Tinuiti
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Courtesy of NYWICI “I think we are going to be facing a period of the most unprecedented change we’ve seen in a very long time, and I think there will be a few keys to success for people coming into the workforce. I think one is always staying curious and hungry to learn, even after you are done with college. My entire career, for example, has been defined by putting myself in positions where I’ve had to learn something new. And so I think staying curious and adopting that growth mindset is super, super critical.”
- Ashley Miles – Founder & CEO, Franklyn West
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Courtesy of NYWICI “Do the hard work. Dig in, be the first one in, the last one out. Be an owner of whatever’s asked of you, and then go above and beyond to do really great work.”
- Marisa Thalberg – EVP, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer, Catalyst Brands
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Courtesy of NYWICI “Don’t be afraid of being all the best of what a woman actually is in leadership today. As our understanding of what is actually required in leadership in a modern world — and a disruptive world — continues to evolve, it turns out the qualities that we traditionally associated as female leadership qualities, which both men and women can possess, are actually the ones that are going to create competitive advantage. For the longest time, we had to suppress who we were, and now it’s about expressing who we [are] in the best ways that model behaviors for everyone.”
- Beth Feldman – SVP Communications, The CW Network & SVP Communications, Nexstar Media Group/Networks
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Courtesy of NYWICI “My biggest piece of advice is to start building your brand identity from the moment you wake up. And if you’re in school, be a content creator. Start showing people what you’re capable of, because we are living in a day and age where you can really create this visual resume and portfolio before you even set foot in the door of a real job. And I honestly feel that having those skills right from the outset is definitely something that is a game-changer for your generation.”
- Brandi Boatner – Global Influencer Marketing, IBM
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Courtesy of NYWICI “Trust your gut and trust your instinct. I meet a lot of young women who are unsure, but their gut tells them [something], but then they do something else. And I’m like: Trust your gut. You know you best. Even though, yes, you’re going to get a lot of opinions and you’re going to get a lot of voices in your ear, your voice is the most important. Trust yourself. Just really give yourself permission to fail. It’s OK if you fail. It’s not tied to your self-worth. I can’t stress it enough: Trust yourself.”
