Living Marketing

After leaving a high-flying job with Mars, Inc. in the UK and relocating to Hong Kong with her family, Jennifer Woollford experimented with a variety of different roles before founding NEON Leaders, a collective of strategic marketing leaders for hire. 

What are the advantages of this "gig economy" style way of working, are there unique challenges when recruiting and onboarding marketing talent deployed this way?

Jennifer Woollford was global brand director with Mars, Inc. before she moved to Hong Kong from the UK three years ago with her husband Stuart and two children. Rather than continuing her rise at the global food giant in an Asia role, she chose a different path. Today Jennifer is the founder and director of NEON Leaders, a collective of strategic marketing leaders sort of like a brain trust for hire, augmenting and extending the capabilities of marketing teams across Asia. 

What made her decide to walk away from a high-flying career to blaze a new trail on the other side of the world? Join me as I talk with Jennifer on her journey from London to Hong Kong, her thoughts on balancing career and family, and what it means to "lean out."  

Kiri Sinclair is the daughter of the late great Kevin Sinclair, one of Hong Kong’s most celebrated journalists, who was with the South China Morning Post for over forty years. Over his career he’s interviewed everyone from royalty and captains of industry to rural villagers, and found them all equally fascinating. Kiri is also the founder and CEO of Sinclair, an award-winning independent PR, digital and experiential agency.

In this episode I talk to Kiri about how she started Sinclair, what it was like growing up with her dad, how his love of storytelling has inspired her as an entrepreneur. We also speak at length about our mutual experiences growing up in Hong Kong, the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China, the dramatic growth of China, and what it’s like being a “blondest of blond” child in this Chinese city. 

A quick introduction, and why I'm doing this podcast.