My Journey
My Epic Story. Actually, it’s not really epic. But looking back, it does seem like an extraordinary one.
It’s 1988 and I just started my first job at a huge multi-national advertising agency. I’m working on Coca-Cola and Goodyear tires. My eyes are round as saucers as I rush from the darkness of the editing room to the brightness at reception anxiously awaiting an urgent FedEx package. My days are full of typing (using a manual typewriter and whiteout – despite that fact that I did have a word processor), making coffee, and taking notes for the endless number of meetings. Then I settle down to an evening of filling out insertion orders for hundreds of newspaper ads that week. It’s a stack of forms about an inch thick. And it’s all hand-written. I feel like I’m having an early onset of arthritis from all the writing.
My mentor and boss is a man from India (a person of colour was still a rarity back then). I’m happy and grateful as he takes me under his wing. He takes a special interest in me as a minority and a woman, opening a door for my future. He says, “Cindy, you will have to work harder than anyone else because of how you were born.”
I only knew the extent of those words’ years later. There were no Asian account people in advertising back then. The few Asians in the industry were those tucked away in accounting.
I graduated from an accounting/commerce degree of course because: one, I’m Asian; and two, I come from a family of accountants on my dad’s side. I really wanted to study fashion design. I also felt a strong desire to be a nurse. I even got accepted into a nursing program. But I was pulled in a different direction. As the first born, how do you not follow what your parents desire?
I was always good at creating something with my hands. My mom was a seamstress. She worked from home, and I pick up the craft and created wedding dresses/formalwear part-time during high school.
Fast forward 10 years in consumer/packaged goods, I then entered the world of pharma/healthcare. Over the next two decades, I worked at the largest healthcare agencies on Top 50 global brands on both sides of the Canadian/US border. I was on Madison Avenue running big teams and traveled the world launching well-known brands. During this period, I was passed over for promotions, had folks take credit for my contributions, was side-lined, and hit the glass ceiling. I worked harder.
Life changed in 2010 with my divorce. I stopped travelling and worked locally. I founded ClearMed in 2015. I started with nothing. No Clients, no seed money. I was a single mom with two kids trying to make an honest living with no net if I failed.
I saw a gap in the way clients were being serviced; the lack of insight to differentiate their products and services, cluttered messaging, and poor media planning. Many of them had multiple agencies with inconsistent messaging causing market confusion, lack of visibility, and lack luster performance. I saw how arduous the process was for clients with limited time or limited resources. I also saw how innovations were getting lost in a sea of newness and how overwhelming the information was to various audiences. I wanted to use my commerce knowledge, my passion for nursing and my skills in design to create a clearer way for medical brands to success no matter their size or stage.
People ask me why I do what I do for a living. I tell them I am ensuring the world gets medical content that everyone needs and understands.
I love healthcare. It’s a passion, not a job. Every day I am making a difference in the lives of patients, healthcare practitioners, and the scientist behind the scenes bringing medicine, medical devices, and medical services to the world. My heart is full and filled with creativity, a desire to contribute to the health and well-being of others and creating a business with integrity.
Those words from my mentor have inspired me today to break through and keep going, despite adversity and narrow points of view. I never imagined I would be here today – one of the few Asian women running a global advertising business.
It is now many years since I started ClearMed. I am so proud of the team and work we have built, the relationships I have with my clients, and the opportunity for me to pay it forward.
Healthcare Categories of Expertise:
- Allergies
- Animal Health
- Biologics
- Biosurgicals
- Biotech
- Cardiovascular
- Dermatology
- Diabetes
- Hematology
- Hospitals
- Medical Associations
- Medical Devices
- Medical Simulation
- Men’s Health
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Oncology
- Ophthalmology
- Optometry
- Orthopedics
- Pain Management
- Pharmaceuticals
- Respiratory
- Women’s Health
- Wound Care
Consumer
- Beverages
- Financial
- Over-the-counter
- Packaged Goods
- Quick Service
- Restaurants (QSR)
- Retail