Women who lead: The Atelier & Co.'s Julia Wei on leaving a place better than before

This April, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE is continuing its "Women who lead" podcast series, celebrating the powerful female leaders in the agency industry across the region.

In this final episode, Julia Wei (pictured), CEO of The Atelier & Co., opens up about her transition from leading Edelman Singapore to heading the luxury experiences company. She shares her personal measure of success as a female leader and reflects on the evolving dynamic between brands and agencies.

Prior to her CEO role at TAC, Wei was the chief executive officer of Edelman Singapore. She also held roles in AKA Asia, Lazada Singapore and The Secret Little Agency. 

Don't miss: Interview: Former Edelman SG chief Julia Wei takes CEO role at The Atelier & Co. Holdings

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What prompted your jump out of Edelman into The Atelier & Co.?

Wei: I've spent the last 20 years in marketing and communications. So many people did feel like it was quite a different move, and many were curious as to why.

The Atelier & Co.'s founder is a friend whom I've known for a very long time. I've actually been very involved in her journey from the start. Around 10 or 15 years ago, when they first launched The Wedding Atelier business in Hong Kong, I was there at the launch, and when they launched The Floral Atelier in Singapore I helped them with their PR and the launch as well. 

I believe there are a lot of transferable skills coming from a consulting agency because the business is not just purely about events, planning and experiences— but a lot of it also has to do with building a brand and business development in terms of generating leads with clients. It's also thinking about ways to harmonise business between disciplines— from events, to flowers, to gifting and programming. 

So it didn't feel like a big leap, and honestly, it felt like a natural step.

I also really enjoy working with founder-led businesses, so all these things came together. It's familiarity with the founder, the opportunity to work and grow a founder-led business, and the transferable skills. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Since Lelian Chew, the founder of The Atelier & Co. is a longtime friend of yours, how do you balance friendship and business relationships, especially in such a high-stakes leadership role?

Wei: Before taking on any role, It's quite important to me that the values, principles and our outlooks are similar. I already know how Lelian takes things on, and her strife for excellence, and how she makes decisions. So from knowing her, I know that there's a natural alignment there. 

Entering a partnership like this, we were very clear on how we complement our strengths.

Lelian is the creative visionary of the company, and she has a touch on the signature events. And the area where I can come in to help support, is in operationalising the business, growing certain segments and deepening client relationships. 

And from the onset, we had honest conversations even before I joined. We sat down together quite a few times, to talk things through, to find out what we hoped to see, and what our expectations were of each other. So, I think with any sort of partnership, communication and constant communication is important. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Spanning across the different leadership roles that you've held, how do you define success? And has that definition evolved over time?

Wei: I think that for me, especially in my last few roles coming in at a leadership level, a lot of the work had to do with some form of transformation. It's always moving and never stagnating. When every leader comes in, it's an opportunity to transform or improve to a next era of the agency. And with long-standing agencies, I really think of it as being a steward of time. 

For me, success is about whether or not I have left this place better than when I found it.

And that's a really good barometer. For each of the companies I've joined, it could be different barometers of what better looks like, since it has to do with the ambition of the founder or what my boss has brought me in to do. 

I'd say that if the mandate is clear, and the expected before and after is clear, it gives you a good sense of whether you've shifted the needle or not. It's about the vision of what you want to get to, and being clear on what those metrics look like, because you're not going to make that leap in just six months.

To catch to the rest of the conversation with Julia Wei, tune in to the Women who lead podcast series on Spotify, or listen on the go:   

Join us this coming 23 - 24 April for #Content360, a two-day extravaganza centered around three core thematic pillars: Challenging The Norm; Technology For Transformation; and Unlocking Imagination. Immerse yourself in learning to curate content with creativity, critical thinking, and confidence with us at Content360!

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