Jenna Young never anticipated she would be working in advertising sales, certainly not digital advertising in the tech industry. But today she finds herself a Senior Account Executive working in marketplace development for Xandr, a digital media company recently acquired by Microsoft.
“Back in high school, advertising sales was not one of those jobs highlighted during career day,” says Young, who graduated from GVSU in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations and then in 2014 with a Master of Science in Communications.
Young’s first job out of college was working in-house for an insurance brand. Wanting to get agency experience, she took a job at a creative agency in Grand Rapids for a brief period, and then took a big leap of faith and moved to Nashville to work for the agency of record for Chevy Tier 2 business. After 3 years working with the agency/Chevy, she heard of an opening in sales at SpotX and decided to “complete the advertising trifecta.” She took the job with Xandr in December of 2021.
Her role at Xandr/Microsoft is working with agencies and brands in the Southeast region of the US that want to access their digital advertising inventory. This includes multiple forms of advertising–display, native, OTT (over-the-top or internet streaming video), CTV (connected television or streaming on apps), and OLV (online video). As such she helps clients place ads with multiple premium publishers like A+E, Discovery, AMC, Pluto, and Netflix.
Young says that for all the technology involved in her job, the most important skills for her are to be agile and a good listener.
“The tech industry is always changing so you have to keep up with what’s new,” she explains. “I talk with current and prospective clients daily, and the best thing I can do is be a good listener. This allows me to understand the situation the client is in and what they’re trying to accomplish and then come up with a solution that best fits their needs. The most important thing to me is to be a good resource and strategic partner for my clients.”
Young advises current Advertising and Public Relations students to take a diversity of classes and keep specific career options open.
“I went into the major thinking I wanted to work in PR, so that was my emphasis,” she says. “However, with the way the program was structured, I was able to take a lot of advertising classes, which ended up working out for me in the long run.”
Young also says her experience in the master’s program had multiple benefits for her.
“The master’s program specifically was a great investment for me,” Young says. “I learned to dig deeper, be a better communicator, and work with others at a higher level. A lot of us in the program were in the same boat, going to school at night after a long day at work, and we were able to apply what we were learning immediately to our roles. I was able to make connections in other industries and friendships I still have today.”
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