Uprising: Gymnastics and Generosity with Stephanie Relova

Stephanie Relova is an account supervisor at creative agency H/L, based in Oakland with offices also in Miami, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Phoenix. Since joining in 2021, she has been instrumental on projects for Upwork and Toyota, as well as the agency’s own recent rebrand. After pivoting slightly to the new business team,  she now focuses on identifying prospective clients and pitching new opportunities, earning her the Josh Nichol and Valerie Bailey Memorial Award - an internal recognition from the H/L shareholders and VP teams for outstanding impact in the agency.

While she’s thriving in the advertising world, her deepest passion has always been - and remains - gymnastics. Since the age of three, she has been consumed by the sport, even reaching 25 hours of training per week. “This sport taught me so many soft skills at a young age that I think still play a big factor in my success at work,” she says. “The intense schedule taught me work ethic, time-management, organisation, discipline, and so much more.”

“I loved that every day at practice brought new challenges,” she adds. “I loved that no matter how hard I tried or how much I practised, there were always improvements to be made and new skills to learn. I think that mentality contributes to why I love my job so much. It’s ever-changing; I’m presented with new challenges constantly, and I learn something new every day.”

This work ethic is also something learned from her family, being the granddaughter of four immigrants - Filipino on her paternal side, and English and German on her mother’s. “My grandparents worked so hard to create a life with more opportunity for my parents, and my parents worked just as hard to do the same for me.”

Thanks to her parents’ jobs - her mother a senior account manager at NBC, and father a creative director and producer at Bay Area news station KRON4 - Stephanie grew up on set, often being used as talent for ads, news segments, and voice acting.  As such, one of her fondest memories with her dad is from recording a voiceover at Pixar Studios while ‘WALL-E’ was in production. “I was blown away by everything that went into producing something like that. You’d think I would be tired of the industry after growing up in it, but I feel like I ended up right where I was meant to be.” 

On her journey into the industry, she earned an athletic scholarship to San Jose State University and graduated Suma Cum Laude with a degree in business management, before completing her masters and a certificate in advanced global leadership. All the while, gymnastics was still at the heart of her life - captaining the college’s Division I team to two conference championships - the only back-to-back championship win in programme history. 

Balancing this gymnastics success with multiple part-time jobs during her masters, volunteering at the campus food pantry, helping elementary school students and serving on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee was “gruelling”, she says. However, it taught her about time management, prioritisation and other life skills, as well as earning her SJSU’s only NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee in 2019, the same year she won the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar award for gymnastics. This award honours students of colour who have excelled in the classroom as well as athletically in higher education, and demonstrated a commitment to community service and student leadership. 

“Overall, I had an incredible experience at SJSU,” she says, “and I stay very connected through various alumni networks as well as volunteer as much as I can for the SJSU gymnastics team.” 

When Stephanie first joined H/L in 2021 as an assistant account executive, she split her time between Upwork and Northern California Toyota, before taking on much more responsibilities for the Upwork account and being promoted after just five months. 

“I have absolutely loved leading all the research that we do on Toyota,” she says, highlighting the quarterly brand health and consumer sentiment surveys as points of pride - not to mention the electric vehicle and multicultural creative research that dives deeper into their target audiences.

“Through this research, we have been able to answer so many unknowns, especially as it relates to reaching our audiences through media buys/partnerships as well as through implementing creative concepts and messaging that resonate deeply with our audience.” An example of this is how the H/L creatives leveraged an insight from this research to create ‘Recipes’, a spot centred around cooking; a topic that scored highly in research across multicultural audiences. 

In Summer 2022, Stephanie was given the opportunity to play a role in H/L’s rebrand, helping assess the agency’s history and aligning its goals for the future. “I conducted a ton of research on the industry, our competitive landscape, consumer trends, CMO behaviours, etc. On top of that, we did some qualitative research… all of which helped us identify what H/L does better than our competitors: we ‘Make Momentum.™”

With the new positioning solidified, she helped the team develop a new visual identity, revamp the website and, of course, produce some new H/L swag. Since launching the new look in April last year, she says they have received great feedback and even won awards for the work. “I truly feel that I was able to learn something new every day working on this rebrand, and I’m excited to apply this new knowledge to future projects.”

One of the things Stephanie learned early on was to always seek out ways to add value to her team, instead of taking an “observational backseat”. Instead of waiting to be asked, she learned to be proactive and do the many things her busy teammates had no time to execute. 

“Listening for those little opportunities and executing them without being asked adds tremendous value to a busy team.”

“Additionally, being a lifelong learner is critical to working in an industry like advertising,” she adds. “It is so important to stay up to date on industry trends, research, innovative tools, consumer trends, new technologies, etc. The landscape of our business changes constantly, and the more you know, the more value you can add to your team. This ever-changing environment is also what makes our jobs so fun and keeps you on your toes.”

Keeping her alert is Stephanie’s latest role on the newly assembled new business team - what she describes as a “natural progression” of her job following the rebrand success. “I am stoked to continue to do such impactful work for the agency,” she says, “and I cannot wait to see what new business we can win for H/L this year!”

Above: Stephanie and her family

And her hard work and progress hasn’t gone unnoticed by the agency. Earlier this year, Stephanie became one of the first two winners of the company’s Josh Nichol and Valerie Bailey Memorial Awards, dedicated to two recently deceased members of the H/L family, and given to invaluable H/Lers with a deep commitment to the team and its success.  

“I am incredibly honoured to be one of the first recipients,” she says. “Josh and Valerie led through their hard work and good humour. They cultivated collaboration and fostered a work environment that motivated H/Lers to do the best work of their careers. I am astonished that my co-workers hold me in a similar regard to these two amazing individuals. Earning this award has motivated me to persist in upholding the values that were so important to Josh and Valerie and continue to seek ways to make a positive impact at H/L.”

This positive impact also extends to the wider industry as a whole. Looking around, Stephanie is inspired by the diverse,  inclusive and honest advertising being produced, and hopes to see, and be involved in, more brand actions that align with customers’ values and reflect their realities. “Growing up, it felt like you only saw one kind of person being represented, and it feels so impactful to see different kinds of people and cultures not only be represented but being celebrated in advertising,” she says.

“I love that consumers are demanding more authenticity, especially on social media. I think we have all seen some of the negative effects that social media can have on young minds. These effects are only worsened by celebrities/influencers posting photoshopped before-and-after images and promoting products and/or services that don’t work or that they don’t actually use.” She continues, “I’m excited to see consumers catching onto this and calling people and brands out on the false advertising that they see. And it is so refreshing to see the shift that some brands have made to employ real people who share their unfiltered experiences using their products or services.” 

Of course, when Stephanie isn’t working, gymnastics still plays a significant role in her life. It’s not just a pastime, but something that actively contributes to her motivation as a whole. “As a child, I strived for perfection in the gym day-in and day-out, and I think that drive to always be improving, learning, and trying new things hasn’t left me.”

One of these newfound skills has been crocheting, allowing her to create fun items for friends and family - indicative of her innately giving nature. When she’s not relishing the opportunity to spend time with her family and dogs, she’s often giving her energy (if not, little crocheted bags) to others. This includes volunteering as a gymnastics commentator and analyst at her alma mater, and volunteering in the 3AF (Asian American Advertising Federation) NextGen Mentorship programme. 

“My mentee is a master’s student at VCU Brandcenter, and it has been such a rewarding experience to work with him the past seven months,” she says. “I’m a big believer in taking the time to open doors that allow others to succeed. It can be hard to set aside time in your busy life to give back, but there is nothing more rewarding or inspiring than watching the people in your circle succeed.”