Anna Boucaut on Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and the Freedom of Technology
Anna Boucaut started working at Howatson+Company as a freelancer a year and a half ago and never left.
She took the opportunity to take everything good that she had learned in all of her previous roles, and has applied it to building her own team.
Before planting her feet firmly into the grounds of Howatson+Company, she worked at CHE Proximity as a senior technology project manager, at SLIK as their digital producer, and at Loud Days as a digital project manager.
Anna was also most recently shortlisted for the 2023 B&T Women in Media Awards.
LBB> Being a part of a creative and tech industry can often come with a little bit of imposter syndrome, especially for younger women. How do you ensure that everyone on your team feels empowered to do their jobs and how do you maintain yourself if you are ever feeling doubtful?
Anna> Impostor syndrome happens to everyone and once you accept that, it becomes a little bit easier to manage. You start to recognise the ways that different people try to protect themselves from that feeling. As a young woman in tech, I have an opportunity to either continue to let it be a filter over everything that I do, or choose to acknowledge it, feel it when it feels real, but otherwise, take the opportunities as they come and have the confidence of pushing past that feeling of imposter syndrome.
Creating an environment around you with people that you trust helps to make sure that you feel protected in those moments of feeling imposter syndrome. And that’s the kind of team I want to establish and grow. A team where you always have someone in your corner, where you're never doing anything in a complete silo, where you have that opportunity to constantly self evaluate but more importantly an ability todo a sense check or ask the questions you may be apprehensive to ask. That constant reinforcement that you've been given this role and this opportunity for a reason. We have so many amazing young leaders at Howatson+Company, especially women in tech, so I strive every day to build a culture where people feel empowered to succeed.
LBB> The digital marketing industry has seen some much growth and change over the past few years and will most likely continue to move rapidly. How do you stay on top of your game?
Anna> I try really hard to separate my work and my life. As a result, I'm fully in the details through my working day. In my personal life, I try to take a little step back. I'm lucky to be surrounded by a team who are interested in the latest and greatest, so I am always learning.
I have this unreal privilege of being exposed to those tech forward conversations, or even the technologies themselves. So I often subconsciously see the changes that are happening and the impact that they're having, without even really realising that I’m seeing it.
Technology is becoming so flexible in the way that we get to use it, and I think that having the ability to say, ‘how far do we want to push this one?’ is super exciting. Obviously this is only achievable if you have people around you who are also as in love with the industry as you are. Some people can view tech as an enabler, but I think that the reason I love it so much is because it's so much more than that. It can be the creator of an idea, or accelerate a service to support an offering.
LBB> When working with a brand, what is the first thing you look for or ask about in order to understand the brand's identity and their digital marketing goals?
Anna> Often we're really lucky to have our brands and our clients for a while. Almost as if they're a friend, you learn pretty quickly what their likes and dislikes are. To understand a brand's identity, you need to start to interact really closely with your clients on their side and understand, how do they interact with each other? How do they talk about their customers? How do they hear from their customers? And then understand what are they articulating to us as their values in the briefs we receive.
Once you really start to get a gauge on all of those bits and pieces, usually you have a pretty clear idea of brand personality. I often want to know what their challenges are. Or what is the issue that they have had in the past to get to this point, and then what has already been put forward as the solution.
I think often, our first instinctive solution will often be something they have already thought about. From there, we need to ask how we can push past those ideas and offer something that's more valuable, something that’s going to change the game or have more of an impact.
LBB> What has been a project that you’ve worked on that's been memorable in some way? What makes it so? Did you learn something new? Was it challenging?
Anna> So many! Every project is different. One that will always stay with me was a website re-platforming and redesign project that we did in 2022. The project went over 12 months, kicking off when I first started at Howaston+Company. The reason it was so memorable is because when it was brought in, it was a small piece of work to improve a single customer experience on the site, but we very quickly evolved that to be an overhaul of the entire digital web experience across multiple customer touch points. The challenge was the scale of the project - we went through two major Adobe platform migrations in the process with three parallel streams of deliverables happening all at the same time. As a result of the work and growth it brought to the agency, it was the catalyst for the digital experience team to shape into what it is currently. I'm really proud of that project in delivering the work, the outcomes and the opportunities that emerged from it.
LBB> If you could go back in time to the Anna that has just graduated, what would you tell her?
Anna> I found this really emotional to answer. So much happens in that phase of your life when you finish your 12 and you're like, ‘Oh, my God, this is it. This is the be all and end all.” But if I could go back, I’d tell her to just relax, everything will work out. You just have no idea how much fun it's going to be. I've made the best of friends. I've learned so much more than I ever did at school and uni. I've been challenged to think in different ways. I've been very fortunate to be given and take the opportunities that have been right for me. And it's been an absolute joy to get to where I am now.
