Vroom vroom, how fast does this thing go?

Super excited, keen and a touch of imposter syndrome is how I’m feeling after finding out I was accepted into TikTok’s Accelerator Program for 2023. The program is run by the social media giant’s Australian team, and aimed at mid-career advertising industry professionals the chance to develop their skills across leadership and creativity. TikTok will run a series of in-person sessions across Melbourne and Sydney, with a final three-day retreat in August. My sources tell me that this may be on the Sunshine Coast 👀

I was pumped to apply after reading what a CHEP Communications Planning Director got out of it last year, and not going to lie, a beachside retreat during winter is also not a bad bonus too.

Here is the full cohort for 2023:

• Abigail Charlesworth, EssenceMediacom

• Alexander Fleming, Mindshare

• Alison Bongailas, Initiative

• Andrea Maldonado Potter, PHD

• Arielle Lafleche, Wavemaker

• Callum Henderson, PHD

• Cassie Tomlinson, Half Dome

• Catriona Barthram, OMD

• Dee Hamza, Resolution Digital

• Emma Baston, PMG

• Hattie Dinger, OMD

• James Lever, Wavemaker

• Josh Iselin, Dentsu

• Joshua Green, Spark Foundry

• Joshua Chan, Razorfish

• Katherine Williams, Wavemaker

• Lucile Dattin, Zenith

• Luisa Dalli, Havas Media

• Luke Egan, CHEP

• Michaela Tan, GroupM

• Nolan Yu, OMD

• Onam Khatri, Starcom

• Paige X. Cho, Bolster

• Patrick Tully, Reprise Digital

• Rahma El Sayed, UM

• Rebecca Reeder, Nunn Media

• Rosalie Odtojan, Zenith

• Ryan Hancock, Match & Wood

• Shahrzad Eftekhar, Mindshare

• Sharyn Keller, Initiative

One of the selection judges was Andrew Cambridge (Head of Agency, TikTok Australia and New Zealand) has said this about our group this year: “The 2023 cohort represents the bright future of our media industry – I can’t wait to see the impact of bringing these brains together over the coming months.”

Excited for all the pool-side hangs cool learnings already.