Transformation Series: Nicole James

By Nicole James, Account Executive

I was born and raised in suburban Michigan, in what is considered to be the southeast metro-Detroit area. Growing up in Michigan, summer activities typically included water sports on the lake like tubing and wakeboarding.Aside from all of the water activities, I also played club soccer and had a short stint on my high school’s girls’ varsity golf team.I was pretty sub-par though…apologies for the dad joke.

Although I loved growing up in Michigan, the suburban life was becoming a bit sleepy and as I graduated high school, I felt the urge to move to a more lively environment. My dream was realized when I had the opportunity to study abroad and live in Prague for a semester in college. Once I had a taste of the city life, I was hooked and knew I needed to end up in a city following my college graduation from the University of Michigan (go blue!).

While I had always been interested in advertising and technology and knew I wanted to land somewhere at the intersection of those spaces, I hadn’t identified what I specifically wanted to do career-wise until my advertising internship in NYC while a rising senior in college. During this advertising internship, I discovered I was particularly interested in the digital aspect of full-funnel marketing strategies. Fortunately, I was assigned to a digital marketing team and was tasked with the digital portion of our capstone internship project; this further piqued my interest in adtech. Since college, I’ve worked exclusively in the adtech space, specifically in client-facing and sales roles, which I’ve enjoyed as I’ve been able to channel my adtech interests along with my ability to talk people’s ears off (kidding…kind of).

Throughout my several years in the working world, I’ve worked for various adtech companies, all with very different solution suites, and have had the privilege of meeting and working with a ton of unique clients across media holding groups, agencies, and brands. These differing experiences have allowed me to broaden and diversify my skillset and what eventually led me to VideoAmp. While my previous roles were fantastic learning experiences and laid a valuable foundation, VideoAmp has provided a challenging yet rewarding experience beyond just adtech

Here at VideoAmp, there is never a dull moment; from finding streamlined solutions for complex challenges to creating strategies from scratch, team bonding in and out of office, client events with an Ashanti performance, collaboration quarters in advance, and receiving IO and assets hours before a scheduled launch. Everyday is a new and exciting challenge.  

Aside from the constantly evolving work, VideoAmp also has a set of core values that are intended to provide guidance for growth and success both professionally and personally. I see these values embodied constantly, whether it’s through “shipping it fast” by working internally to identify creative solutions or “figuring it out” by formulating POCs and first-to-market tests or “embracing wellness” through wellness benefits and the fitness challenges.

Throughout my time at VideoAmp, the meaningful and long-lasting relationships with coworkers and clients I’ve formed are definitely the foundation of my biggest accomplishments. While an Account Executive is a highly independent role, you truly need the support and collaboration of your team to achieve your goals, and having “champions” on the client side advocating to kick off and continue strong partnerships is also imperative. Due to these internal and external relationships, I’ve had the opportunity to work on complex media and measurement deals that push the boundaries of what we can currently do and what we strive to achieve, and have had the privilege of working and forming friendships with some of the most intelligent and interesting people I’ve met.

When I am not in the office, working from home, or hanging with our team or clients at our “FOMO”-inducing events, you can find me curating Spotify playlists and dragging my friends to concerts , trying new workout classes, escaping the city to do nature-y things (like hiking), boating on our lake back home in Michigan, traveling to new places (like the south of France a few months ago), attempting to snag impossible reservations at new NYC restaurants (currently eyeing my new neighborhood restaurant, Claud), and hunting for the best martini in the city.