5 Minutes With Lois Yang

#TeamMindshare believes in Speed, Teamwork and Provocation. As we adjust to working differently, we're continuing to empower people to challenge the status quo and drive Good Growth for our clients and the industry. Growth isn’t just a flash in the pan, but it’s enduring, diversified, and more sustainable over time. We’re proud to be unmistakably #TeamMindshare, and make it the place where we do the best work of our career, grow and have fun. Hear from Lois on how she's adapted, what her biggest learning is and how she stays inspired.

Biggest learning from your career

The desire to learn and always try to be resourceful. Having worked on both the client and agency side, the amazing part about being on the agency side is that we have this golden opportunity to become experts on the latest and greatest within the industry. It doesn’t matter what position you hold in your career—whether you are a fresh Associate or a seasoned Director, it really is up to each of us individually to continue to striving for growth and knowledge. Whether it is knowing the ins and outs of a Reach and Frequency tool, or meticulously filing away different docs so that you can quickly use them as a source later down the line, or just asking the Programmatic team to explain their optimizations for your own understanding—keep asking questions and be hungry to learn more.

We’re lucky to be working in an agency with an abundance of resources, specifically the knowledge and experience behind teams and people. By taking the time to understand media outside of my own Planning role has allowed me to be a better planner, teammate and resource for others.  Take advantage of being a part of our agency and don’t feel embarrassed to ask what you don’t know.

One word to describe the last year?

Adapting. 2020 was a year that we learned to expect the unexpected while 2021 was the year we had to learn to transition and adapt to the new realities. From wearing masks to dealing with technical difficulties on zoom calls to creating digitally connected relationships…we all were forced to adapt and grow. No matter what, we’re not the same as we were two years ago. By no means was it easy and by no means did we all welcome the unforeseen changes, but human beings are resilient and have learned to adapt and accept the change.

Best advice you gave out about hybrid working?

Set your boundaries. Like many of us, I found myself actually working more because I didn’t need to commute into the office and I couldn’t socialize in-person with my colleagues. To avoid burnout, I had to set up a schedule to make sure that I took some time for myself in the morning before I logged on and blocked off time from video conferences to avoid fatigue. It’s so easy to forget the clock and just continue to plug away, but I found that I was much more productive and focused with boundaries. Taking the extra time to go work out in the morning and actually dress up (even if sometimes it was paired with sweats) helped me feel ready for the day.

Also, make sure to set up some time with your teammates (and it doesn’t have to be on video either). But my favorite part of each work day was just my daily morning check-ins with my teammates. Sure we’d talk about to-do lists for the day ahead, but we would often go off tangents and talk about the random things people are doing and discovering. Just those few minutes of chatting brings a sense of normalcy and community that we all miss while working from home.

How have you stayed inspired?

I think it’s the little things that have help me stay inspired and stay motivated. As an introvert, I find it crucial to take some “me time” for myself on the daily. So whether its sweating it out in my morning pilates class or chasing after pucks in a late night game of pick up hockey or cheering madly at an Anaheim Ducks game, I use the time to myself to reenergize with my little and big joys of life outside of work.

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