Exceptional Women Out West featuring Mandana Mellano, chief media officer, Fallon - a podcast by TheDrum

Mandana Mellano was born in Iran, a child in a world of turmoil. She has lived in four different continents and has traveled the world, speaking three languages fluently and bringing a global sensibility to her job as chief media officer at Fallon.

Mellano has had an impressive career so far. Before Fallon, she was partner and director at Ogilvy & Mather / Neo@Ogilvy, and spent time at Rapp as VP and in director roles at Group M: Mindshare + MEC and Kastner & Partners.

As a successful industry veteran, she doesn’t think women need to compromise their values, capabilities or dreams, and she loves people who have purpose and are able to project that purpose into the world and for others.

If she hadn’t gone into media and marketing? Mellano would have been a cartographer, which isn’t difficult to imagine with her globe hopping. She believes that everyone should live in another country and learn another culture to get perspective and depth in how they see the world

She believes that hitting lows in life and business is ok, because, though the highs can be fun and energizing, the lows make you feel and think.

In business, she is always trying to define the role of marketing automation, since it is a vital part of the industry, and thinks technical advances are exciting but can also be scary.

For Mellano, one word has summed up her life so far: change. Through all the changes, Mellano says she has been building – independence, relationships, responsibilities, teams, capabilities and agencies.

But change, to Mellano, is good and she loves people who embrace it.

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