CAMPAIGN MEDIA FACES TO WATCH 2019 – RUQAYIAH AL USMAN, 28, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, UM

Nominated by Alina Waite, media director, J3
“Ruqayiah has taken over as lead for the Johnson’s Baby account in April and has helped navigate the client through planning for modern motherhood. In particular she has spearheaded precision marketing, e-commerce and planning across South Africa, the Middle East and Turkey (AMET). Ruqayiah has a clear passion for planning and is very agile in reacting to business needs. It is true to say she drives the mindset of ‘change is the new normal’. She has also played a fundamental role in upskilling those she works with and any learning experience she embraces is shared with the team.”

Career path
“My career has focused on the consumer packaged goods category as I am particularly interested in marrying business performance with the reality of consumers’ daily lives. I started this journey on Nestle (for two and a half years) and moved four years ago to Johnson and Johnson at J3. I have worked across a variety of their brands, in particular enjoying launching Listerine Miswak, which has huge cultural relevance. I now lead Johnson’s Baby across 76 AMET markets, and it is fascinating understanding what unites mothers across this breadth of countries whilst also appreciating the local nuances.”

Guiding principles
Being agile is the best thing you can do for yourself when you work in our industry. Simply put, it’s ensuring change within reason is actioned as swiftly and adeptly as possible. As a planning principle of J3, it has pretty much become the principle of everything I work on and with. Agility opens you up to a more dynamic workflow, which for me is a lot more self-satisfying than working in routine.