Women to Watch 2020: Celia Karl, R/GA Australia

Celia Karl

Production director
R/GA Australia
Australia

It has been a busy 12 months for Celia Karl. For the past year, Karl has been the production lead across the OneToyota accountR/GA’s largest account in APAC—and worked closely with the client-service lead to drive significant growth. Based on this performance, she was promoted to production director, where she would be responsible for leading production at R/GA nationally.

She’s made these strides along with strong performance metrics too. In the firm’s annual employee engagement survey, Celia’s team returned an engagement score 12% above the network average—the highest score within the R/GA global production department. Based on her stellar year, she has been appointed to R/GA’s APAC leadership team.

These performances only cap a stellar career for Karl, who started her career as a producer at August, where she learnt the ropes of production and worked her way up, quickly leading teams and accounts.

A defining moment of her career was when she led the digital production team at Cummins & Partners Melbourne to win a Silver Design Lion at Cannes and a Webby Award for work with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS).

While these performances would make her a stellar performer on their own, it is personal hardships that have moulded and directed Karl’s empathetic leadership. She has fought and won a four-year battle with severe hip dysplasia and endometriosis, all while navigating working full time.

Navigating full-time work whilst managing severe, chronic pain along with hours of medical appointments and rehab, helped Karl see the hidden complexities of women’s lives. This has made her an advocate for inclusive workplaces, where complexities are understood and met with flexibility and where outcomes and achievements are valued over hours in the physical or virtual office.