See It, Be It 2024: Winona Wee
Representation matters. That's why every year the LIONS endeavour to bring 16 women, trans-identifying and non-binary people from across the globe to Cannes Lions with their See It Be It scheme.
Ahead of the festival, we’ll be catching up with the class of 2024, to learn more about their inspiring stories. Kicking things off is Winona Wee, a senior creative at Wieden + Kennedy London, who hails from Singapore. Here she talks about the importance of championing her communities, sharing the love and hitting global headlines.
See it
Tell us about a woman who has inspired you in your career
Someone who has inspired me in my career is Rika Sharma—my first female boss, who was then the head of Social@Ogilvy in Singapore.
She showed me the nuances of female leadership: how to be firm yet empathetic, all while looking fabulous and glamorous! One of the most important pieces of advice Rika shared with me as a junior creative was cultivating my personal brand and creating a circle of people around me who would vouch for my work and ethics. Of course, she also emphasised reciprocating that support by uplifting and advocating for the voices of others.
Be it
How have you incorporated the lessons and insights you gained from women in your life and in creative/professional fields into how you approach life and your career
It’s definitely shaped the way I view my world. Good work matters, but being a nice person is even more important. Using my voice to advocate for the communities that I am a part of – be it neurodiversity, queerness, or even as a woman of colour has helped me make so many more connections that I cherish and have immensely enriched my creative journey. Love the world, and it loves you back!
Do It
How does that translate into the work? Tell us about some of the campaigns you've been involved in that you're really proud of. What challenges did you overcome to bring them to life?
I’ve always prided myself in creating culture-first ideas which champion communities that I am a part of. For example, I created Singapore’s first inclusive sex education platform called SexEd.Gay, immortalised Southeast Asian cultural delicacies into gaming lore with Teemo Treasure Trek, and advocated for the criminalisation of marital rape with #PleaseArrestMe. More recently, I made global headlines with #NepoBB – an AI search engine which kickstarted discussions on nepotism’s role in career advancement. A lot of these projects involved active listening to what people on the ground were saying, and conceptualising based as a response to that.
Share it
What messages or words of advice do you have for the next generation of women coming into the industry? And tell us about anything that you do to support and lift up women in the industry
My advice would be to 1) bring your authentic self to work and 2) find your people and show them love. I show my support for women and non-binary folks in different ways: Besides my day job, I’m also the lead of Ginger Beers, W+K London’s LGBTQIA+ affinity group, as well as a mentor with Outvertising – a volunteer-run organisation hoping to make advertising in the UK more LGBT+ inclusive. I was also previously a Kennedys mentor with W+K, a Barn mentor at BBH, and a Young Turk at Ogilvy. Plus, I’ve just started an SEA Creative Club in the UK with two other Southeast Asian women, Kimberly Ho and Alisya Rozhan!
See It Be It is a LIONS initiative aiming to achieve equal gender representation among creative directors and leaders across the global industry. The programme is open to all women, trans-identifying and non-binary people. For any enquiries, please get in touch at seeitbeit@canneslions.com. Further information on applying for See It Be It 2025 can be found here.
