Olivia Downing

Olivia's career began writing and performing stand-up comedy in Paris, when a fellow comedian suggested she should get into advertising.

Since then, she's become a copywriter in a senior creative team at international agency, TBWA\MCR, working on award-winning campaigns for David Lloyd Clubs, Alton Towers, Beaverbrooks, Pizza Hut and more. She's the founder of the 900+ member CIA: Chicks in Advertising (Twitter: @ChicksinAds), established to help more women pursue creative careers. She's the winner of the prestigious 3-month long School of Thought creative competition, which took her to Cannes Lions in 2018. She's a guest lecturer in Creative Advertising (BA) at UCLAN. And in 2019, she was voted one of The Drum’s 50 under 30 Outstanding Creative Women - in the world.

(She also still wonders whether her comedian friend was just joking.)