See It, Be It 2024: Pooja Manek
Pooja Manek, a creative and founding member of Talented in Bangalore, is making her mark in the Indian advertising industry. As a participant in the Cannes Lions 2024 See It, Be It programme, Pooja will be heading to the festival to soak in inspiration and bring her talent to the global stage. Pooja draws inspiration from industry trailblazers like Cindy Gallop. Cindy’s fearless approach and mission to build a fair and equitable world resonate deeply with Pooja, who lives by Cindy’s bold advice to create financial ecosystems that support women.
In the spirit of See It, Be It, Pooja shares how she incorporates lessons from influential women into her own career, emphasizing the importance of self-worth, challenging the status quo, and being your own loudest cheerleader. She also discusses her proudest campaign, 'The Better Half Cookbook' for Swiggy Instamart, which tackles the gender chore gap in Indian households with innovative feminist recipes. Pooja's insights and experiences are a testament to the power of combining commercial creativity with purpose, and her advice to the next generation of women in the industry is both practical and inspiring.
See it
Tell us about a woman who has inspired you in your career
Undoubtedly, Cindy Gallop. Apart from her unabashed self, what I absolutely admire about Cindy is her will to build a new, fair, and equitable world – “Start your own industry”, she advises all women. Cindy’s most powerful thought that I live by is – “I want every woman to unashamedly set out to make an absolute goddamn f*cking sh*t-ton of money. Because when we make an absolute goddamn f*cking sh*t-ton of money, we can use that money to fund other women. Help other women. Support other women. Donate to other women. We need to build our own financial and business ecosystem because the white male one isn’t working for us.”
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?
Copying is a good thing when you’re copying the good habits of those around you. If you like how someone does something, or are inspired by their beliefs, shamelessly copy. Somethings I almost use as daily affirmations are:
- A healthy sense of self worth opens multiple doors, not just monetary ones. - Getting a seat at the table is not a favour, it’s a reward for doing incredible things that made you deserve it.
- Women challenge the status quo because we are never it.
- You will never own the future if you care about what other people think. - The true measure of success is a calm nervous system.
- Be your loudest cheerleader.
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?
In an industry wrought with self-doubt and many an existential crisis about the meaning of what we’re actually doing, it is oftentimes therapeutic for those in advertising to connect our line of work to things that are personally important to us as individuals. The work I am most proud of creating has been The Better Half Cookbook for Swiggy Instamart – a campaign that aimed at attacking the gender chore gap in Indian households. Instead of another story about why equality mattered, Instamart gave couples a new tool to experience a feminist kitchen: feminist recipes. With the belief that feminist recipes are simply equal recipes, we challenged the 1600-year-old assumption that recipes are written for one person to do all the cooking. It was even more rewarding to win my first ever Lion because of this campaign, furthering my belief that commercial creativity and purpose are not mutually exclusive, and that it is a business imperative to acknowledge that people are here to buy into a brand, before buying from a brand.
Share it
What messages or words of advice do you have for the next generation of women coming into the industry?
- Your work shouldn’t be your entire personality. It’s a part of it.
- Being messy is a part of the process: you cannot be your authentic creative self without that.
- Share the credit, but don’t give it up.
- Anger is your brain’s response to injustice. Tend to it.
- When you do the best version of what we’re doing, you’re making a creative choice. - Meritocracy and affirmative action are not interchangeable. And hence, especially as a woman, you need to be the most incredible version of yourself. Be REALLY f*ckin’ good at what you do and more opportunities will come your way.
- Boredom is good to fuel your creativity. Be bored, often.
- When you step aside from your desk, live a little/a lot, and give yourself time to breathe, it all directly impacts the quality of your creative work. So, find your sources of creative nourishment and don’t compromise on that time.
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.
