Young Gun profiles takes a look at the young talent across the Australian advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector. Aiming to shed light on the varying roles, people and companies across the buzzing industry. Original article posted by AdNews.

Sabrina Ranasinghe, Account Manager at OMD Melbourne

Time in current role/time at the company 

I’ve been in my current role as an Account Manager for almost one year and at OMD for six!

How long have you been in the industry?  

I’ve been in the industry for six years, I’m what we like to call at OMD an OMD Lifer having started out as an intern to working my way into the inaugural OMD Exec Next cohort – it’s been an incredibly eventful six years!

How did you get here? Was this always the plan?  

This was not always the plan, when I graduated high school, I originally wanted to pursue a creative career – I got through two out of three rounds to be accepted into the creative advertising course at RMIT but was let down by one of my study scores (VCE struggles).

It was a blessing in disguise because I ended up landing in the Advanced Diploma of Advertising course where I was introduced to the world of media. It was over that year and a half that I realised I was much better suited to the ‘suits’ lifestyle (if you know, you know 😉).

When I was in my last semester of university somebody posted in one of our alumni pages that their agency was offering spots for a 3-week internship, I put my hat in the ring and landed at OMD, the rest is history.

Who is your right-hand person/who guides you day to day?  

There are so many people at OMD I look up to for guidance, but if I had to pick one that I continually go back to it would be Sam Hey. She has taught me so much over the years, I truly wouldn’t be the professional I am today without her support and belief in me.

What’s the best thing about the industry you work in?  

Hard to go past the people! The industry attracts such amazing, vibrant personalities, it’s been great to get to know so many of them over the years and ultimately call them true friends.

And the biggest challenge?  

For me it’s the pace and balancing so many competing priorities. Managing clients, specialist business units, my own team and being an active part of the agency means it’s always go time!

Whose job have you set your sights on in the future?  

Co-CEO has a nice ring to it… haha!

Where do you turn for inspiration?  

In life I’d say my inspiration are my friends, they inspire me to be better every day!

In my career, is it lame to say LinkedIn? There are so many great campaigns, leadership articles, industry news and more that really inspire me to push boundaries in my own work.

Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?  

My first career dream was to become a Marine Biologist and live my best H20 life.

In five years’ time I’ll be… 

An industry leader, potentially sitting on an executive team doing great work for my clients!