MediaCom’s Jox Petiza Finds Out What Makes Christian Juhl Nervous | GroupM’s The ReGroup Ep. 3

The ReGroup is a limited series hosted by GroupM’s Global CEO, Christian Juhl. It’s an intimate conversation with the people who bring great advertising to life everyday—GroupM team members. The series features guests from GroupM and its portfolio of brands, including Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence, m/SIX and Xaxis. 

 In episode three, Christian speaks with Jox Petiza, media strategist at MediaCom, who takes us through her career journey that spans Kuala Lumpur, London and NYC and tells us about why we should be “preparing for paradox.” And, she and Christian talk about why being nervous about taking on a big role is a good thing. 

Understanding the nuances of working within a different culture can be quite challenging, let alone three different cultures over eight years as Jox Petiza has experienced. It’s even more difficult when you don’t know anyone in the country to begin with. Christian Juhl, GroupM’s Global CEO, caught up with Jox, media strategist at MediaCom, to find out about her unique career journey that has taken her to Kuala Lumpur, London and now NYC and she tells us about why we should be “preparing for paradox.” And, she and Christian talk about why being nervous about taking on a big role is a good thing. 

In her time at MediaCom, Petiza has lived and worked in Kuala Lumpur, London and now NYC. Each culture is different and she didn’t know anyone each time she moved. Petiza, though, was fortunate to have MediaCom’s global mobility team to make sure she was comfortable from the start. “…Not only do they help you find the right job and the right placement in a country, they make sure that you transition well….They also make you take this test so that you can understand the culture, and then they correlate you, where you’re from, what your background is like and how much you would fit into these characteristics of the place that you’re going to move to. It really helps you figure out the best ways to adapt.” 

Adaptation is just one of the many hallmarks of Petiza’s personality; it’s one of the reasons she’s been able to make lifelong friends at each stop. “People have been really accommodating, really kind. And not only that, they’ve extended their time at work, and they’ve invited me into their homes and into their lives. Most of my lifelong friends I’ve found at MediaCom and GroupM.” 

And it’s in these friendships that you really get to know your coworkers and get to forge bonds that allow you to push each other at the office differently. During COVID lockdown, that dynamic has been especially important for Petiza and her colleagues in continuing to keep everyone close and create standout work for clients.  

In particular, their new piece of work called “‘Preparing for paradox’ that juxtaposes the different paradoxes in the U.S. as to how people would transition to a post lockdown world. My favorite paradox is the juxtaposition of nostalgia versus digital acceleration” Petiza talks about how people are stocking up on their favorite things during lockdown but also brands are accelerating their digital agendas such as advancing ecommerce offerings faster, in some cases. “These things and the beauty of America is people can be very different, but they can coexist,” Petiza says. “If you’re a brand, you can either pick a lane among these paradoxes or, if you’re one of the very few and very fortunate ones that can play along both lanes, you’re good.” 

And, finally, Juhl and Petiza shared in agreement a piece of advice given by Amrita Randhawa, Mindshare’s Asia Pacific CEO, from episode two that was “if the next job you take doesn’t scare you, you should probably take a different job.” Both agreed it’s good to be nervous and okay to fail; both help you grow. It’s about what steps you take next that are important. It’s about learning from those failures to improve and continue to create a better iteration than before.