FOLLOWING yet another long, hectic day of meetings, Juven Montague-Anderson is often relieved to finally pull into her parking space at home. After collapsing on the couch, she will reach for the remote control and begin flipping through channels to find something entertaining to watch. Her search often abruptly ends as a striking advertisement about the premiere of a new, local programme catches her attention. The show would be a perfect fit to advertise one of her company’s many products and she will make a mental note to contact the producers about a potential sponsorship arrangement.

Though she may have left her office, Montague-Anderson is by no means off the clock.

Oftentimes glamorised as a career to mingle at frivolous, high-profile soirees and rub shoulders with celebrities and officials, marketing is heralded as a fun, carefree job. Marketers habitually find themselves in a heated battle to justify spending and prove their worth. But shielded from the video lights and camera flashes are the long hours, extensive travelling, tedious set-up and break down of material and props for events, endless search and analysis of the latest trends, persistent conception of creative and innovative strategies, and painstaking budget negotiations.

In a world where you are only as good as your last project, marketing, though challenging, can also be immensely gratifying especially in organisations where it is deemed valuable.

“Marketing has changed more in the past two years than it has over the last decade,” commented Montague-Anderson, assistant general manager, marketing and communications at First Heritage Co-operative Credit Union (FHC). “In this fast-paced industry, your decisions are always being critiqued and questioned so you have to ensure that you understand the consumer, look at things from different perspectives, measure what you do, and find the right niche.”

As with any other career, certain personality types are more likely to thrive in a marketing role. Reflecting on her temperament as a child, Montague-Anderson admits that specific aspects of her natural persona run counter to what she sees as important traits necessary for achieving success in the field.

As the youngest of four growing up in Southfield, St Elizabeth, she was sheltered by her parents. A soft and sensitive child, she remembers crying uncontrollably when Robin Hood died in a book she was reading at age eight. After graduating from Hampton School for Girls, Montague-Anderson decided to leave her beloved hometown to pursue her tertiary studies at the University of Technology in Kingston.

During her time in college, she developed a sense of independence and her inherently sociable and engaging personality blossomed even further amidst a flurry of parties and campus activities. Although she initially struggled to figure out which career path she wanted to pursue, she became attracted to the diversity of marketing, which she found to be very fascinating.

Having worked in the demanding financial services sector for her entire professional life, Montague-Anderson had to shed her delicate character and develop into a strong, though still compassionate, woman with unquestionable integrity.

As an executive in the FHC marketing department, Montague-Anderson describes herself as a hands-on leader. She encourages input from her team and is keen to acknowledge her employees’ accomplishments. She is happy to be surrounded by great team players who are creative, supportive and dedicated, and who are able to facilitate her delegation of various roles and responsibilities. Although she confesses that she can, at times, be a very firm manager, she is also capable of letting her hair down as well, and being fun and jovial at the office. She sees herself as an approachable, flexible, warm and available manager, who always has an open door policy with her team.

To maintain her sanity in her very hectic job, Montague-Anderson enjoys listening to a wide range of musical genres and is particularly fond of anything with the Marley name attached. She still likes going to parties and occasionally unwinding with glass of red wine. Having received a distinction for Food & Nutrition when she was attending Hampton, Montague-Anderson is revered for her cooking skills.

Her friends, many of whom are classmates from her primary and high school days, always anticipate a highly coveted invitation to one of her renowned ‘spreads’ — made up of seven to eight entrees including seafood dishes, curry goat and ham and a range of pasta items that she practically prepares by herself.

Though she has come to embrace city life, Montague-Anderson is very proud of her rural roots and her Hamptonian heritage and is guided by their motto Summa Virtute Et Humanitate — “With the Utmost Courage and Courtesy”. Curiously enough, she also still maintains a good relationship with her long-itime imaginary friend, who remains nameless, while she chuckles and claims to be perfectly sane.

In spite of her busy schedule, Montague-Anderson truly enjoys her job. One of her proudest achievements was her involvement in the recent formation of FHC, which resulted from the merger of Churches Co-operative Credit Union and GSB Co-operative Credit Union. As part of the team at the helm for marketing and the project leader for the marketing team, she played an instrumental role during the transition in creating an identity for the new brand.

“It is every marketer’s dream to get this opportunity to create a new brand or identity for something and managing the execution process. It gives me a gratifying feeling seeing an idea evolve into reality and receiving positive feedback from the public. This gives me the greatest satisfaction and fulfilment as a marketer,” she said.

“My advice for students and young professionals is that there is no perfect career. You have to be perfect for the career you choose, and that means making the sacrifices you need to know your craft, be willing to study, mentor, accept criticism, make mistakes, and be open to continuous learning, and opportunities. At the end of the day, you must take the time to enjoy your successes.”