Women to Watch 2023: Jocelyn Tse, UM Worldwide

Jocelyn Tse

Chief strategy officer
UM Worldwide
China

A born disruptor, Jocelyn Tse has been a catalyst for disruption at almost every stage of her career. She believes that to drive change, one must first disrupt themselves. It's an approach that has paid off, as Tse is one of the most awarded and sought after strategists in the region.

This year alone she was invited to judge the Creative Data Lion Awards Jury for the 2023 Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity, an honour that perfectly encapsulated her experience.

As a chief strategist at UM, Tse is not only responsible for strategically driving organic growth across all existing businesses and delivering top line results, but seeing the need for the media agency industry to evolve. She is also the driving force behind UM’s consultancy business.

Through the consultancy services that Tse has spearheaded—which includes digital transformation work, media mix and funnel modelling, high value audience profiling and optimisation—she has successfully achieved an additional 10% + revenue from Exxon Mobil, one of the agency’s key clients, and diversified revenue increased by an additional 68% +.

As a leader, Tse has become the torch bearer of her agency, holding teams together and steering the ship forward. These efforts have paid off, as evidenced by UM China’s highest scoring—The Relationship Rating— in recent months, including a historically high score on Exxon Mobil, one of her key clients.

With a focus on developing the next generation of talent, Tse curated and launched UM’s Product Squad, assembling mid-level future stars from various teams to come together and champion UM’s data & tools capabilities. Tse is also a board member of a local CSR program dedicated to aiding rural students who are less privileged, or even in poverty, for future careers in metropolitan areas.

As someone who is never content to simply accept and follow the status quo, Tse's creative thinking and keen business acumen fosters a change-ready culture that helps guide her teams towards strategically-led initiatives that push boundaries.