Women to Watch 2024: Hyewon Park, EssenceMediacom

Hyewon Park

Managing partner
EssenceMediacom
Japan 

Hyewon Park has traversed around the globe as a media professional for well over a decade. She worked in the UK—at agencies including Starcom and UM—before moving to Singapore to clock in regional experience at GroupM APAC with work spanning FMCG, automotive, tech, and hospitality. These days, she finds herself in Japan as a leader at EssenceMediacom (EM) where she looks after $50 million in media spend and 18 team members. 

One of her biggest responsibilities is to oversee the growth and maintenance of the agency’s anchor account. For the client, she hired and trained the agency team from scratch, and was a key member of the account retention in mid-2023 which secured $2 million in agency revenue. Under Park’s leadership, the account gained 18% in client evaluation scores; the team established an addressable media solution for the client; and the team contributed to a healthy 70% retention rate within EM. 

The client’s success with EM Japan has led to Park’s inception and the leading of Breakthrough, an internal event where EM clients are invited to share and discuss media innovations. Aside from that, she is passionate about cultivating junior talent, whether through hands-on training or spending time with them outside of work settings. Her innate training skills led her to pursue a coaching certification to be able to shape her team’s career paths. As a leader, Park is of the belief that each team member can learn something from another regardless of age, seniority, or years of experience. 

Wendy Siew, managing director at EM Japan, sings praises for Park, citing her as a “rising star”. She adds: “Her contributions have been pivotal to our growth in this market, and I look forward to seeing her develop as a people and agency leader.” With Park’s tenacity to be a progressive and efficient leader, there’s no doubt she’ll continue to rise the ranks at the media conglomerate.