CeCe Barossi: An Active Role Model

Ironically when I recently met up with heramp160she apologized for an uncharacteristic rasp having lost her voice while cheering on her daughter through a high school basketball state championship winamp160 But she still managed to share how she found her own voice through both work and life influences and how she39s helped to amplify women in the industry and within Active itselfWhile even NCAA women39s basketball isn39t immune from gender inequality see coach Muffet McGraw39s trending video on women in sports Barossi is buoyed by changes that are taking holdamp160 Apropos her daughter39s recent tourney the recent coed McDonald39s All American Game dunk contest was won by a high school girl for only the second time since 2004amp160 For her part Barossi knows how to build a team and offer the assist amp160quotA lot of my time has been spent internally with the younger women and employees that we hire whether it be to encourage them to stay encourage them to grow internally or encourage them to follow their dreams in other aspectsquot she saysamp160 quotMy advice is always to stay true to yourselfamp160 So for some women the path to success is sticking with an area you loveamp160 For others that might be moving on but the through line is women supporting womenquotBarossi is emblematic of those who have succeeded via tenacity and talentamp160 She also frankly likes the work and the unique nature of the company which enabled her to explore multiple paths and land on well twoamp160 It39s best to start by understanding the somewhat complicatedamp160but highly successful venture that is Activeamp160 Barossi explains it this way quotWe39re a privately held financial solutions companyamp160 Basically we go in and take an underperforming asset from a client and issue them a trade creditamp160 That trade credit can be used in our 39store39 to offset some of their normal cash expenditures such as media which is our largest area of trade creditamp160 Also travel premiums what we call retail marketing which includes activation companies large scale printing guerrilla marketing influencer marketing and freightquotActive was never a routine job where you knew every day what your day was going to be like because you39re dealing with so many different aspects of the businessquot she addsamp160 quotI39ve always liked sales but I like being the client tooamp160 So even though we39re in the media department we are client service people as wellquot satisfying her dual interestBarossi39s evolution began as an assistant definitely quotnot the glamorous stuff of that advertising era with martini lunchesquot but definitely when females filled the majority of those rolesamp160 quotI moved my way up to buyer then supervisoramp160 Then the industry was changing and more deals were done with the broadcast and cable companies thatamp160were first vendors then were becoming our clients and in my opinion the most important relationships that we havequotamp160 That sparked the creation of a role called media relationsamp160 quotIt was really just me at the time making sure we were doing deals that were smart and benefiting both parties and servicing them the same way we were serving our general market clientsquotamp160 Now her smallamp160but mighty group leverages all the buying teams to complete those client goalsAs Barossi grew so did Active and the number of female counterparts in executive rolesamp160 While always championing more she39s seen their ranks grow to 55 females with Vice President Senior Vice President or Executive Vice President titlesamp160 That however is out of the nearly 600 employees across the US and overseas a percentage the media industry overall is still struggling to changeamp160 Still strides towards inclusion and diversity are an ongoing effortamp160 Barossi who now sits on the board of the IRTS which has a robust fellowship program to drive diverse employment and education in the media industry has fostered similar outreach and recruiting practices at Activeamp160 But companies based in less diverse areas geographically like where Barossi sits in Pearl River New York can be hardpressed to attract a mamp233lange of candidates exacerbated by no public transportation accessamp160and younger candidates eager to cut their teeth only in the heart of New York Cityamp160 So Barossi has worked to facilitate diversity in their New York City satellite office exploring scholarship options and hiring directly from the IRTS program itselfWhile she may feel shy on occasion Barossi has never shied away from a challenge and acknowledges the parallel paths of her own growth and that of her companyamp160 For its recent 35th Anniversary Active rebranded itself from a quotbarter companyquot to a quotcommercial innovation companyquot amp160For her part Barossi continues to innovate and is confident about her personal brand qualities of problem solving and empathyamp160 quotThe interactive nature of our business and the exposure I39ve had to all sides of the industry has taught me to 39read a room39quot and create strong successful partnerships in business at home and in her community she explainsSlam dunk advice to her younger self and those she mentorsamp160 quotControl only what you can controlquot amp160Click the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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CeCe Barossi: An Active Role Model

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E.B. Moss

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CeCe Barossi: An Active Role Model

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