Q: What does International Women’s Day—or even Women’s History Month—mean to you personally? What’s top of mind as we head into 2025?
Joann: I see International Women’s Day as a time to honor the women in our lives. This year, I’m especially excited because 2025 is a feminine year. I actually wrote a piece about this, around the idea of 2025 being the year of the Wood Snake in the Chinese Zodiac. Both the wood element and the snake symbolize feminine energy: intuitive, resilient, patient.
So I’m hopeful we’ll see more women’s stories rise to the surface, stories that reflect the full spectrum of experience, not just the expected narratives.
This is a year to trust our intuition. Women naturally have strong intuition, and this is a time to really lean into that, especially as we all navigate uncertain, transformational times. It’s about knowing when to act and doing so with conviction. Not just talking about change, but actually creating it.
And finally, what’s really top of mind for me is kindness. Kindness toward ourselves, and toward one another. There’s a lot shifting externally and internally right now. One of the greatest strengths women bring is the ability to hold space for both. So here’s to that power—and to continuing to lead with compassion and courage.
Q: In the spirit of accelerating action, do you have one thing that you wish you'd known sooner in your career? It could be like a kind of professional life hack or a learning that you just think would have been valuable to know earlier on?
Chelsi: One thing I wish I’d known sooner is that working harder or faster isn’t always the key to success. Over time, I’ve learned that finding efficiencies, taking risks, and being thoughtful in my approach often leads to better results and usually earns more respect from peers and leaders too.
Q: What or who has had the biggest impact on you as on your growth journey into becoming a very impactful and powerful senior female leader, and why has that been the case?
Bhawika: I can’t really attribute it to a person or a thing. I think, for women, it’s a journey. We have to work doubly hard to find success, and we have to unlearn the patriarchal narratives around what we can and cannot do. When I started working in advertising, it was a total boys' club. We’d be in meetings, and people would address me but look at my male counterpart as if I wouldn’t understand what they were saying. It was uncomfortable at first, and I didn’t know what was going on. But over time, I realized there’s a lot of invisible bias, and once you recognize it, you learn to navigate it. Eventually, you reframe the narrative. For me, I found solace in my work because I wasn’t going to learn golf just to be part of the boys' club. Once you put in the work, your work speaks for itself. Two key things: One, we must stop second-guessing ourselves as women. That’s part of our conditioning, but we have to break away from it. And the second is to find strong role models, whether they’re friends, bosses, or colleagues, because strong women lift each other up.
Q: What intangible factors do you think contribute to our sense of success in EMEA, beyond the usual financial and business metrics? How do you define achievement in this region on a deeper level?
Joann: Yeah, it's a tough question, especially in a world so focused on money. But for me, I always come back to how I measure success in my own life, which is simply, am I happy? And I try to bring that into the studio too. Are people happy? Are our clients happy? Are the people seeing our work feeling something positive?
Of course, not every project will make everyone feel good, and I’m realistic about that. But overall, are we creating an environment where people enjoy what they’re doing? Are their basic needs being met? Can we have fun, share a laugh, and feel fulfilled, not just while working but also in the moments in between?
That sense of shared satisfaction and well-being is how I measure success in the studio, beyond just the numbers.
Q: Toaster has always been in the tech sector, especially Toaster US being in the heart of Silicon Valley. If you could collaborate with any company or person—preferably women-owned—in tech, who would it be and why?
Chelsi: It’s a tough one because there are so many amazing women in tech, but Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, really stands out. She’s leading the charge in ensuring women have access to technology and computer science, closing the gender gap in tech. Her mission deeply resonates with me, especially around International Women's Day’s theme of accelerating action. I’ve shared a TED talk about her work, which I recommend for anyone interested. Personally, I have a background in ed tech, and her focus on digital literacy aligns with my own values. Ensuring younger generations, especially women, have the skills to succeed in tech is crucial for creating lasting impact and opportunity.
Q: How do you think building the diverse team that you have, especially with women in key leadership roles, has impacted the quality of the creative coming out of your region, and if you're able to call out any specific examples or campaigns even better, but kind of more broadly. How do you feel that impacts the work day to day?
Bhawika: Diversity? Love it. Before joining Toaster, I always saw diversity as more of a corporate mandate, not a genuine value add. In the corporate world, the focus is usually on productivity and deliverables, with little emphasis on how things are achieved. For me, diversity has been that key, having diverse voices in the room elevates the creative product. Personally, Ira and I are the only women-led agency in India, so these conversations are real for us every day. We constantly ask ourselves: who’s bringing that perspective? Is our work inclusive enough? Are we giving opportunities to underrepresented voices outside of Toaster? These are the things we consider when hiring.
I also find it amusing when people say feminist discourse has reached its peak. We’re still far from it, and we have to work at it consciously. If we can bring those voices to the forefront at Toaster, then we’ve done our job. As for the work, one campaign I’d call out was done by Ida for Women’s Day a couple of years ago for Google. She came to me with a simple line: "When women go looking for answers, they often get advice." It struck me because it couldn’t have been written by a man, it came from lived experience. We took that and ran an outdoor campaign in eight cities in India. That’s the power of diverse voices in the team.
Rapid Fire Round
Q: What word best represents your approach to client relationships?
Joann: Nurturing
Q: Describe the EMEA studio culture in one word:
Joann: Resilient, adaptable. We can interchange those.
Q: One book, podcast or article that has influenced your thinking:
Joann: Thinking Fast and Slow, I would say, is my recommendation. If you haven't read it, do it.
Q: Favorite quote or mantra that resonates with your role:
Chelsi: “Be curious, not judgemental” - Walt Whitman and “Be a goldfish” - Ted Lasso.
Q: What's the most rewarding aspect of your job?
Chelsi: Making connections with people.
Q: What's one thing you try and do each day to support your personal and professional well-being?
Chelsi: It’s somewhat new to me but journaling and mediation have become extremely beneficial.
Q: What's the single most important trait in a team member?
Bhawika: It's really basic, but I think work ethic.
Q: How would you describe your leadership style?
Bhawika: I’m a situational leader. You have to be adaptive as a leader. There's no one style that fits every situation. You need to know the context and the person, and then you can dole out the advice.
Q: What would you say is your go to source of inspiration?
Bhawika: Sapna Chadda, ex-CMO of Google India. She’s now in the business side of things and in SCA, but she’s one of the most fantastic people I know, and a really emotionally intelligent leader. But as for a go-to source of inspiration, it can’t be a person because I don’t really reach out to her (Sapna) and bother her. So, I think for me it’s cinema and music. That’s really the only thing. For people in London, I love Phoebe Waller-Bridge, I love her writing. And for everyone else, I love Nina Simone.
As we continue into the feminine year 2025, one theme came through clearly in our first Toaster Unfiltered session: when women lead, they do so with empathy, intention, and strength. Here’s to telling more untold stories, asking better questions, and making space for what comes next.
