The Voice Herself

An Interview with Julia Linehan, Founder and CEO of The Digital Voice™

by Ren Bowman

Julia Linehan’s career has spanned nearly three decades. A female founder and vibrant voice in media and advertising, she is a tenacious force of energy and inspiration for everyone who finds themselves in her orbit. 2023 marks the eleventh year of The Digital Voice™, a company Julia built from the ground up on her own, now a powerful team of 29 experts that continues to grow all the time, surviving every hurdle and thriving in the aftermath.

The theme of this year’s upcoming International Women’s Day is ‘Embrace Equity’ – the understanding that equal opportunities don’t always mean equal outcomes, and that differences in people’s personal circumstances might require different levels of support. With 27 years in media and advertising, Julia’s fought the good fight for gender equality for years, from establishing community support groups to speaking on stage about the need for more female entrepreneurs and breaking out on her own when her career no longer fit what she wanted for herself and her growing family.

Her secret to success?

“I didn’t believe there was a glass ceiling I couldn’t smash through. I didn’t see it, didn’t feel it and if it was there, I went right through it. That meant I didn't have any limitations on what I could do. No one else is going do it for you, so you just grab it with both hands.”

Julia is a big believer in individualism. For her, success starts with yourself – you can do anything you put your mind to, as long as you have a community around you. She also cites lacking any fear of failure as a contributor to her success as an entrepreneur. “I have a wicked sense of humour, so I'm able to laugh much more when the shit hits the fan. I'm not looking for perfection. I think that's probably also helped throughout my career.”

Her drive for progress, not perfection has led her to take on plenty of roles she wasn’t ready for. Julia remembers times she’d question herself for leaving easygoing roles for ones she couldn’t do, but her philosophy is ‘Fail First, Learn Fast’, and it’s never slowed her down. Since she was 19, she’s known she wanted to work in the industry, merging her aspirations for journalism, public speaking, copywriting, and acting seamlessly into media and advertising. And now The Digital Voice™ delivers on everything she lives and breathes.

“We are B2B. We are AdTech. We are a voice that is willing to shout loud. It's what I know and it's what I love.”

In 2016, women made up just 16% of the entire tech industry. AdTech is especially reputable as a male-dominated industry, but in the past few years, much-needed change has been in motion. For Julia, reaching gender equality is about everyone meeting halfway. “I’m not fighting against men here. I don’t want to get to the point where it’s ‘us versus them’. But what I have found is that women tend to need more community. That’s why we set up Digital Leading Ladies, and that’s why other organisations like BLOOM, The Women in Programmatic Network and She Loves Tech exist. They’re incredible. I’m also really glad there are community groups that include both men and women, and I am a bigger supporter of the AdTech Community group which has subgroups for specific interests – there’s AdTech Food, AdTech Football, AdTech Cricket. I think that’s where you’ve got to go with it. Don’t think about gender, think about what you’re interested in and join communities that reflect that. That’s what unites us across the industry.”

Community is also what makes The Digital Voice™ so strong. Fully remote since its inception, the team is spread across the world, but you wouldn’t know it from the strong bonds we’ve formed and the support we give each other. As CEO, Julia’s hiring focus has always been about finding the best possible person for the role, which has by chance led to an exceptionally diverse and inclusive team with a majority of women. It’s a testament to how inclusion creates a fantastic work environment, but there’s more to it than that. The diversity within the company is not by design, but instead by personality. 

“I look for personality. I care about your energy,” Julia says. “I've never seen such community spirit as I see, for example, in Digital Leading Ladies, and it tends to be a ‘Woman Thing’ that you forge this collective and wrap your arms around each other.” It doesn’t mean that men aren’t the right fit - in the company’s recent expansion into the US, Julia’s found herself hiring more men on the other side of the pond, onto a team who don’t necessarily need the benefit of a community to lean on because of the time difference in work hours – and that’s the core of embracing equity: recognising the different needs of different people and accommodating them. “Everyone is valid. Whatever you believe in, celebrate it. At The Digital Voice™, we encourage that, and we support it in whatever way we need to… But it starts with you. Stand up for what you believe in. Start with yourself.” 

Julia believes above all in kindness, in taking the leap, and in action. If she had one piece of advice for women starting out in their careers, or with aspirations to entrepreneurship like her own, it would be to do it with heart, with energy, and with the undying belief you can do whatever you put your mind to - and if you can’t, learn. Because opportunity is not going to come knocking at your door.

“Fuck negativity! Get rid of it. I believe that if you’re giving off that good energy, it comes back. It gives you a stronger immune system, a better attitude – do not be a victim. You will have hurdles, but you’ll overcome them.”

But whilst everything starts with the self, the way forward is supporting one another. If companies are going to embrace equity this year, it has to be about action, not words. The challenge may look like an impossible climb, but at its core, it doesn’t have to be difficult.

“It’s about voices, right? So often, it can be a struggle to get women and other diverse groups on stage, or to be authors, to have confidence and believe. What we’re trying to empower is helping people gain that voice. We’ve done it with some of our clients – presentation training for women, and for men who are nervous. Teaching them not to let their own fears be their barriers. Understanding what people’s barriers are and helping them break them down – if they can’t celebrate themselves, then help them break that down and let them know they’re valued. They’re important. Our client impact.com is giving everyone the day off for International Women’s Day around the globe, to celebrate it how they need to. That’s a practical step. And don’t do it to make your company look good… do it to make your people feel good.”

At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about: supporting each other in feeling good and providing the right opportunities we all need to reach the heights of our own goals. That’s how we embrace equity.

And as her parting advice to other founders and CEOs, Julia says it’s time to take action to destroy the gender equality pay gap. “Don’t let that happen this year. You’re paying people for their value. You are paying them for their outputs, that's it. For their hard work and their dedication. Gender, nationality, religion, and anything else is irrelevant, as is anything else other than the work they produce. It’s just insane. Let’s stop the madness and make real change happen.”

Ren Bowman is Senior Marketing and Multimedia Producer at The Digital Voice™, a first-class graduate in Creative Writing and an award-winning podcast producer. They’ve written for a range of industries including tech, entertainment, education, business finance, and lifestyle. Outside of work, they are an activist for social justice, especially Women’s and LGBTQ+ rights