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ANA Announces Rising Marketing Stars

Young Executives from Johnson & Johnson, Coors, Aflac, and Twogether Honored at Masters of Marketing Conference

ORLANDO (October 25, 2023) — The ANA today celebrated the 2023 recipients of its annual Rising Marketing Star Awards. The four honorees, all age 30 or under, were nominated by senior executives at their companies for having met the following criteria:

  • Made valuable contributions to the overall excellence/effectiveness of their marketing organization.
  • Demonstrated leadership, innovation, creativity, and accountability in executing their marketing responsibilities.
  • Exemplified skill in integrating marketing disciplines and working with other professionals.
  • Exhibited knowledge of current issues in advertising and familiarity with the tools marketers are using to reach their audiences.

The ANA also announced the winner of the Future Rising Marketing Star award, which was introduced last year.

This year’s award recipients are:

Diana F. Destin
Product Director, Consumer Marketing
Johnson & Johnson
Diana has spent the last six years at Johnson and Johnson supporting its billion-dollar portfolio brands across their Oncology divisions. Some of her key brand experiences include serving as consumer lead for the brand, DARZALEX and developing the campaign for the product launch of DARZALEX FASPRO. One of her biggest contributions was her role in hiring Marketing Agency HERO Collective and leveraging their expertise in developing an award-winning campaign driving conversations about prostate cancer within the Black community called “Talk That Talk.”

Eric Kouri
Senior Marketing Manager
Coors Light Equity
Eric is a native of Canada who is currently working for the Coors Light brand in Chicago. During his six-plus years with Molson Coors, Eric has worked across both sides of the border on some of the company’s most iconic brands, such as Miller Lite, Coors Light, Miller High Life, and Molson Canadian. When Coors Light announced its commitment to remove plastic from all packaging across North America, Eric led the campaign and execution of the sustainability program in Canada. Eric was able to be take bold action, remove roadblocks and get Canada to remove plastic rings by the end of 2023.

Alex Webber
Head of Marketing
Twogether
Alex's journey has taken her from a one-woman marketing department to leading Twogether’s Agency Growth Team. Her impact on Twogether’s reputation and relationships has elevated them to become one of the world's most esteemed B2B marketing agencies. Over five years, the agency clinched an impressive three “B2B Marketing Agency of the Year” awards and ensured brands like Lenovo, Sage, and Hitachi received prestigious accolades from ANA.  Alex’s efforts also resulted in a 143 percent increase in Marketing Qualified Leads in 2022 through brand-building activities including awards and network events as well as a 42 percent increase in organic website traffic in 2021–2023.

Katie Wesley
Graphic Designer
Aflac
Katie’s expertise ranges from crafting marketing print campaigns to creating engaging social media animations and impactful sales and marketing collateral, all the way to serving as the personal tailor for the beloved Aflac Duck. While serving as the art department lead for the Aflac Duck social media account, Katie’s team was responsible for amassing a 523 percent increase in TikTok followers and a 31 percent increase in Instagram followers in a span of eight months.

FUTURE RISING STAR
The Future Rising Marketing Star award was created by the ANA Educational Foundation, which serves as a bridge between the advertising, marketing, and academic communities.  This year’s future star was selected from over 250 students in the AEF’s marketing and advertising internship program and exemplifies the creativity, critical thinking and collaborative spirit that will define our next generation of industry leaders. This year’s recipient is:

Kayden Hunt
Kayden is a senior Morehead-Cain scholar at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  Kayden is majoring in media and journalism with a minor in business administration.  As a rising junior, she worked with UNICEF on the Ivory Coast and at CNN London to deepen her experience as a global citizen.  This summer, she spent her AEF internship with Sephora in San Francisco.  Kayden is passionate about her community and utilizing social media platforms to cultivate positive change.  

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ABOUT THE ANA
The ANA (Association of National Advertisers)’s mission is to drive growth for marketing professionals, for brands and businesses, and for the industry. Growth is foundational for all participants in the ecosystem. The ANA seeks to align those interests by leveraging the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed and embraced by the ANA Board of Directors and the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA’s membership consists of over 1,400 domestic and international companies, including more than 900 client-side marketers and nonprofit fundraisers and 500 marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). Collectively, ANA member companies represent 20,000 brands, engage 50,000 industry professionals, and invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.

MEDIA CONTACT
John Wolfe
ANA
Director of Communications
Office: 212.455.8011
Cell: 914.659.8663
Email: jwolfe@ana.net