Julia Smith, an international consultant at Forensiq, hopes that, a decade from now, she will be cruising down a canal, living the simple life.

1 – Summarise yourself in three words.

Positive. Enthusiastic. Personable.

2 – What made you want to pursue a career in media and marketing?

At the age of 16, I competed in public speaking competitions for my school and was County champion for two consecutive years. I knew at this point I wanted to pursue a career that would allow me to present on stage and talk for a living. I went on to complete a degree in Greek and Roman Studies and learnt from the best orators in history. As soon as I left university, I went for roles in media sales and started my career as an account executive at Dennis Publishing.

3 – Describe your ideal client.

I have worked with a variety of clients over the years and have been lucky to have clients who are innovative and enthusiastic to change. My favourites are those that embrace change, continuously evolve, understand that the digital industry requires us to learn to succeed, and live by the motto that, ‘If you fail, fail fast, and learn why’.

4 – Name your favourite ever campaign.

Reebok created one of the first interstitials with the message, ‘Belly’s gonna get ya!’ It was one of the first interactive ads that proved to advertisers they didn’t have to rely on intrusive formats to engage with an audience.

5 – Which award win are you most proud of, and why?

I was nominated for the ‘Greatest Individual Contribution’ award by NMA in 2010 and lost out to Bruce Daisley from Google, now VP Europe at Twitter – if I was going to lose out to anyone, Bruce is one person I’m happy to lose out to!

6 – Who is the best industry speaker you have seen?

Nigel Gilbert at AppNexus will always be the most charming and seamless speaker in our industry.

7 – Which is your favourite social media platform, and why?

Twitter – simply because the founders understood that digital users consume media in bite size chunks and created a platform that successfully works for today’s users.

8 – Where is your ideal meeting venue?

I love The Hospital Club – an old school digital media venue.

9 – What is your favourite restaurant?

It has to be [London’s] Sushi Samba for an extravagant evening, or Navarros for a relaxed dinner.

10 – What is hot in international media and marketing, and what is not?

Geo-targeting has not had its day yet. Expect to see real innovation in this area in 2016. What is not hot is flooding web pages with too many ads – the significant rise in ad blocking is because some sites put revenue ahead of user experience and the result is a backlash against us all.

11 – Which industry buzzword would you ban?

That’s easy – big data.

12 – Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time?

Hopefully cruising down a canal, living the simple life! Seriously though, hopefully I will still be consulting for clients that believe in themselves and their products, and who make it enjoyable to work with them.

13 – Finally, who would play you in a movie of your life?

Meryl Streep would play the older version of me and I’d love to see Sarah Jessica Parker play me now!