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OhHello - Antonio McFadden
77 Plays2 years ago
Antonio McFadden is a loving/handsome husband, father and tech professional originally from Chicago, but currently living in LA. He has over 12+ years of industry experience currently working at Google as a Product Strategy Lead with experience in programmatic sales, analytics, campaign management and product strategy across DSP, Agency, Client and Publisher centric roles. In addition to his core role, Antonio has been a chapter lead of the Black Googler Network for the last 6 years across both the Chicago and LA Google offices. Lastly, Antonio's biggest passion and life purpose is helping others so mentorship and giving back is core to who he is as a person.
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Transcript
Reconnecting with U of I Spirit
00:00:07
Speaker
Oh, hello. Hey, hey, how's it going, my man? Hello, Antonio. It's going great. It's going great. It was so good catching up right before this. How are you?
00:00:29
Speaker
I am good, man. It's Friday on the cusp of a long holiday weekend. Things are good, man, but so good to talk to such a good friend. It's great to see
Antonio's Journey from Architecture to Advertising
00:00:39
Speaker
you. It's great to talk with you. I specifically wore this shirt as you are my first, actually, my second, I suppose Tom Reardon, but he was my practice run. Yes. But wearing some U of I gear right now for you.
00:00:54
Speaker
my first U of I advertising alum. So had to do that had to do that for a fellow U of I advertising alum. It feels so good to see you in and do this with you really appreciate you being part of the Oh, hello community. I know who I'm speaking with.
00:01:11
Speaker
Who are you? Tell our audience. Yes, man. Well, before we get to me, I also came with some slight head tilts to pass life. But I have this next to my bed every night. I love that. So great days working with Tube and then you and then other folks there. So I will always cherish those precious times that we had.
00:01:34
Speaker
Antonio McFadden, it is so good to have you with us today. Thank you for showing the eyeglass cleaner of Tube Mogul. That is how you and I met so long ago. Why don't you tell us a little bit just about yourself? Who are you? For sure,
Career at Google: Strategy and Transition
00:01:49
Speaker
man. So I'm Antonio McFadden, a Chicago native, obsessed with Chicago, foreign and race, spent most of my life there. It really made me who I am today.
00:01:59
Speaker
And I currently live in Los Angeles, which has become a second home and also, you know, cherish this city in the different ways that I've had to grow being in a city, being in a new city. So definitely love being in both and spending my time in both, but LA is home for now. Went to U of I, originally majored in architecture. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah.
00:02:24
Speaker
was an architecture major for a few years and made the hard pivot after a few years over to advertising. Just had more of an interest in advertising. We opened up a new school of advertising at the U of I around that time. So that was the path that I took then. And here I am now, years and years later with a 12 plus year career in advertising at this point, which is crazy to say. And it feels like it went by really fast, but it's been absolutely amazing.
00:02:53
Speaker
you're a dad,
Mentorship and Career Influence
00:02:54
Speaker
you're a husband, you're a Googler. Tell us a little bit more about what you do at Google. Yeah, for sure. So I've been at Google for about seven years now. Originally, I was brought in as a programmatic seller, so selling DB 360 to clients and agencies. But now I have been
00:03:14
Speaker
on our go-to-market team as a product strategy lead for pretty much all things video in DV360. So CTV is definitely a huge part of that role. Various YouTube formats, our third-party publishers, integrations, et cetera. So it's really about how all the things work together in DV3, which is my role now. So it's been super interesting. I think having a background in sales on the agency side, on the publisher side definitely helped to help me in this role right now.
00:03:44
Speaker
Tell us a little bit more about those that have had an impact on your career. Tell us a little bit just from a mentorship. Love to hear how you got to where you are and walk us through the path, Mr. McFadden.
00:03:57
Speaker
Yeah, for sure, man. I am super passionate about, number one, being a mentor, but I think that came from having such great mentors in my life throughout my entire career. I'll try to be super quick, but there are four people that I have to call out that I have all had conversations with over the years and recently as to why they are my mentors. I love that. The first person that comes to mind is Semhar Amdemichael. She was actually, I worked with her on the agency side at Amnet,
00:04:26
Speaker
And she was our director at the time. And she really taught me the importance of presence. She was always someone that commanded a room.
00:04:37
Speaker
an African-American woman, too. So knowing that we're underrepresented in tech, it's important to have that presence. So for me to see that early on in my career really changed me in a way that's super beneficial now. Like, you have to have presence. You have to be seen, be heard. She did it all while being fabulous. Still one of the greatest dresses I've ever met in my life. So that was a big part of that. But Simhar was kind of my first mentor. So talk to her to this day. She's family.
00:05:08
Speaker
Second, I have to bring up Paul Limbrey, who was my director when I first came over to Google. He was someone that I always looked at as like an energy guy, really inspiring. You hear him talk and you just feel moved by it. You feel like you run through a brick wall for that guy. So that was always something I try to bring to conversations is energy, inspiration. Which you did. Thank you, my man. Thank you. Thank you.
00:05:33
Speaker
The third would be Jane Hong, who was my first manager at Google, brought me over. She always pushed me to do more. You know, like if the goal was 10, she would push me to do 12. And then as I got close to 12, she was like, you know, you can probably do 14. 14, it's like, well, you're almost at 15, you might as well just go to 15. And it's like, that was always the approach of you can do way more than whatever you think is possible. So I still use that now to push myself.
00:06:04
Speaker
And then rounding us out, Mike Diamond, someone that I've worked with really closely at Google, but was never a manager, but was just someone that I've always had like a monthly sync with and someone that we always bounced ideas off each other and someone that really helped ground me and really helped me to look at the bigger picture of what's important in life. Like work is important for sure, but in performance reviews are important for sure, but you better make sure you're being a great husband and a great dad and a great friend and a great son.
00:06:31
Speaker
all those things that really matter most. So perspective has been a
Advice to Younger Self
00:06:35
Speaker
good one. Perspective is so important. I love that you just finished with with that with with Mike Diamond, when I think of Mike Diamond, I think of Mike D, I think of the BC boys. So apologies to your friend Mike Diamond. Actually, I mean, it's an endearing heartfelt like go Mike Diamond. But what you just said specifically, about the life components about who you are as a person, outside of work,
00:07:01
Speaker
makes you who you are at work. So that's such valuable guidance just to have an at any point within your career. I also what the other three mentors taught you about from from confidence to perseverance to working harder and pushing yourself
00:07:19
Speaker
to being fashionable, to being just who you are, creating your own identity. You've absolutely done all of those components. So it's nice as someone who's known you and considers you a friend for the past decade to see how those four mentors have helped carve and shaped you into who you are as a husband, dad, son, and someone that a lot of people look up to within our community. So it's badass.
00:07:47
Speaker
Thank you, my man. Of course. What would you tell your younger self? Yeah, that's a good one. I would say I would tell my younger self to enjoy the journey. I feel like when I was younger, I was so focused on accomplishments, whether that was working at certain places or promotions or certain financial goals or
00:08:12
Speaker
various things and the journey is the longer part, right? And that's the piece you better make sure you enjoy because once you reach that goal or hit that milestone, then it's on to the next immediately. There's not really much time to live in that, but the journey is really the part that you better make sure you enjoy. So that's definitely what I would tell my younger self because that's definitely how I live now. I just want to enjoy every day.
00:08:39
Speaker
My goal is to have, have fun, have more fun. Like that's
Life Mottos and Relationship Values
00:08:42
Speaker
what life is really about. Smile, be happy. Enjoying the journey, being ready for that track is so important. I know you, but for those that don't know you as well, what are some of your life mottos? What's something, some components that you live by? I think a few of those may have been some nuggets that were given to the audience about just being happy and enjoying the moment, but tell us a bit.
00:09:07
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I would say there's really three main kind of things that make me who I am. I would say the first is
00:09:17
Speaker
really around being a planner, right? And I think that goes into the journey piece of having a intentional and meticulous plan to what you wanna do is super important, right? And I think this is like this concept of you can't know where you want to go unless you know where you are and know who you are, right? And know how you wanna change. So I've always been someone that's been really self-aware and really conscious of like my brand and who I am.
00:09:47
Speaker
And so that first piece is really just being a planner. The second piece is just being consistent. I feel like that's such an important part of life.
00:09:56
Speaker
in general, just consistency. Sustained greatness is really what I look at. I know everyone always talks about Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game. But to me, he had an entire season where he averaged 50 points in 25 rebounds. That was way more impressive than 100 points. So consistency is something that I'm super focused on.
00:10:18
Speaker
And finally, relationships. I think relationships are absolutely everything. I've always tried to treat people with kindness and lead with kindness and empathy because that's what life and humanity is all about, just relationships. So those three things kind of make me who I am today and really drive me.
00:10:36
Speaker
I gotta give a, that's amazing. Thank you for sharing all three. I gotta give a shout out to your beautiful, intelligent wife, because the last part about empathy and kindness, she exudes both of those, having had the privilege of working with her.
00:10:52
Speaker
for a number of years previously and seeing her grow into who she is as a mom as well. And obviously goes without saying into her career, but empathy and kindness is so important. So surround yourself with good people that you absolutely do that. Yes.
Achievements in DEI and Community Engagement
00:11:09
Speaker
Tell us a little bit more about your biggest career achievement and then a charity that's near and dear to your heart that you're gonna be able to donate to within the Oh Hello community.
00:11:20
Speaker
for sure. I'll say honestly, my biggest career achievement outside of my core role in being a product strategy lead, I'm also the LA chapter lead of the black Google network. I was leading Chicago as well. Yes, you are. And really just giving back to that community.
00:11:35
Speaker
I actually won an award in 2018. I actually have it right here, so I'll put it up. It's trophy season. You know it. I won a gold award back in 2018 for my work around DEI, right? It really was number one, being a lead for the Black Cooler Network. But number two, I started this organization called Best for Blacks excelling in sales and technology.
00:11:56
Speaker
with a few others that work at, you know, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon, Adobe, et cetera. It was really a collective of black employer resource groups and major tech companies. And we were throwing events together, really giving back to the community.
00:12:11
Speaker
And so I was really using the resources I had at Google to start my own thing with others than to give back. So it was really the culmination of a bunch of things I love in tech, plus DEI work, plus helping others all coming together to really highlight all of these great things. So that would be it.
00:12:33
Speaker
Secondarily, I would say, I also ended up getting six months pet leave instead of three months. So that's probably a very close set, I would say. Or even first, really, if you think about it. Those two things stand out. That's amazing. Amazing. All right, before we head out, a charity that's near and dear to your heart as a mentor within the Oh, Hello community, where you're going to be able to donate to.
00:12:58
Speaker
Yes, for sure. For me, it's definitely Black Girls Code. It's one that I've been very involved in, working at Google for years. But now that I'm a dad of a little Black girl, that really is close to my heart. So that would be the one that I call out, just knowing how important it is to get young girls involved in that early.
00:13:18
Speaker
You rock. You rock, Antonio. Such a great cause. So good catching up with you. Thank you for being here. Thank you to our Oh Hello listeners. We can catch you on the next one. Thank you, my friend. Yeah, it's so good seeing you, my man. Me too.