‘Raise your hand and be open to opportunities that are out there’

Dr. Stephanie Gutnik’s perspective on gender inclusivity in OOH is both candid and constructive. She acknowledges meaningful progress at the associate level over recent years, while noting that VP and C-suite representation still has ground to cover, a challenge she sees as industry-agnostic, mirroring the broader media and corporate landscape. 

At the heart of her observations is a sharp insight about how promotions work. Women, she notes, tend to be evaluated on demonstrated performance, tasks completed, deadlines met, results delivered. Men, on the other hand, are more often advanced on perceived potential. Since promotions skew toward potential over performance, this creates a quiet but significant structural gap. Her prescription: build it into training, mentoring, and feedback frameworks so everyone understands exactly what is expected of them to move up. 

Transparency, she argues, is the great equaliser, whether that’s clarity around salary bands, promotion criteria, or simply helping people understand and articulate their own value. On pay specifically, she speaks from experience: men tend to approach salary conversations with more confidence than women, and that gap is real. Addressing it requires normalising the conversation, not leaving individuals to navigate it alone. 

Her advice to women entering or climbing the ranks of the industry is straightforward: raise your hand, stay curious, take on new experiences, and if you see an opportunity that doesn’t exist yet, suggest it. And through all of it, she returns to the simplest, most enduring counsel: just be yourself. 

Watch the full video to know more