#IWD2026: IXM Hakuhodo's Shayne Madamba on embracing risk, AI, and authentic influence

In the fast-evolving agency world, women are not just participating – they are rewriting the rules. From navigating emerging technologies to steering bold creative strategies, female leaders are proving that influence comes from both vision and action.

This International Women’s Day 2026, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE spotlights inspiring Philippine female executives who are redefining leadership in the country’s agency landscape. Hear from Shayne Madamba (pictured), managing director of IdeasXMachina (IXM) Hakuhodo, as she shares the lessons that have shaped her journey.

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MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Take us back to the very start – what was your first job, and what did it quietly teach you about ambition, resilience or leadership?

Madamba: Originally, I wanted to be a lawyer. However, my argumentative and assertive nature took me elsewhere – to a world where pitching and winning matter enormously.

I started humbly as a research analyst and worked hard to land a role in the media department, naturally fascinated by strategic negotiations and insight-based budget allocations. It was far from easy because client expectations were consistently high.

At the age of 31, I was entrusted with the general manager role. This meant I had to grow into the position while simultaneously doing the groundwork myself, as my team was quite lean back then. Digital marketing was relatively new, and many practitioners were still learning the ropes.

It was an exhausting period, but it ultimately became my most priceless teacher. It forced me to learn every facet of the business from the ground up, teaching me that true leadership requires understanding the grind. You cannot teach people things that you do not personally know or do. I climbed my way into managerial positions not through seamless victories, but through relentless grit and by embracing constructive feedback.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Was there a defining moment in your career when you realised your voice – particularly as a woman – carried unique value in the room? What happened?

Madamba: A few years ago, I had the privilege of speaking at an international conference.

Before my speech, I noticed that majority of speakers and panelists were men, and this immediately made me uncomfortable. However, after my talk, I was met with applause and smiles, and I was asked to accommodate a special recorded interview.

Interestingly, that initial feeling of apprehension still comes to me whenever I am invited to speak. It makes me realise that perhaps we, as women, sometimes convince ourselves that we do not have a voice – but we absolutely do.

Too often, we anticipate prejudice or assume we aren’t adding value. The truth is that we must always push ourselves to the centre of the conversation and power through any kind of judgment or bias.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Today, as an agency leader, how do you support and challenge your team to strike the right balance between pushing brands forward and protecting what makes them distinctive?

Madamba: As managing director of IXM Hakuhodo, my leadership is defined by radical accountability and interoperability – the seamless collaboration between human ingenuity and artificial intelligence. I challenge my team to push brands forward by integrating foundational, time-tested marketing principles with modern AI-powered efficiency.

At the same time, I ensure we protect what makes a brand distinctive by never utilising complex technologies at the expense of our humanity, or what we at the Hakuhodo Group call our sei-katsu-sha. For a brand to thrive in today’s unruly marketing world, we must view our consumers not merely as targets who will buy products, but as individuals with distinct lives, unique motivations, and dreams.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: This year’s International Women’s Day theme, “Give to gain”, centres on mutual support. Can you share a moment when giving – or receiving – support changed the trajectory of your leadership?

Madamba: There can never be a difficult time when two heads or more can figure out the solution instead of depending on your own smarts. Many of my colleagues know me as the thinker and the doer. A client once said in a meeting – here comes the woman who always has answers to any question. But that approach was not sustainable.

Relying on one’s capabilities can never be sufficient because solutions are stronger when they are cooked up by diverse minds, from all walks of failures and successes.

That is why collaboration is the secret sauce to anything. Since I have been active in the digital marketing association of the Philippines (DMAP), I’ve been very exposed and immersed with so many brilliant minds. I am so thankful because the industry is no bed of roses; especially when you can only depend on your historical knowledge.

Digital is not for those who rely only on hindsight, nor on predictive, data-based foresight. We need each other to navigate so many issues today – such as ethical standards on technology, human resource scarcity, transcendence upskilling, to cite a few. When you give, you truly gain – and honestly, we do not do enough of this.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: For women who aspire to lead in this industry, what is one mindset shift they must make early if they want to build both influence and longevity?

Madamba: I believe one must abandon the “wait and see” mentality. We are in an era where the boundary of what machines can do is constantly expanding, and it is not a time to be a mere spectator.

I know that technology today can feel overwhelming, which is exactly why our role in the media and advertising industry has never been more relevant and demanding. We need to make it our mission to leave a lasting, positive impact on people’s lives through every piece of content we create, every media plan that distributes our message.

For me, authentic leadership is about guiding people when they face uncertainty or indifference. It is about being first in the market with the right amount of risk appetite, especially when others are too afraid to make the first move. To build both influence and longevity, leaders must strive to get things done, and make the unknown known.

Join us on 21 May 2026 at Content360 Philippines and be part of the honest, hard-hitting conversations redefining content effectiveness in an AI-shaped, zero-click world!

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