Outstanding Women in Business: Dana Bulat, General Manager and Owner of United Media Services

In a compelling dialogue with Dana Bulat, General Manager and Owner of United Media Services, Business Review embarks on an insightful journey to uncover the strategies, achievements, and future aspirations shaping the trajectory of one of Romania’s leading media agencies in its upcoming edition, “Outstanding Women in Business.” This conversation dives into Dana’s significant accomplishments within the company and throughout her career, highlighting the remarkable growth of United Media Services, including its recognition on Adweek’s Fastest Growing Agencies List for the third time. The discussion further explores Dana’s commitment to innovation, client-focused growth, and digital prowess in the ever-evolving media landscape.

What are your main achievements within the company since you hold this position? What is your major professional achievement in your entire career?

So far, my greatest professional achievement is represented by how I managed to develop and grow my agency. Besides other awards and accolades, United Media Services prides itself on being recognized last year for the third time on Adweek’s Fastest Growing Agencies List. Our Romanian full-service media agency succeeded in achieving its business and strategic goals and is still looking forward to another year of challenges. We consider that the results arrive because of our total commitment to our clients’ business growth, our constant focus of building best in class digital capabilities, and our permanent drive to outperform ourselves helped us become the team we are today.

During recent years our focus has been to diversify our service portfolio, so that the online division could function as a full-service, stand-alone digital agency. Thus, we propose clients’ strategies based on analysis of various types of data, we incorporate technology as much as we can, through automation, in the area of strategy, but also reporting and synthesis of insights and learnings. These are valuable both for communication campaigns and for the business strategies of our clients. We want to continue to grow, to be very active in the new business area and to maintain the same trend of expanding the portfolio of services related to the standard media area; we consider that it offers us a consistent and relevant competitive advantage for customers.

My vision has always been to lead an independent medium media agency in Romania that will have strong, loyal teams, ready to always be up to date to the new technologies and trends, passionate about their work, and to grow together and expand our services oversees as well. I believe in authenticity, ethics, and determination.

Moreover, I am extremely proud every time I am part of a local or international Jury or team of mentors, because I strongly believe in giving back to your community and helping younger people reach their full potential.

What determines a woman’s business success?

I don’t think we can give a general answer to this question, because there are so many variables and different contexts. But I believe that some traits are important in business success regardless of one being a man or a woman and those are: having courage to face the everyday chancing landscape, being adaptable and flexible, not being afraid to fail, believing in yourself and your qualities, knowing where you want to head professionally and trust your instincts.

As a woman leader in the Romanian marcomm industry, I have never felt inferior to men or disadvantaged, and I always believed in myself and what I know I could offer. I have a humble attitude and I let my work and my results speak for themselves.

How difficult (or easier) is it today for a woman to assert herself in executive positions?

When it comes to the communication industry in Romania, I believe things are easier. We have many powerful agencies leaders and owners that had successful ascensions and have proved along the years that women are a force to be reckon with and that the personal qualities and drive are much more important than the gender. Among industry specialties and even agency departments, weight of woman vs. men varies according to personal and professional skills, there are no more areas traditionally dedicated to one party. If you are good at your job and you show it, you have your chance to gain better and better positions as years pass by. The ascension in advertising is fast nowadays in Romania. It doesn’t take 20 years anymore to run an agency or to be the head of a department.

What are the biggest challenges for a woman to reach leadership positions?

I believe the only thing that can stand in front of a woman reaching leadership positions are misconceptions (in certain fields of activity considered not to be womanly) or the situations in which there is an organizational particularity. If one possesses all the qualities for the desired position, I don’t see why anything would stand in her way in 2024. And if you are denied what you deserve, I would suggest you go and find another company that will be lucky to have you, respect you and appreciate you for whom you are and what you have to offer.

By accessing the studies provided by renowned European institutions, and companies such as McKinsey&Company, ING, we can now have an articulate image regarding the dynamic of women in leadership and the gender gap situations, and I think this gives us a positive outlook for the future and good insights on the areas that need to be improved.

How is Romania in terms of women top executives (challenges, difficulties, positive aspects)

In Romania, we are however fortuitous enough to see 25% of senior executive positions are filled by women, surpassing the EU average, and highlighting the country’s leadership in female representation in strategic roles. This positive trend showcases Romania’s progress in empowering women in the corporate sector. Our country also excels in gender equality in business, boasting a World Bank score above 90/100 for women’s access to business opportunities and having the smallest wage gap between genders in Europe.

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