Before diving in, you can check out her bio here.

CMO Tech News: How has your previous work/personal experiences prepared you for your new role as CMO?

Hill: That’s a big question. I’d probably break it down into 3 key areas.

Leadership: There’s much talk about how marketing has changed more in the last five years than in the last 50 and how it will change to that same extent again. Leading through change will therefore become a common factor in our space. More people need to become comfortable with discomfort, to embrace it as a creative and strategic opportunity and to rally the troops alongside you to boldly go to places you may not necessarily understand. My job is unrecognizable to the one I had when I started, and even to the roles I’ve done in the last few years. Be forever curious and see your career as one of continual learning.

Creativity: Marketing has moved from being about a singular, monolithic message we were able to broadcast out very concisely, to now being much more multi-dimensional. Storytelling and content are now key, and greatly contribute to a cultural discourse. I spent several years on the content side of the business making theatrical films, IMAX/3d , live experiences, running production teams. The merging of both my marketing head and pure creative storytelling has been an incredible base to jump into this next phase.

Risk Taking: In a career that’s spanned over two decades, you become far more comfortable with failure. You recognize that anything that you want to do that pushes boundaries will result in incredible highs and painful lows. I’ve now learned to bake that into what we do and encourage a measured level of risk. We have this principle of 70/20/10 ... 70% of what we need to do just needs to deliver on the job in hand. 20% needs to be far more innovative and push at the edges. 10% should have no real metric at all beyond blue sky and risk taking. If the team doesn’t win, they’ll know they tried with heart and soul. If they do win, they’ll have changed the game.

CMO Tech News: What goals do you have for you tenure as CMO?

Hill: We’re talking a lot about how we move from marketing networks to building brands that are truly multi-platform and immersed in culture and actively contribute to the daily discourse across all platforms. We have a remarkable portfolio of brands that engage people in meaningful ways and far beyond a single show.

From Lifetime, which focuses on women and has raised the bar on critical conversations, themes and ideas surrounding femininity, strength and empowerment; to History, which is re-igniting a genre and telling stories that are defining our lives; through A&E which, for me, truly magnifies moments of culture and truth; and finally FYI, which is on the cutting edge of new programming genres in the lifestyle space.

The first clear goal, beyond the growth targets which every CMO monitors daily, will be to enable these brands to truly speak as brands, to celebrate the incredible shows that define our networks, but to also continue to enable them to play a greater role in society.

One of the reasons for me joining A+E Networks was a love for the creative, but also a belief in their purpose.

CMO Tech News: What are some of the biggest challenges facing marketing professionals in the TV industry?

Hill: Our audiences are bombarded with an overwhelming amount of communication and messaging. For many year, marketers responded to the noise by shouting just that little bit louder. That simply doesn’t work. Marketing, as a result, has become incredibly sophisticated.

We’re expected to be both the artist and the scientist. The scientist in that we suddenly have the ability to be far more data-, commercial- and ROI-led. Grand generalistations are able to be broken into hyper-segments, six-month campaigns can still be developed, but marketeers are learning to also be far more agile... to shift to daily iteration and to pivot as required, to galvanizing around chase strategies as you see something unexpected take off.

Data and analytics are a marketer's closest ally. But equally important is the fact that marketing has moved to being about content, story-telling and creating pieces that our audiences want to actively enjoy rather than packed full of messages we want them to receive. We’re also learning to go native and create for the platform... creating for relevance and with the audience and platform in mind is far more than a phase or buzz word.

CMO Tech News: How has technology impacted the work of marketing professionals?

Primarily by empowering the audience. Technology has, in so many ways, liberated our lives (as people) and as a woman, wife, mother, business leader I’m thankful for that every day. As a marketer, it’s made my job harder, but considerably more rewarding. The balance shifted from communicating at our audience, to a place where we are now part of the conversation. From being able to determine what people received when we wanted them to receive it, to having to find more innovative ways to be a relevant part of their lives, their daily selection, to stand out, to engage, to be chosen. The shift in understanding – through data – is, however, possibly the most significant turn. In this multi-platform world it’s still far from perfect but you can look ahead and see the trajectory we’re on.

5. What advice would you give to young professionals just beginning a career in marketing?

Hill: It’s truly one of the most challenging, enjoyable, mind-stretching and creative roles you could wish for. You are the scientist, the artist, the producer across multiple areas, the galvanizer in the organization and the chief story-teller.

You have to have a fundamental interest in people, a curiosity about what makes them think, connect, feel, love ... as they’re ultimately who you’re connecting with every day and ‘everything says something.’ You won’t rest, you will never settle but you are at the centre of the activity and have the ability to enable great work, programming, products … whatever your industry … to connect with people.

Choose this career if you are perpetually curious, restless in your desire to learn and stay a step ahead and ultimately someone who enjoys both sides of your brain firing on a daily basis and discovering the connection points between the two.