Kate Benjamin '11 spoke to filmmaking alumnae from Sacred Heart Greenwich in a virtual meeting on December 11, 2024. Kate is a Senior Manager, Product Strategy and Partnerships on Warner Bros. Discovery Advanced Advertising team.

Kate shared 9 practical and helpful tips including:

1. Stay up to date with the latest trends in media whether getting extra certifications in AI or taking advantage of work-sponsored tuition for coursework.

2. Don't be scared to face a new project and try a new skill.

3. Send a LinkedIn message to someone at the company you want to apply to.

4. Say yes to requests at work even if they are outside of your role.

5. Know your value. If you don't get the job that you wanted, ask yourself, "Did I want to work for that person who didn't want to hire me?"

6. Try different experiences and internships to determine what you do - and don't like.

7. Nothing is forever in this media landscape. Always network - both within different departments within your company and with contacts you have met along the way.

8. Stay hopeful. There are a lot of people who want to work in the media field. Take the time to customize your resume and cover letter to a particular job. It may take hundreds of applications to land one job.

9. Reaching out to HR in a given company may be the most direct path to the job you want.

Director of Media Studies, Design, and Innovation Ms. Ellyn Stewart said, "I am very grateful to Kate for her generosity in talking to our alumnae about potential careers in media and business. Kate was a student in my filmmaking class as well as my advisee. I'm incredibly proud to see not only all that she has accomplished, but that she truly lives out the Goals & Criteria by always giving back to others. She has consistently offered her time and talent to Sacred Heart hosting student externships and being a regular participant in Alumnae Media Network panels and events."

Kate is the recipient of the Sacred Heart Greenwich 2022 Filmmaking Alumnae Award. In her current role at Warner Bros. , she oversees the roll-out of new ad capabilities for the company, notably around audience targeting. Her primary focus is addressable advertising, which is the ability to send relevant ads to the right consumer at the right time regardless of the device. Kate interacts with many partners – both within the company and industry-wide – to create more direct-to-consumer advertising experiences.

Prior to Warner Bros. Discovery, Kate worked at Viacom as a Senior Corporate Research Analyst for four years, where she was responsible for providing the leadership team with analytical reports and data-led insights to support decision-making.

She is a 2015 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, where she majored in history. During her junior year of college, she studied film production at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.