Belle Frank is chief strategy officer of VMLY&R.
What would you do if you didn’t work in healthcare?
What I love about working in healthcare marketing is that I get to focus on helping people by leveraging insights about their lives. If I weren’t in healthcare, I would work at a foundation or non-governmental organization distributing grants, or training and mentoring.
Talk about the last time you experienced a fist-pumping victory moment.
I’ve always wanted to write a book. I had a draft, but non-fiction books need company support to be published. Around this time my agency had a CEO change. The new leadership wanted to reassure me I was valued during the transition. So I told our CEO what I wanted. The result was The Advertising On-Ramp, a guide to getting your first job. I’ve managed my career in a way I call “messy but effective.” I mostly got what I earned but sometimes pushed too aggressively, or was too emotional. This time I was proudly “effective.”
Talk about the last time you experienced a fist-pumping victory moment.
I’ve always wanted to write a book. I had a draft, but non-fiction books need company support to be published. Around this time my agency had a CEO change. The new leadership wanted to reassure me I was valued during the transition. So I told our CEO what I wanted. The result was The Advertising On-Ramp, a guide to getting your first job. I’ve managed my career in a way I call “messy but effective.” I mostly got what I earned but sometimes pushed too aggressively, or was too emotional. This time I was proudly “effective.”
When was the last time you endured an “agony of defeat” moment? What did you learn from it?
I hired an extraordinarily talented woman and we had a successful five-year collaboration. At one point in time, she deserved a promotion but it was not the firm’s best moment. I advocated strongly but could not make it happen. And when the promise didn’t materialize, she left. I was miserable. What I learned was that timing matters and you have to take the long view. After she left, we spoke often and later on she returned. When you stay connected to the right people, things work out.
How long ago was the last time you took the time to recharge your batteries? What did you do?
My daughter’s husband has close family in Mumbai. This winter, my husband and I traveled with my daughter, son-in-law, and his parents to visit family in India. We have traveled quite a bit in Europe and Asia but this wasn’t a place we had thought a lot about going to. Meeting new family made it a very different kind of trip. And of course, the time difference from New York made us feel even further away than the miles alone.
What do you find frustrating about working in healthcare marketing?
We rely on the same kind of rational research used to test drugs to measure communications. Marketing has to drive decision making and it’s been proven that decision making relies on emotional response. I wish we were willing to dig deeper when we develop advertising, to get below the surface especially when it comes to programs that try to improve the way patients and physicians relate to each other.
To ensure pay parity and career advancement for women, I will…
Always advocate for those I believe in. When people ask me to mentor them, I say yes to the ones whose work I can endorse and then I do it, publicly. Advice alone is not enough. We have to speak up and help each other.
What are your words to live by?
“Play your own game because history is biography.” When you pitch or recommend something you need to do it based on what you believe, develop a reasoned argument, and not worry about the perspective someone else would bring. What happens in life and work is a function of the people making it happen. The road taken or not taken by someone else doesn’t matter. I really say these things. I may not have coined them all but they have helped me understand the world and be more confident.
What is one thing you would tell young women starting their careers in healthcare marketing?
Take statistics. Study research and the science of it. Learn to like data. It’s better to be the person in the room that knows the facts. You will speak with more authority, fewer people can snow, and you can ultimately achieve more.
Favorite drink?
Seltzer. Not the fancy, flavored expensive brands. Plain is preferred. Anything with bubbles and citrus if not plain.
What three people, alive or dead, would you like to host at a dinner party and why?
- Nora Ephron. She was a brilliant life observer and funny, so I’d learn and laugh.
- My Grandma Belle. I never knew her but she shaped my mom, who truly shaped me.
- Michelle Obama. I loved listening to the Becoming audiobook — I felt like Michelle was visiting with me — and I really have a few questions I’d like to ask her.
