The UK’s Top 5 Leading Women in Social Media
Three of our top female leaders in social media
By Heather Roy
Who are the women at the forefront of the UK’s social media sector?
A good question and one that’s surprisingly hard to find an answer to. This article makes it easier to get that answer.
At Media Moment we’re all about championing female voices in a media industry where they can be easily lost - here’s a fine example to check out.
We’ve compiled five women working in social media who we think are deserving of some limelight thrown their way.
The list is ordered alphabetically:
Hannah Anderson. Director of Social and Creative, Kyma Media
Hannah Anderson was the Co-Founder and Director of Social and Creative at Social Chain, a company that has rapidly become a social media success story with 750 employees in offices worldwide and a collective reach of over 200 million people across their platforms.
Despite training to be a teacher, Hannah’s interest in social media led her to pursue it as a career and she explains that to her, “followers are not just a number but real people with real passions and real problems”. In 2018, Anderson was named in Vogue’s “The 25 Women Shaping 2018” where she was deemed the “greatest social-media influencer you’ve never heard of”.
At the same time this article was published, Hannah moved from Social Chain to join Kyma Media, a ‘social-first media owner’, as its Director of Social and Creative.
Maya Orr. Head of Marketing and Communications, LADbible
Having worked within Lidl’s Advertising, Marketing and Communications teams, Orr joined the social media and entertainment publishing behemoth, LADbible, in 2020 as their Head of Marketing and Communications.
Upon joining the group, LADbible’s chief growth officer Colin Gottlieb said “Maya brings not only her top-flight outstanding award-winning marketing and consumer communications experience, but she is also a charismatic leader, working in one of the most demanding sectors.”
Just nine months after becoming Head of Marketing and Communications at LADbible, Maya stepped up to become LADbible’s full time Director of Marketing and Communications in March this year. And she has a busy job; responsible for overseeing the marketing, design and licensing across LADbible Groups which include SPORTbibe, UNILAD, GAMINGbible and Tyla.
Melissa Chapman – Co-chief Executive Officer at Jungle Creations
Having graduated from the University of Essex in 2015, Melissa Chapman has forged an impressive career in a short period of time. She is now Co-CEO at media and marketing company Jungle Creations, having joined the company in 2016 aged 22, and has established a content team of over 75 employees.
Jungle Creations, with social brands such as Twisted and VT, has grown its audience in the time Melissa has been there from 1 million to over 121 million followers and expanded globally with teams across London, New York and LA.
Melissa’s significant contribution to Jungle Creations’ success has been noticed by multiple industry bodies and she has been featured in Ad Age’s Women to Watch and The Drum’s 50 under 30.
Melissa McFarlane – Head of Content Programming at TikTok
Graduating from the University of Glasgow, this Melissa has extensive experience in digital marketing. The last 10 years have seen her undertake roles including Ministry of Sound’s Head of Digital, and Red Bull’s Head of Audience Planning.
Melissa now works for TikTok – yep, the video app that has had seemingly the entire world obsessed with it.
To give you an idea of the app’s rapid growth, in the two years between February 2019 and February 2021, its downloads jumped from 1 billion to 2 billion, and Melissa is leading the brand’s UK content in her role as Head of Content Programming.
Being at the forefront of TikTok’s content at a time when the app is growing at an incredible rate is no easy feat.
Nicola Mendelsohn, CBE. VP for EMEA, Facebook
Nicola is the Vice President for EMEA at Facebook, focusing on developing digital marketing solutions and undertaking responsibility for all operations across the EMEA region.
Nicola possesses an impressive collection of accolades, including being listed on GQ’s 2014 “100 Most Connected Women in Britain”, and Advertising Age’s 2011 “Women to Watch”. In 2015 she was made a CBE for her services to the creative industries as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
An advocate for gender equality in the media industry, Nicola sits at the head of Facebook’s #SheMeansBusiness initiative which offers a space for entrepreneurial women to connect and work together.