Women’s History Month Spotlight: Alysa Rowlands

Alysa is a newer addition to the Cadent + AdTheorent joining us almost 6 months ago as the Director of Product for our Aperture MX team. In this role, she manages the development and future proofs our SSP to support both Cadent + AdTheorent DSPs, as well as third-party DSPs we partner with. Her tireless work ensures seamless integrations, optimizes inventory monetization, and enhances bidding efficiencies across our programmatic ecosystem. 

To learn more about Alysa and how she celebrates Women’s History Month, check out the Q&A below. 

This year’s theme for Women’s History Month is “Moving forward together: Women educating & inspiring generations.” What does the theme mean to you personally? 

I like to joke that Product Management is my third career within the AdTech industry since I’ve moved around in different functions quite a bit. Starting something new—whether it’s a project, team or company—can be scary and I’ve succeeded by learning from other women on my journey. With this year’s theme, I’m reminded of how working with women of different ages, backgrounds, and levels of expertise has been instrumental to my success. Since I’ve been fortunate to have female leaders as mentors throughout career, I try to offer the same support and mentorship to others while still being open to fresh ideas and considering different points of view. New experiences and insights from others are what keeps work (and life) interesting! 

How do you invest in your personal growth in education and empower yourself in your role? Where did you get inspiration from? 

I have such a curious nature and love to learn new things and, thankfully, there’s always something new in AdTech. To empower myself, I start with constructive feedback and more self-awareness. Recently, I received feedback on how I tailor my message based on context and audience, especially when speaking to senior leadership. Since I tend to jump right into selling my idea or getting too “in the weeds” too soon, I was given advice to start with three high-level bullets and then wait for a question before diving into details to ensure my message gets across. 

How do you think we can support and uplift future generations of women in the workplace? 

1. Define and work together on shared goals. 

2. Be open to each other’s ideas, give each other time to think and space to talk. 

3. There are no dumb questions, and everyone learns at their own pace. 

4. “The way you did it before” may not fit the current circumstances, but there may be valuable insights you can still use. 

5. A new way of doing things may be harder at first, but working through it together can reveal hidden benefits.