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Fun, Fabulous, Fearless Wenda

Photos 19Issue April 2015
Taking daughter Leigh and son Ben to business conferences was de rigueur for Millard. Here, the whole family, including Millard’s mother and husband, Jay, enjoyed the annual Family Circle Cup tournament in 1993, back when it was on Hilton Head.Photograph courtesy of Wenda Harris MillardMillard and MediaLink business partner Michael Kassan, pictured here at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Association conference in Las Vegas, describe themselves and their MediaLink colleagues as “hard-core operators.” “We’ve all either run companies, fixed companies, or built companies. We’re a next-gen consulting company that’s biased toward action.”Millard with Jay, her husband of 31 yearsAn FFF(F) selfie souvenir with former AOL chief marketing officer Erika Nardini, Wired publisher Kim Kelleher, Ipsos CEO Shelley Zalis, and Millard’s mentor, Cathie BlackLeigh and Ben enjoying Christmas on Tradd StreetCharleston resident Suzanne Pollak (left) at Millard’s annual FFF(F) gathering, including friend and MediaLink colleague Cleary Simpson (right)Fun, Fabulous, Fearless WendaPictured here with the original DoubleClick team in 1997, Millard was one of the Internet ad pioneer’s first hires and helped grow the staff to more than 600.Millard sought “a more disciplined approach” at Harvard Business School, where she earned her MBA in 1983. “I’m from a family of architects and artists, but I don’t have that DNA. I’m a creative business person, but no artist.”Serving as senior vice president and publisher of Family Circle magazine was a highlight of Millard’s 21-year career in traditional publishing and advertising before she forayed into the digital realm.Her stint as co-CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia was after Stewart’s incarceration, and Millard (shown here with Stewart at the American Advertising Federation Awards gala in 2006) welcomed the challenge. “I love a hair ball,” she says. “Hmmm, how to manage a brand when your brand goes to jail, now there’s a good one!”Fun, Fabulous, Fearless WendaMillard and Leigh sport ibu scarves—from the Charleston-based clothing line where Leigh works and Mom shops—at favorite haunt, The Ordinary.Venturing into the digital sphere at DoubleClick demonstrated Millard’s “high-risk profile.” She says, “They couldn’t figure out who this old lady was. They called me ‘Web Mom’.”With MediaBrands CEO Matt Seiler, AOL’s Built by Girls CEO Susan Lyne, Group M chief global digital officer Rob Norman, IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) CEO Randall Rothenberg, and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong at the Cannes Lions Festival in 2013With author and financial guru Suze Orman, marketing expert and bestselling author of Just Ask a Woman Mary Lou Quinlan, and I Don’t Know How She Does It author Allison Pearson at the New York Women in Communications’ Matrix AwardsFun, Fabulous, Fearless WendaWith Whalerock Industries CEO Lloyd Braun, CNN Worldwide CEO Jeff Zucker, and former General Motors vice president of corporate marketing and advertising Phil Guarascio at the Yahoo Summit Series in 2006Millard brought a more flexible, responsive, and aggressive sales strategy to her role as chief sales officer for the big Internet portal. Under her watch, revenue exploded from $700 million to more than $6 billion.

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