"Embrace defining moments," Megan Pagliuca from Omnicom Media

Meet Megan Pagliuca, Chief Product Officer at Omnicom Media, where she leads the vision, product evolution, platform adoption, and innovation strategy across all media channels. An adtech veteran, Megan began her career at Right Media, the first advertising exchange, before building Merkle’s digital media practice and later joining Omnicom as CEO of Accuen, the company’s programmatic division. Today, she champions data-driven innovation and proprietary product solutions that help shape the future of media.

Megan sat down with Morgan James, Content Marketing Specialist at SiriusXM Media, for Pass the Mic. Together, they discussed career pivots, confidence, diversity of thought, authentic leadership, and why some of the biggest opportunities come from taking calculated risks.

Listen to Megan’s full interview below, then hit play on some highlights from the conversation. 

Trust yourself.

Highlight: “You get more confident with experience. And then there are moments you doubt yourself, and you just have to go for it anyway and trust yourself. It's a silly expression, but ‘fake it till you make it.’ It’s more like, if you can fake it, then you can do it… When you're feeling that self-doubt, you just have to push through. And it gets easier as you have more experience; it definitely gets easier to combat those feelings.” - Megan Pagliuca

Be bold.

Highlight: “A key early boss and mentor always pushed me to take calculated risks, to be bold. He was almost overly aggressive about it, but I needed that push... I think that early exposure definitely helped when it comes to the question of doubting yourself. It's like, okay, even when you doubt yourself, you still need to be bold, take those risks, and trust yourself.” - Megan Pagliuca

Lean into diverse perspectives.

Highlight: “Everyone has had moments where they doubt themselves… I think a thing that is fundamentally important is just having diversity of thinking within a team. And then, if you do doubt yourself, ensuring you're working with a team of people that has different perspectives, that you're getting to the right outcome.” - Megan Pagliuca

Push yourself as a leader.

Highlight: “It's a natural human emotion to want to work with people that are like you. I think that is an important thing you have to push yourself on as a leader: having individuals that come from different experiences sets and look at things in a different way to get to the best outcome,  and ensuring that you have a team environment where people can speak up and push openly to ensure that we get thorough thinking to get to the right decision.” - Megan Pagliuca

Be direct.

Highlight: “I think I'm very much known for being direct and a straight shooter. And I think that can be very appreciated because you get a clear, direct response and clear, direct feedback.

I think that it’s best. At worst, it can be like, ‘Oh, she's harsh.’ But I do pride myself on being direct… You do have people that will tell you what you want to hear, and I don't think that's helpful, both for the quality of the work product and for growth of that individual.” - Megan Pagliuca

Megan’s career is proof that growth often comes from embracing uncertainty. From moving to Australia to reinvent her career path to helping lead innovation across the media industry, she has consistently leaned into change rather than shying away from it. Her advice is a reminder to stay curious, trust yourself, invest in relationships, and never stop learning—because the people you meet and the risks you take often shape the opportunities that come next. Ready for more inspirational conversations like this? Check out the Pass the Mic page.

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