Stha Banks has worked across all aspects of digital advertising. Starting off as a digital client manager, she now works on social strategies and team operations. She mentors and serves on the Core diversity and inclusion (D&I) committee and represents the industry on the board of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI).
01 What was your earliest ambition?
An athlete or a writer
02 It’s our round. What are you having?
Tanqueray gin and slimline tonic, thanks
03 Social media platform of choice?
Instagram and the TikToks circulated on reels. The irony
04 A mentor or someone that inspired you?
Brené Brown. The idea that vulnerability in the workplace can be normalised made me feel normal
05 If you could be born into another time and place, where and when would it be?
1920’s for the fashion but only in an equal world
06 Favourite writers?
I’m more into audio. Writer who have kept me balanced are Brené Brown, Emma Dabiri, David R Hawkins and Jay Shetty
07 A film you’d watch again tonight?
The Devil Wears Prada for Anne Hathaway’s humour and the dark side of fashion as depicted by Meryl Streep
08 Is there an unsung hero you’d like to thank?
My mum. It’s a long and winding story
09 Something that no longer happens that you miss?
The yearly extended family braai/barbecue
10 How physically fit are you?
Honestly, probably the least physically fit I have ever been right now. Winter in a pandemic happened
11 Favourite ad?
The Guinness Sapeurs ad set in Congo, for its energy of resilience and joy. It reminds me of my dad, even though he can’t dance like that
12 What do you find most irritating in other people?
Passive aggression
13 A brand to which you feel some loyalty?
Our coffee machine, a simple DeLonghi Nescafe Dolce Gusto from Currys. An everyday saviour
14 Someone you might be starstruck to meet?
I’d probably be starstruck to meet anyone with high clout let alone a real celebrity. If he were still alive, I’d have said Nelson Mandela
15 Something that recently brought a tear to your eye?
Every episode of This is Us
16 Something that recently got your goat?
The third lockdown
17 What would be your fantasy act of heroism?
It’s simple. To have enough courage to rise above any challenges I perceive, mistakes I make (I’ve made loads), courage to learn and be a beacon of hope for someone, somewhere. If I can be just a fraction of that hope, my life will be made
18 You’ve won the Euromillions and disappeared. Where might we find you?
I’m already checked into the Four Seasons, Serengeti in Tanzania or visiting the red elephants in Kenya
19 Someone or something that strikes you as beautiful?
The ability to see beauty in everything
20 ‘Here lies Stha Banks’. Complete your epitaph…
“Just gone shopping”
