Dynamic Duos: Baz and Loz
This week in Dynamic Duos, Atomic 212°'s chairman and partner, Barry O'Brien, and chief investment and trading officer, Lorraine Woods, look back on their relationship - from when Loz got her start in media, to when Baz was inducted as an industry icon.
In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two colleagues with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.
Barry O’Brien:
What a great privilege and honour it is to share this space with Lorraine, who I met 23 years ago when I gave her a start in media at Total Advertising. From starting as an office assistant to now being chief investment and trading officer for Atomic 212°, her career has skyrocketed.
From day one, Lorraine has grown and enhanced her career and reputation to become one of the best in the industry, working for major agencies across high-level clients and delivering a wonderful product – which is built on honesty, integrity and fairness. Her reputation and the respect that clients hold for her is second to none, which is a credit to how she conducts herself both internally and externally with all stakeholders. She devours the knowledge, stats and numbers of our business and industry, meaning she is always prepared when we get together.
Lorraine is also a wonderful mentor to many of our senior and younger staff, which is a testament to the way people respond to her. We have an incredibly close relationship and we start each day early with a call running through what needs to be done that hour, day or week, and how we will approach it. Along the way, we share many laughs and lots of chatter (she’s a gold medal talker!).
Lorraine is very organised and detailed and can always tell you exactly how a client campaign is tracking and what investment has been made. The ‘check, double check and then check again’ attitude she has means I always have faith in all the work she gets out.
Lorraine Woods:
Barry O’Brien changed the course of my life.
More than 20 years ago, Baz gave me my first job as an office assistant at Total Advertising, which at the time was just a temporary way for me to earn money to go overseas. I used to knock on his office door and politely ask ‘Excuse me, Mr O’Brien, may I get you a cup of coffee?’ (of course, he fetches mine now!), drop his mail off and generally organise whatever he needed that day. He was always kind. funny and incredibly knowledgeable about the media landscape.
Then, fast forward 12 years, and we worked under the same roof again; this time him as the head of sales at Network 10 and me as a trading director, battling it out on some of the toughest negotiations. Not long after this, Baz hit me up again after he had successfully built out Atomic 212° to move down to Melbourne and run the trading for Atomic 212° there.
Safe to say that we’ve come a very long way since those early days of Atomic 212° where Baz coached me on my craft, taught me the power of honest relationships and backed me every step of the way, pushing me out of my comfort zone, even to this day. I honestly feel privileged to have someone of his calibre and personality to inspire, motivate and lead me daily.
Every day, Baz teaches me to show up as my best self. He mentors me on how to win and how to lose gracefully, which fights to fight and which to let go. I have learnt so much from him on media, networking, relationship building and life in general. We enjoy a shared passion for what we do, both unable to switch off, and constantly discussing the next thing. And somewhat more importantly, we have fun.
Barry on Lorraine:
Most memorable moment with Lorraine: The thrill of the advertising game! Any new client win, any great client result, any staff promotion or any new office opening we’ve seen together is very memorable and plays a part in our ongoing success and our clients’ success.
Best word to describe her: Focused.
Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour she has: Lorraine loves tiramisu, so if it’s on the menu then whoever is at the table has to have it regardless of whether you want it or not. Once devoured, it is quickly followed by the comment ‘Why did you let me order that?!’.
Lorraine on Barry:
Most memorable moment with Barry: I have many, but there are two that come to mind right now. The first is when he ran out of coolant in his car and said to me ‘My car, which I nurse to within an inch of its life, appears to be low on coolant. Do you have any I could use?’. Then, when I was pouring it in, he says ‘Oh, so that’s where the coolant goes…’
The second is when he was inducted as an industry icon and, at the end of his speech, he thanked me in front of the entire room!
Best word to describe him: Icon.
Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour he has: It’s not in my best interest to point out his annoying behaviours, which, of course, he has none other than a garlic allergy, so I will focus on his most endearing. He always buys me a chocolate bar, so much so that I began to expect that this is how all business owners operated until Baz was away one day and his partner James Dixon turned down my request and (rightfully) told me to go and buy my own.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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