40 Under 40 2025: Jennifer Garcia, Publicis Media

Jennifer Garcia

Head of strategy
Publicis Media
Philippines

For Jennifer Garcia, strategy has always been more art than arithmetic. Long before she helmed strategy at Publicis Media Philippines, she was a writer, a pianist, and the kind of child who thrived on both imagination and discipline. Those instincts have carried her through nearly twenty years at the network—years that have seen her not only rise as its youngest-ever strategy lead but also recast what the role could mean.

At Publicis, Garcia isn’t content to leave strategy in the pitch deck. She’s used it to double the network’s size in the Philippines by winning Unilever—the decade’s biggest media account—and to spike massive growth across Reckitt, Alaska Friesland Campina, and Samsung. Under her watch, Spark Foundry became the fastest-growing agency in the market, and her team turned strategy itself into a revenue driver, with services like Connections Planning expanding across the Groupe.

Guided by her ‘upskill and uplift’ mantra, she launched Publicis Media University, spearheaded workshops across agencies, and designed the shop’s New Blood Programme to attract fresh talent into media—a sector often overshadowed by its creative cousins. She ran cross-agency learning workshops with Publicis JimenezBasic, Leo Burnett, and Black Pencil, to show how media and creative teams can break silos and respond together to a disruptive landscape. Beyond the office, Garcia leads the Media Specialists Association of the Philippines, reviving its long-dormant Media Congress. Her leadership style—empathetic, exacting, allergic to mediocrity—has earned her the trust of colleagues and the nickname ‘Publicis Media’s Queen of Strategy.’

Diversity is another throughline in Garcia’s story. Her strategy team reflects her belief that talent should look like the audiences brands want to reach: 71% female, spanning Gen Z to industry veterans, and free of pay gaps. She has pushed brands to spotlight voices long overlooked, from Mindanaoan youth to hijabi women, proving that inclusion and commercial sense are not at odds but often the same strategy.

As Amrita Randhawa, CEO for Singapore & SEA, puts it: “Jennifer’s strategy smarts are in demand by multiple clients but perhaps more critically I have seen her spend the time using those very same smarts to elevate the people around her by elevating their work, their profile and their knowledge. That generosity of spirit is what makes her exceptional.”

 In Garcia’s hands, her teams feel, strategy is a human craft: precise, insightful, and always generous.