Senior marketing and communications powerhouse returns home after 9 years in China

15 December 2022, Singapore – Award-winning Independent communications agency, AKA Asia, announces the appointment of Leya Teo as Managing Director with immediate effect. A celebrated advocate for coaching and mentorship, with cross-disciplinary experience having worked with some of the world’s leading creative, digital and PR firms, Teo joins AKA to spearhead its already formidable senior management team, and propel the 55 strong agency into its next chapter of fearlessly creative growth.

“We were looking for someone with a like-minded entrepreneurial spirit, a shared passion for the true development of craft, and the authentic development of people and we’ve found that and more in Leya,” commented Kate O’Shea, Co-Foundering Partner, AKA Asia.

“Combining her commitment to the next generation of communications professionals, Leya’s strategic capability, regional mindset, and deep focus on culture building made her a clear match for AKA, as we look to enhance our leadership team. We’ve spent the first 13 years building a special kind of agency, focused on consistently delivering fearlessly creative work by an amazingly kick-ass team, for brave and passionate client partners. We owe it to the agency at large to continue to invest in inspirational talent, bold enough to challenge, innovate and strengthen our offer and reputation,” added O’Shea.

Returning home to Singapore after 9 years in China and Hong Kong, Teo was most recently Vice President, Edelman China, where she was leading a practice spanning the Shanghai and Beijing offices. During her seven-year tenure, she drove growth for the agency and built a solid industry reputation for employee engagement by chairing an internal initiative with a mission to foster an environment where women and men of all backgrounds can enjoy equal opportunities to grow, lead and succeed. Prior to that Teo held senior roles at creative agencies in Hong Kong at J.Walter Thompson, and in Singapore at Cheil Worldwide.

Teo added; “I’m home and am genuinely excited to be back after nine fulfilling years overseas. It was important for me to find a role that provided the opportunity to combine amazing people with innovative work. Immediately I felt drawn to the fearlessly creative spirit at AKA and I’m looking forward to collaborating with the team to make 2023 a stellar year for the business, and building great partnerships with clients old and new over the coming years.”

AKA Asia is a fearlessly creative integrated communications agency in Singapore with a team of over 55, including a design and production arm of 8. Its impressive portfolio of clients spans corporate, consumer and internal comms remits with the likes of LEGO, Meta, GIC, Tourism New Zealand, RB and many more.

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About AKA

 AKA Asia started life as a strategically creative PR agency in 2009, challenging convention in Singapore and across Asia Pacific. Over 13+ years later, AKA has evolved into a multiple award-winning fearlessly creative integrated communications agency, helping brands engage their audiences through compelling content (digital, social and traditional). Boasting an enviable client list of globally recognised brands including the likes of Jetstar, LEGO, Meta, GIC, Tourism New Zealand and many more. AKA has become synonymous with conceptualising and executing fearlessly creative communications campaigns locally, regionally and globally, which help brands unleash the business potential of communications.

Since 2012, AKA has been privileged to bring home 145 industry accolades and counting including Bronze awards at both Spikes and The Effies with Jetstar. Consistency is really important to the agency founders and each year AKA continues to invest in a handful of industry platforms to demonstrate the power of our client-agency partnerships, the importance of strategic creativity and our continued investment in comms innovation. In addition to its client work being celebrated, the recognition for how the founders choose to run the agency as a management team, is just as important to.

Alongside winning accolades for its client work this year, AKA Asia has once again been recognised for how it chooses to run the agency, being named Workplace Champions at the 2022 PRCA SEA and also Best Mid-sized Agency to Work For (Asia Pacific), PRovoke 2022.

For more information, visit https://www.aka-asia.com/ or contact amy@aka-asia.com.