With a lot of support and many excellent opportunities, bbdo’s Cynthia Heyd has over the years moved up the ranks from what she refers to as the ‘absolute bottom’ to vp director of broadcast production and sales at the Toronto agency.

While Heyd’s first taste of the advertising business came from the craft services kitchen, it was a job at The Partners’ Film Company that kick-started her production career.

From the Toronto commercial production house she moved over to the agency side, spending nine years at Young & Rubicam and moving to bbdo two years ago.

According to Heyd, being a commercial producer was not the career path she initially planned to take as she imagined herself on the creative end of things. But after virtually falling into the job at Partners’, she was pumped up by production and knew exactly what she wanted to do.

It’s the creative aspects of her work which Heyd says excite her the most, and if she wasn’t able to have a hand in that part of the job she claims she would be one very unhappy producer.

‘It’s all about the creative, it’s about defining and delivering the best creative product you can; scheduling, budgeting, all that is basic,’ she says. ‘It’s the excitement of bringing the creative to life and with every job you get you’re learning and opening creative opportunities.’

Creatively her favorite work to date is the 7Up ‘Beach’ and ‘Tribe’ campaign, shot by Radke Films director/dop Keith Rose in South Africa, which she says made for a new and very creative working environment.

‘I thrive on the challenges of getting things done, and making it interesting and exciting for myself and for others who will see it,’ says Heyd.

Heyd has a ba from Queen’s University and a Masters in Journalism from Ryerson Polytechnic University where, due to her passion for what was going on behind the scenes, she specialized in broadcast.