Welcome to In Her Words, New York Festivals Lady Liberty’s monthly interview series celebrating women innovators across the industry. As part of the Lady Liberty Leadership Program, the series offers audiences an opportunity to connect with the voices, ideas, and experiences shaping today’s creative landscape through thoughtful conversations, personal reflections, and an evolving monthly focus.

Meet Svetlana Stotskaya.

Svetlana Stotskaya is a global marketing executive, mentor, and awards jury member with extensive experience supporting startups and established brands worldwide, from France to Singapore. She mentors entrepreneurs at startup accelerators Techstars and Founder Institute.

Svetlana has served on the jury board for multiple international awards, including the 2026-2025 New York Festivals Advertising Awards, 2026-2025 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Award (USA), 2025 BIG Innovation Awards (USA), and 2024 Stratus Cloud Computing Awards (USA), among others. 

Featured as the Changemaker by the World Intellectual Property Organization and INvolve Heroes Role Model 2025 supported by YouTube, Svetlana is also a member of several industry groups focused on AI and leadership.

Lady Liberty: Was there a moment in your career when you realized your perspective or leadership style did not need to mirror anyone else’s to be effective?

Svetlana Stotskaya: Early in my career, I assumed that to be taken seriously in global marketing and tech, I needed to adopt the communication styles I saw around me: louder, more assertive, more “executive” in a very traditional sense. The turning point came when I was leading a cross-border project across Europe and Asia. I noticed that my most impactful moments weren’t when I was trying to sound like the most senior person in the room, but when I leaned into my natural style: asking thoughtful questions and creating space for others to contribute.

That project succeeded not because I mirrored an existing leadership archetype, but because I worked to align very culturally different teams around a shared goal. It was the first time I truly understood that effectiveness comes from owning your perspective and using it to bring people together, rather than fitting a template.

Lady Liberty: As your career has evolved, how have you learned to balance ambition, confidence, and authenticity in professional spaces?

Svetlana Stotskaya: I’ve learned to treat these characteristics as complementary, not competing, forces. Ambition sets the direction: the problems I want to solve and the positive impact I want to have. Confidence is the belief that I can grow into those spaces, even if I don’t have all the answers yet. Authenticity is the guardrail that keeps me honest about why I’m there and how I show up.

Practically, this has meant being clear about my goals while staying open about what I’m still learning. I try to speak plainly about both my achievements and my gaps, especially when mentoring founders or leading teams. That honesty has made me more relatable, because people can see the real work and growth behind it.

Lady Liberty: In an industry shaped by constant visibility, personal branding, and rapid change, how can leaders build influence while still maintaining a genuine voice and point of view?

Svetlana Stotskaya: I believe influence today is more about consistent, values-led contribution. In a world of highly optimised personal brands, the leaders who stand out are those who are willing to take a clear stance and show up consistently over time.

For me, that means using my platforms to talk about the topics I genuinely care about—innovation and creativity, mentorship, to name just a few—even when they’re not the easiest or most “viral” angles. It also means being transparent about commercial relationships and avoiding the temptation to turn every post into a pitch. Audiences can sense when a voice is real versus when it’s purely performative.

Leaders can protect their genuine voice by deciding in advance what they will not compromise on—for instance, the topics they’ll speak about and the kinds of projects they’ll accept. Influence built on that foundation tends to be slower but far more durable.