A fearlessly accelerating leader, and a motivated and immensely experienced entrepreneur, Cara Scharf is a rare blend of courage, spirit, and wisdom. She is the President and Founder of a New York-based advertising agency, ‘Fearless Media’ that offers complete marketing solutions to their clients- specializing in entertainment, consumer electronics, video games, and technology verticals. Prior to Fearless Media, she worked as Executive Vice President at another agency where she successfully led the agency’s growth and business development, by boosting the company’s revenue from 10 million to 50 million USD. Walking away from the agency was a huge decision for her. She says, “I’d risen to the highest level I could with that firm, but I found myself feeling unsatisfied and unhappy. Leaving was a huge decision, but a quick one. I’ve never looked back.”
Thus was born Fearless Media in 2009. In the initial two years of establishing and growing her business, Cara was pretty much working at all hours. While it was backbreaking, it wasn’t enough to put down Cara’s belief and enthusiasm. Led by her sanguinity, Cara became a successful businesswoman. She was recognized as the ‘Professional Woman of the Year’ by the National Association of Professional Women in 2014, and most recently she was named the ‘Marketing & Advertising Entrepreneur of the Year’ by M&A Global Awards 2018. Cara’s list of accomplishments doesn’t end here. She has been honored with numerous awards throughout her ongoing journey including Corporate Excellence Awards of 2018, Clutch Awards for leading media buying agency NYC and top ad agencies, CV Executive Award for Most Innovative Marketing and Advertising Executive Northeast 2017 and many others. Talking about what she learned in the process, she shares, “it’s exhausting at times, but it also provides the benefit of not really giving you a lot of time to worry about things, like second-guessing whether it will work. You’re in the middle of it, you’re doing it and it is working. Once you are able to make the mental transition from working as an employee to becoming a small business entrepreneur, you also begin to move to make strategic decisions rather than living moment to moment. It happens gradually, but is one of the most rewarding things I have experienced.”