Celebrating the Social Media Manager of the Year Finalists

Jun 23

Social Media Manager of the Year Finalists 2025

Social media changes by the minute, but these women keep pace and then some. They read the algorithms, spot the trend before it trends, and turn casual scrolls into real conversations – and revenue. Say hello to the 2025 Digital Women Awards finalists for Social Media Manager of the Year, the brains behind feeds that never miss a beat.

Esther Ocampo - IPA Group

About:
Esther is the founder of IPA Group, a bilingual (English and Spanish) digital marketing agency that acts as a one-stop shop for small businesses’ online needs. The team builds and optimises websites, pinpoints customer personas, and crafts social media strategies. Social media is Esther’s specialty: she digs deep into each client’s audience, designs the right channel mix, and then delivers a full done-for-you service, ads and all, to put the right eyes on every brand.

Reason for Shortlisting:
Esther tackles social media the way small business owners need it done: making sure you’re on the right channels, talking to the right people, at the right time, with the right information. Every new client gets a no-stone-unturned audit – platform stats, customer avatar, posting times – pulled from Agorapulse and native analytics and translated into plain-English action steps most owners didn’t realise existed. As founder of bilingual IPA Group, she also juggles a multi-person, three-time-zone team, and won’t spend a penny on ads until a client’s site is up to scratch.

Hannah Hearne - Hannah Hearne Social Media Consultancy

About:
Hannah is the founder of Hannah Hearne Social Media Consultancy, created to help businesses feel more confident and in control of their social media. She supports a mix of clients with guidance that is both strategic and refreshingly practical. Whether she’s building a content plan, running a campaign, or simply showing someone what actually works on Instagram, Hannah keeps things clear, manageable and effective.

Reason for Shortlisting:
Hannah guides clients not just to post content, but to understand their purpose and presence online. She never chased scale for its own sake, she built a consultancy that is useful, adaptable and human, using data without letting it kill creativity, and tailoring every plan. Over the past three years she has launched new brands, revived struggling accounts, lead tone-of-voice workshops, audience mapping and campaign planning. The results show up in engagement, traffic and conversions, but more importantly in clients who now show up online in a way that feels genuine and consistent.

Izabela Bos - UHealth /Miller School of Medicine; That Digital Belle; and Simply Luna

About:
With more than eight years’ experience as a digital marketing strategist, Izabela has helped nonprofits, retailers, and healthcare organisations turn their online presence into genuine growth. She is social media manager for the University of Miami Health System and the Miller School of Medicine and also runs two businesses – That Digital Belle and Simply Luna. In everything she does, she pairs creativity with data-driven thinking, crafting campaigns that engage the right audiences and deliver measurable results.

Reason for Shortlisting:
As a social media manager overseeing the digital voice and brand presence across more than 30 official social media pages, Izabela designed and executed paid and organic content strategies for a combined audience of over 257,000, lifting the system’s following by 42.2% and consumer engagement by 140.7%. She also runs two businesses, conference talks, a string of national awards and a master’s in Applied Business Analytics, and it’s this combination of creative marketing expertise and analytical rigour that enables her to bridge the gap between storytelling and measurable business outcomes.

Joanne Waggitt - Pinsent Masons

About:
Joanne is passionate about bringing campaigns to life by humanising communications and putting the customer at the heart of everything she does. Before joining Pinsent Masons, Joanne spent eight years in marketing, specialising in social media. In August 2022, Joanne became the firm’s first-ever social media manager, setting up the entire global social media function from the ground up. Joanne has been responsible for building the foundations, onboarding the right tools, and creating a comprehensive social media strategy and policy.

Reason for Shortlisting:
Joanne has made a significant impact since joining Pinsent Masons. Tasked with building the entire function from scratch, she has developed and implemented a global social media strategy that now underpins the firm’s presence across 28 international offices. Since the strategy launched in September 2023, Pinsent Masons has seen a 35% increase in engagement, a 25% rise in global followers, and a 26% uplift in website traffic from social channels. Joanne also introduced a more efficient approach to paid social, reducing cost-per-click by 68.4% and increasing impressions by 414%. Joanne has built a high-performing global function that not only strengthens the brand’s visibility, but also delivers real business value.

Samantha Tyler - Koala VA

About:
Samantha is a social media manager, strategist, content creator and coach who specialises in helping therapists grow thriving, values-led private practices through clear, confident content that truly connects with the people they want to help. Over the past year, she’s launched a self-paced online course designed to help therapists define who they most love working with, so they can stop second-guessing their content and have a more aligned, strategic and sustainable approach.

Reason for Shortlisting:
Samantha has built a business that prioritises clarity, care and community in an industry that’s often overwhelmed by noise. Her work is grounded in making marketing feel more human – less about chasing trends and more about helping people show up online with confidence and purpose. In addition to the self-paced course she developed, she offers 1:1 strategy sessions, coaching, audits and done-for-you content support. Samantha also shares free educational content on Instagram and LinkedIn, where she’s built a loyal, engaged audience.

Jessica Stettler - Envoy Air, an American Airlines Group company

About:
Jessica is a digital marketing professional with over 15 years of experience and industry certification. While her specialty is in crafting and implementing multi-channel strategies, her core strengths lie in storytelling, digital strategy, and branded content creation. In her current role at Envoy Air, an American Airlines company, she manages both organic and paid social and digital media campaigns, leads website enhancements, oversees public relations efforts, and produces compelling content that strengthens the brand and helps attract top-tier talent.

Reason for Shortlisting:

Jessica was shortlisted for her outstanding work transforming Envoy Air’s digital presence over the past nine years. Starting with a focus on organic content, she built a strategic, multi-channel digital marketing function from the ground up – introducing paid media, refining brand messaging, and aligning social with broader business goals. Her work has not only strengthened customer engagement and brand visibility but also played a key role in recruitment, crisis communication, and brand protection.

Michelle Betts - ByJove Media

About:
Michelle is the founder of ByJove Media, a social media consultancy supporting small businesses, sole traders, and organisations across the UK. She provides tailored social media strategy, content creation, training and consultancy. Before launching her company, Michelle held corporate roles including customer services manager, where she led teams, managed budgets, and oversaw operations. Her work is varied – from power hours with start-up founders to delivering workshops and building long-term strategies for established clients. She also speaks at events and invests in continued professional development to stay sharp.

Reason for Shortlisting:
Michelle was shortlisted for her thoughtful, personalised approach to social media consultancy that truly puts the client at the centre. Through ByJove Media, she has created a service that goes far beyond templates and trends – offering strategic, human-led support tailored to each business's unique voice, goals, and audience. Her background in both corporate management and small business marketing gives her rare insight into the real-world challenges clients face, and she brings empathy, clarity and a genuine commitment to helping them succeed.

The Digital Women Awards are proud to celebrate these extraordinary individuals.