Joanna holds a Master Degree in Behavioral Economics from Northwestern University in Chicago. She began her career as a Research Analyst at IRI in Chicago, designing and analyzing spilt market test to asses the effectiveness of advertising and supporting marketing activities on brand performance.
Shortly after, she joined Saatchi & Saatchi Athens leading the Toyota and P&G communication strategy. She later joined McCann Erickson Athens where she headed up international accounts including Nestle, Unilever and Coca Cola.
Her career took an international turn when she joined DDB South Central Europe to lead the Balkan offices in Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia, taking the lead on the communication and business strategy for international clients such as McDonald’s as well as heading up business operations.
In 2000, Joanna joined DDB Moscow as New Business Director and Strategy Director and established the planning department for the office while developing communication for McDonald’s, VW and Unilever.
Following her tenure in Moscow, Joanna joined Lowe Advertising in Amsterdam as European Strategy Director, focusing primarily on Unilever brands innovation and business strategy.
In 2005, Joanna took on the responsibility of Strategy and Planning as a Management Representative at DDB Budapest where she developed a proprietary ethnographic research methodology for gaining more meaningful consumer insight and an innovation model designed to help brands stretch and grow.
In 2010, Joanna and Stefan Erschwendner launched LHBS Consulting iwhich has enjoyed dynamic growth over the last four years.
Joanna is a guest lecturer at the CEU University in Budapest and a visiting faculty member at the Executive MBA Program at LIMAK, Linz University in Austria. She regularly speaks and participates in panels on the topics of brand strategy and strategy in the digital age.