Andrea

Andrea Edwards

Andrea has more than 20 years marketing and communications experience, having worked in every major market around the globe, with the last decade based in Singapore. Born in Australia, Andrea has had a rich career and a rich life, and she’s currently enjoying the role of Analyst Relations Lead for Microsoft across Asia Pacific.

Andrea’s been lucky enough to work across Australasia, the Asia Pacific, the UK, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Focused principally in the high-tech/IT industry throughout her career, Andrea also has significant experience in other major business sectors, including defence, aerospace, travel & tourism, professional services, marketing services, financial services and even the brewing industry.

Prior to Microsoft, Andrea ran her own communications and content marketing consultancy, SAJE, which included The Writers Shop – a collaboration between the best business writers in the Asia Pacific region. SAJE focused on helping customers excel at communication, content marketing and sales strategies.

Prior to SAJE, Andrea was Director of Marketing Services for IDC Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. In this role, Andrea led IDC’s Marketing Services business unit across Asia Pacific, delivering value-added marketing services and products that complemented the IT&T vendor communities’ marketing initiatives for customer, partner and internal marketing programs in the region. The three main areas were IDC’s industry events, IDC’s custom events, and IDC’s Go-to-Market Services.

Before this, Andrea was contracted as the Group Communications Manager for Baycorp Advantage, Sydney, Australia. In this role, Andrea provided corporate strategy and direction for this Australasian provider of business intelligence services, including ANZ’s credit bureau.

Andrea has always enjoyed the freedom of contract work, and undertook the role of marketing communications consultant for ClearForest Inc., NYC, USA, a former client, where she played a strategic role in defining the global communications strategy for this software company, specializing in information extraction and analytics technology.

Andrea enjoyed four years as an Account Director with Text 100 International, spending two years with this firm in Boston, USA and two years in London, UK. Andrea was responsible for providing strategic direction for clients, including global messaging, positioning, branding and program management, advice on relevant industry issues and positioning, as well as PR training to senior executives. Andrea also had responsibility for strategic planning and business development for the Boston office and staff development programs. Her main clients during this time were Microsoft in the UK and EMEA, as well as a series of small start-ups in Boston, including OZ.COM, SageMaker, MetraTech, InfoVista and Corechange.

Prior to Text 100, Andrea set herself up as a PR Consultant in London, with clients including Sai Westall Thomkins (a PR agency), Guinness Brewing, Hill & Knowlton (a PR agency), and Fox Parrack Fox (a PR and advertising agency).

Andrea left Australia in 1995 to pursue her love of travel and archeology. Prior to leaving, she was in charge of communications for AeroSpace Technologies of Australia (now Boeing), which was preceded by the founding of her own company, Jezebel Publicity, in Melbourne. Andrea’s first job after graduation from university was as a Musician in the Australian Army, followed by a chapter as a PR representative for the Australian Defence Force PR Unit – an interesting chapter in her life.

Andrea has a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University, where she majored in music and archaeology, and she has travelled the world, including Egypt, Israel, India, Nepal, Turkey, Spain, Italy, France, Guatemala, China, Nicaragua, Honduras, Indonesia, among many others. Her passions are history, archaeology, music, diving, swimming, cycling and you guessed it, travelling.

Andrea is a fun loving person with a passion for the important things in life, along with a drive to always do the best she can do and be the best she can be. Informal in her approach, Andrea believes in being true to herself in everything she does.

Get in touch with Andrea at a-anedwa at microsoft dot com