NICOLE NEWSOME | Chief strategy and growth officer, Qantm Creative

In 2023, Five Hill Capital, a Norfolk-based investment firm and the parent company of WB Marketing, a Norfolk marketing and communications firm, acquired Meridian Group, a Virginia Beach agency. The next year the two shops were combined to create Qantm Creative.

A sales and marketing veteran, Nicole Newsome was director of digital marketing for WB Marketing at the time of the acquisition. Newsome, according to her nominator, “played an integral role” in the merger.

Now, as chief strategy and growth officer at Qantm, Newsome serves as the main liaison between the agency’s directors and its CEO and president. She’s also the point person for many of its largest accounts.
“Known for setting a high bar in customer service, Nicole brings a strong training skill set and a results-driven approach to digital strategy, consistently delivering measurable outcomes for her clients,” Newsome’s nominator says.

A native of Hampton Roads, Newsome is also active in the community. For the past 14 years, she has served as a co-leader for two Girl Scout troops, and she mentors students at the Entrepreneurship and Business Academy at Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach. In 2024, a group of students she worked with invented a tool called SheClasp, which helps users put on jewelry easily, and later won $2,000 in a national pitch competition held in Chicago.

“I am incredibly proud of this all-female team,” Newsome says.

Return to the full list of this year’s recipients