Big break: Coming to the U.S. to launch Genesis after being selected in a green card lottery, which enabled a timely transition 

Kate Fabian has been in advertising for two decades, but it wasn’t until she joined the Leo Burnett agency in 2008 to head up the Subaru Australia account that she got her first taste of the auto industry. 

After a year on Subaru, she began her Hyundai journey, starting at the newly opened Sydney offices of Innocean Worldwide, the Hyundai Motor Group-owned international ad agency. 

Fabian was charged with spearheading the brand communication strategy for Hyundai Motor in Australia during an era of significant economic downturn.

“I did that for a couple of years, and then I switched from running the account on the agency side to being part of the brand team on the Hyundai side in Australia,” Fabian said, noting her agency background gave her the perspective to function efficiently on the client side — a view she still holds today.

“I consider the agency an extension of my team, and we have very lean teams at Hyundai, which helps a lot with what I do every day,” Fabian said.

After five years working in-house for Hyundai, she received the news that, after applying 18 months earlier, she and her family had been selected in the green card lottery to come to the U.S. 

“I went to my CEO in Australia and said we were moving to the U.S., but I love Hyundai and I’d love to stay with it,” Fabian said. “And timing was just totally in my favor. Genesis was about to launch in the U.S., and they needed someone to head up marketing.”

Four weeks later, she was in Fountain Valley, Calif., leading marketing for the new luxury brand.

“The ability as a young marketer to launch the first luxury brand in the 21st century here in the U.S. is a pretty big deal,” Fabian said. “Genesis was all about democratizing luxury and making it accessible and ensuring we had our customers’ best interest at heart.”

Bringing Genesis to market was rewarding, but it was not without challenge because the brand had only two models in its lineup. After four years, she returned to Hyundai to work under Chief Marketing Officer Angela Zepeda. 

Today, Fabian manages all of Hyundai’s brand work, media relationships, experiential activities and multicultural efforts. That includes recently bringing on a Hispanic agency and an African American agency, which Fabian said was “hugely important” because both communities are underrepresented.

“We’re still trying to find out who Hyundai is and what it means to us, and that’s such a big opportunity — to really tell people who we are and connect with them on a more emotional level,” Fabian said. 

“That’s what excites me, and that’s why I get up every morning.”

— Carly Schaffner