Phoena is a mobile adtech leader with an engineering background and experience spanning sales, partnerships, product, and operations. Currently, she leads sales and operations across the Americas at Mintegral, as well as global partnerships. She focuses on driving growth, scaling go-to-market execution, and building strategic partnerships that help advertisers and app developers succeed globally.
She’e worked across different startups and global companies and is especially passionate about gaming, performance advertising, and using technology to make app growth more efficient and transparent.
In your own words, what’s your role in the app business right now?
I lead Mintegral’s Americas business and global partnerships, focusing on go-to-market execution, operational scale, and aligning product strategy with what the app market actually needs. That means I work across the app ecosystem — in advertising, publishing, development, ad exchanges, measurement partners — you name it.
How did you end up working in apps?
As I always say, the field chose me. I’ve been a gamer since childhood, so working with mobile games and helping developers monetize sustainably felt like the perfect fit. A friend brought me in to see Vungle when I was on a layover in San Francisco. I had already accepted an offer from Microsoft, but, given my first love was gaming, I chose Vungle. Later in my career I also spent over five years driving Google’s global gaming advertising business.
What are you most excited about in apps right now?
Like almost everyone else, I’m excited about AI, especially the practical, operational side of it.
In mobile advertising and app growth, there’s still a lot of manual campaign optimisation and workflow management. I’m excited about agentic AI tools that can meaningfully improve efficiency for account managers and campaign managers and ultimately help advertisers and developers make faster, better decisions.
Is there anyone you’d like to shout out to who has influenced your journey in the app industry?
I am constantly inspired by Li Fei-Fei, a leader in artificial intelligence and a powerful role model as a woman, an immigrant, and a scientist. I admire vision and resilience. I’ve also been lucky to work with a lot of strong teams across Vungle, Google, Moloco, and Mintegral, as well as partner with many game developers and publishers. The people I have met are a real testament to the industry — that is, an open and positive community.
What do you like most about working in apps?
I love that apps are constantly evolving. At Mintegral, and with the developers and publishers we work with, there’s a strong culture of testing, learning, and iterating quickly. It’s especially rewarding to see an indie developer or publisher find product-market fit — and even more so to help them scale.
The impact is tangible: we can see it directly in user adoption, revenue growth, and real user outcomes. On top of that, I get to travel the world and meet incredibly smart, interesting people.
What one thing would you change about the app industry?
If I could change one thing about the app industry, it would be the lack of true transparency, especially around traffic quality and fraud. Too often, developers and advertisers are forced to make decisions based on black-box metrics, delayed signals, or inconsistent standards across platforms. That creates inefficiency and erodes trust.
The biggest opportunity is building a more accountable ecosystem where performance, attribution, and fraud detection are aligned, explainable, and actionable in real time.
Apps shouldn’t have to choose between scale and trust, and the industry will be stronger when clean growth is the default, not a premium.
If you weren’t working in apps what would you be doing?
I’d be building something of my own — somewhere at the intersection of technology, fitness, and creativity. I love teaching and helping people grow, whether that’s through apps or through movement, and I’d want to apply the same mindset of experimentation, iteration, and community-building to a different space.
iOS or Android?
iOS.
What apps have been most useful to you over the last year?
ChatGPT, Audible, and Spotify.
What’s on your Spotify playlist?
I mainly listen to podcasts; Deconstructor of Fun and The Pivot are my current favourites.
Any TV show recommendations?
Squid Game and Money Heist.
Is there anything else we should know about you?
I’ve lived, studied, and worked across mainland China, Hong Kong, Sweden, Canada, and the US. That global experience has shaped how I think about products and markets. It’s also led to my current position of scaling an Asia-based company globally (whereas in prior roles I’ve helped US companies expand into China — a total reversal).
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