This week on OWN IT, we’re talking to Suzanne Barbosa of Atlantic New York. Her firm is the reigning AdAge Small Agency of the Year! Her experience prior to ownership included stops at MullenLowe, BBDO, Grey, Victors & Spoils and more. So, she brings the perspective of the big and the small to the conversation. Suzanne loved being in the middle of everything through her career, so she came up in the account role in the business. She joined Atlantic NYC in the summer of 2022 in the middle of ...
Feb 05, 2024•44 min
This week on OWN IT, we’re talking to Katie Irving of The Moonshot Agency. She works mainly in the fashion industry and started her career as a textile designer. That happens to be one of my favorite things, so we could have spent the whole episode talking about that … but we didn’t! Katie and Christy Hiler explored her journey to ownership, the women who inspired her along the way and the challenges we face in closing that gender gap in agency ownership. This was such a great conversation and t...
Jan 29, 2024•28 min
On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Leeann Leahy of The VIA Agency. She hails from Portland, Maine where VIA does outstanding work and is an outstanding place to work. They were Ad Age’s Best Agency Culture winner in 2022. Leeann’s history of work is impressive. She’s been with big and small agencies through the years. She admits she had to learn how to play politics at the big agencies but enjoyed carving her own way at smaller shops. She actually started in Advertising at six mo...
Jan 22, 2024•45 min
On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Victoria Roedel of Ice Cream Social. Her experience includes time at both big agencies and big brands. She co-founded Ice Cream Social, which is a digital media and content firm, in 2020. They have PepsiCo, among other brands, on their client list. And yes … they actually have three ice cream trucks which are incorporated into their business. Victoria is also a foodie and rides a Vespa, which as you’ll hear sparked a bit of a coincidence with me! So mu...
Jan 16, 2024•35 min
On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Natalie Graeme and Lucy Jameson of Uncommon London. Both spent a number of years at a handful of incredible agencies before joining forces on the management team at Grey. From there they envisioned starting their own shop and in 2017 they did. They’ve always been known for great work, but 2023 turned out to be “The” year for Uncommon. The agency won work from Nike Jordan, Pinterest and Beats and in March was named A-List International Agency of ...
Dec 18, 2023•41 min
This week on OWN IT, we’re talking to Lyndsey Corona of Slap Global. She has just been an owner for about a year, so that piece of her journey is new. But her path to that point has a lot of lessons for us all. First of all, Lyndsey is a boxer. She says it’s shaped her approach to business and ownership. She has certainly come into ownership swinging and I must say those punches are landing. She and Slap Global are winning a lot. But she has a lot of experience she and her partners are bringing ...
Dec 11, 2023•33 min
On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Josy Amann and Taji Zaminasli of Media Matters Worldwide. Their agency is 20 years old and is a media planning, buying and analytics agency. It has always been independent and women-owned so their experience is a treasure trove for us. Josy and Taji also trail-blazed the concept of remote work. Media Matters Worldwide has been fully remote since 2005 – long before the pandemic made it necessary for some. I so loved their perspective and experien...
Dec 04, 2023•36 min
On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Louise Rengozzi and Jess Hickman from The Cusp. This dynamic duo has worked together in various stops along their journey, but joined forces to found The Cusp earlier this year. So we’re catching them on the very beginning of their journey as owners. Louise and Jess are based in Whales in the United Kingdom. We talked about their decision to launch The Cusp, the thinking behind their firm and of course, the challenges we face as female owners in...
Nov 27, 2023•38 min
On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Katie Klencheski of SMAKK. It is a Brooklyn-based branding and marketing agency focused on wellbeing. Katie has dedicated her life and career to using creativity to drive meaningful change. We talked about her love of art, her path to ownership and, of course, her take on what we can do to close the gender gap in agency ownership. I so enjoyed this episode and talking to Katie. I know you will, too. Thanks for listening to this episode of OWN IT...
Nov 20, 2023•46 min
In this encore episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Cindy Gallop from If We Ran The World and Make Love Not Porn. The original episode dropped on August 29, 2022. As you might guess from the name of her companies, Cindy is bold, brave and a bull in the China shop. She has deep experience in the advertising business and has been ruffling the feathers of the status quo for a long time. Cindy starts off taking swings. She says women are at a distinct disadvantage in the advertising world because whi...
Nov 13, 2023•46 min
This week on OWN IT, we’re talking to Krista Carroll of Latitude. She and her husband took a mission trip to Haiti in 2009 and returned to reshape their life to reflect their values. Latitude was the by-product of that shift as they launched the agency with the purpose to spend half of their time reinvesting in purpose-driven causes and brands. The company mantra is “Purpose Elevates Talent.” They’ve been using that talent for clients from a multitude of industries and verticals for almost 14 ye...
Nov 06, 2023•36 min
On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Allison Henry Aver of Letter A. Allison has been an instrumental creative force for brands like Bumble and bumble, Kate Spade and more. She was the founding creative director for Kate Spade Saturday in fact. Allison is a creative problem solver and her agency works with emerging brands looking for personality, purpose and point of view. I enjoyed her point of view on our industry, her role in it and our role as women and owners. Thanks for listening to...
Oct 30, 2023•32 min
On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Elena Robinson of Putney. I’ve been so excited to talk to and learn from Elena since she announced Putney at Ad Age’s Small Agency Conference last year. She’s been at it for a little over a year now, so this is going to be an informative episode. Elena has been at most of the big agencies in Chicago … Leo Burnett, BBDO and more. But now she’s turned her focus toward ownership. She plays guitar, was a theatre major in college, and worked in telev...
Oct 23, 2023•37 min
In this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Michelle Edelman of PETERMAYER. Michelle is an ad industry veteran She’s served on the boards at the 4A’s and is currently serving on the board at AMIN Worldwide. She’s been at PETERMAYER in New Orleans for 10 years. Michelle grew up thinking she would be a doctor. She actually went to medical school before opting for public affairs and healthcare marketing which led her to the industry we so love. As you can imagine, the perspective she brings ...
Oct 16, 2023•45 min
In this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Ellen Faulkner of Lewis Communications. We are going to learn a lot this week. Ellen is the CEO of Lewis where she has been for almost 39 years. She started as an account coordinator, but moved up and was SVP and managing director until last year. Interestingly enough, she purposefully avoided ownership. But as time went on, she joined five others to take over the business from the former owner. She’s been the CEO for the last year and a half. N...
Oct 09, 2023•34 min
In this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Sally Weavers and Jenny Jones of Craft Media London. Both credit their mentoring and inspiration to a string of formidable women leaders in advertising. Now that they’re the formidable leaders, they’re inspiring more women to follow that path to ownership. Sally and Jenny both came up through media and strategy. They’ve worked with some of the biggest brands in the world and guide amazing work. We talked about their experiences and then, as we d...
Oct 02, 2023•39 min
On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Sara Eolin and Veronica Diaferia from Tinygiant. Tinygiant is a Canne’s Silver Lion award-winning production company that has worked with an incredible roster of the world’s biggest brands and agencies. Their big selling point is they offer the intimacy of a boutique firm at the speed and scale of a production company that does big work. We had such a fun time exploring their paths to ownership, the work they do and their thoughts on how we can keep ch...
Sep 25, 2023•45 min
On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Michelle O’Grady from Team Friday. Michelle is big into life experiences, and to compliment that, has a background in experiential marketing. She’s based in Los Angeles where Team Friday has existed for the last decade. It’s a creative agency with purpose driven and culturally relevant work in mind. I love these conversations, especially this one with Michelle. We covered everything from her immigrant great-grandmother, who was also an entrepreneur, to...
Sep 18, 2023•37 min
This week on OWN IT, we’re talking to Kate Wolff of Lupine Creative. She comes from a family of powerhouse women, including her mother who is an attorney, and her grandmother is Janet Wolff, one of the first women inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame. Kate has lived up to that legacy, starting Lupine Creative after navigating a career that included stops at TBWA/Chiat/Day, DDB and others. As you can imagine, the perspective of someone with her background is fascinating. We had a deep discu...
Sep 11, 2023•47 min
On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Leigh Chandler of Sister Mary. It’s an exciting time to talk to her because she is in the middle of launching the firm. She’s a native Brit who moved to New York 10 years ago. Leigh is a traveler and keen observer of different cultures and people, which makes her a fantastic translator to them from brands. We talked about the inspiration behind the name of her company, Sister Mary Corita Kent, her passion for ideas and the motivation to become a...
Sep 04, 2023•31 min
On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to MaryBeth Adduci and Karin Rose of 6. We’re going to explore a different angle to ownership with this dynamic duo. MaryBeth and Karin are both creatives and met as creative partners at DDB in Chicago. They started 6 to build an agency that focused on what they call work that matters. But the two still freelance as a creative team for others. The combination of those approaches puts a different spin on ownership and models an interesting hybrid approach ...
Aug 28, 2023•35 min
On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Amy Deneson from House of Puff, Pheno and the Cannabis Media Council. Each of those endeavors prove she’s not only entrepreneurial, but isn’t afraid to take that plunge into founding and owning agencies and businesses within our space. We talked about why and how each of those were started, the challenges of marketing in the corporate cannabis world, and we get some inspiration from her to help close the gender gap in agency ownership. It’s so inspirin...
Aug 21, 2023•39 min
In this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Jane Ferguson, a correspondent for PBS Newshour and contributor to The New Yorker. As you might expect, this episode expands our conversation into the world of journalism and how Jane has seen parallel challenges in gender equity and opportunity. Since our industries are not only similar, but intimately intertwined, this conversation is an important one for us to have. Jane shared her incredible journey to the top levels of journalism, the paral...
Aug 14, 2023•40 min
In this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Blair Brady of The With Agency. It is a brand partnership agency based in Atlanta. She is a mom, a cook and a former ballerina. She started like many of us as an intern at an agency. Her career took what she calls zig-zags through a couple of agencies before she launched With in 2012. Blair had so many interesting things to share including the perspective that women who lead agencies also need women climbing the corporate ladder on the brand side, so o...
Aug 07, 2023•43 min
On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Shannon Gabor of Clever Creative. She has been an agency owner for almost 18 years, so we tapped into her wealth of experience in ownership. Shannon came through the creative side of the business and, in a rather timely coincidence for what’s going on in the world today, she once worked on the licensing and packaging team at Mattel for the Barbie product line! And yes, I asked her to chime in on the amazing campaign we’re seeing today in support...
Jul 31, 2023•44 min
Today's episode of OWN IT features Sarah Latz and Francesca Piancone-Crowley from Book180. It is an online portfolio school that sources the best agency talent to teach new professionals in our industry! That is so cool! The conversation that became the idea for Book 180 was born during COVID. The two worked together at a portfolio school in Chicago before and during the pandemic and saw the online-only approach to education as an opportunity. Both are writers by craft, but come to the education...
Jul 24, 2023•36 min
On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Haley Dagan from The Written World. As you might expect, her background is as a copywriter and her firm specializes in purpose-driven copywriting and content marketing. Writing has been a big piece of her journey along the way. In fact, when she worked in the hotel business, she started a travel blog. She then started blogging and writing as a free-lancer which carried her through the pandemic and inspired her taking the plunge into ownership. I...
Jul 17, 2023•32 min
In this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Alana Ficalora from Aligned for Impact. Alana is a dancer away from work and does a lot of community and volunteer work in Los Angeles. She actually comes from a deep tradition of building community. She founded HER - Helping Each Other Rise, a community group of like-minded women dedicated to helping women in advertising and entertainment. Her firm, Aligned for Impact, helps companies drive social change through employee and customer engagement...
Jul 10, 2023•37 min
On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Mary Knight of Hydrogen. She is a writer and came up in the business on the creative side of the aisle. In fact, she is currently working on a satirical novel of climbing the corporate ladder we can’t wait to read! Mary’s father was a marketing director on the client-side of the advertising business. He raised her and her sisters with the mindset that a woman should be able to do anything a man can do. She carved out an amazing career working on brands...
Jun 26, 2023•31 min
On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Megan Devine from cat&tonic. She came up through the account side of advertising, but is also a painter with a creative side. That mix turned out to be important in her climb to a position of ownership. But her path to ownership includes experiences of being fired, leaving an agency and starting something new with partners and then rebranding that agency to what is now cat&tonic. Megan’s thoughts on ownership and closing the gender gap in ad ag...
Jun 12, 2023•34 min
