Own It

This week on Own It we’re talking to Rene Ryan from Backpocket Agency.  Her firm is a boutique agency that drives engagement for its clients. She’s spent the last 20 years at several firms in the content marketing space, honing strategies for clients across many sectors.  She co-founded BackPocket Agency two years ago and is blossoming into ownership. I so enjoyed hearing about her journey, her th...

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Beth Johnson from RP3 Agency. It is a full-service creative agency that cuts through the tsunami of sameness with wildly original ideas that drive results. She founded RP3 in 2009 so she has a long history as an owner to share with us. She’s also a big traveller, which you know we love talking about.  We talked about her journey, her inspirations and role mode...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Lauren Bello from Sia Partners. She joined the firm as a partner two years ago after several years at Ready Set Rocket where she ultimately served as CEO. Sia Partners is a next-generation global consulting group in strategy, artificial intelligence and management. We talked about so much. Her roles as an owner, a mom, her journey to ownership and so much more....

This week on Own It we’re talking to Erika Saracco from Colorwheel Digital. Her firm specializes in integrated marketing strategies that connects brands with audience across earned, owned and paid channels. They eliminate ad waste to make every dollar count.  We talked about her journey, who has helped inspire her to create and own, and even her addiction to cold plunging after time in the sauna....

This week on Own It we’re talking to Leah Lane from Strong Brew. Leah came to ownership through the entertainment industry as a television producer. But building shows is just as good a training ground for building teams, businesses and agencies.  Strong Brew challenges traditional agency models by placing empathy and collaboration at the core to combat the often chaotic and ego-driven world enter...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Suzanne Powers from All&. She and her partner Jennifer Breithaupt founded the firm a little over a year ago. Suzanne spent many years at McCann, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and TBWA. She shared some wonderful insights she picked up over her journey. I loved her story and her thoughts on closing the gender gap in agency ownership.  These conversations and so valuab...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Courtney Worthman and Stacey Gersten from Main Character. Their firm’s goal is to make their client’s brands the Main Character in stories, the marketplace and impact. They launched the company in 2025 after working together for several years at Burns Entertainment. We talked about their individual and partnership journeys, which character from Sex & The City t...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Jenna Cummings from Rival. She is originally from Spokane, Washington, but is now based in London, England. One of the things she says she loves about ownership and the advertising business is the ability to live and work anywhere and enjoy a global lifestyle. Rival is an agency focused on helping challenger brands become blue chip ones, primarily through lever...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Stephanie Crockett from the Mower Agency. She started at Mower & Associates in 2004 on the account side. By 2021 she was president and chief operating officer. She took over as president and CEO in 2023. Mower is an advertising and public relations agency with over 50 years experience connecting brands with audience in authentic, lasting ways. Stephanie and I t...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Chelsea Derrico from OpAD Media Solutions. She climbed the ladder internally at OpAD from a media planner and buyer to CEO and president, all over the last 14 years. The media agency is based in New York City where Chelsea raises a family, plays tennis and leads a firm that focuses on data-driven media decisions to produce results.  We talked about everything f...

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Kimberly Eberl from The Motion Agency. Her firm is based in Chicago and helps clients like Ace Hardware, Whirlpool and more accelerate growth with results-driven creative. Their work and thinking is impressive, for sure. We talked about her journey from growing up in Cincinnati, to working for Harley Davidson, to founding Motion 20 years ago. She came up throu...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Gina Clementi from Good Story. Her firm does what she calls brand archaeology. They dig past marketing speak to uncover stories worth telling. We had fun uncovering her stories worth telling including how she came into ownership. Her experiences with Nike where she built much of her expertise in the industry, and her lifestyle in the pacific northwest.   We als...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Cassie Hughes and Gabrey Means from Grow Marketing. Their firm is a full-service agency based in San Francisco that specializes in brand strategy, design and production. They’ve been together for a quarter of a century after early career stops at some major brands. Cassie worked at Levi Strauss and Esprit along the way. Gabrey was at The Gap and Banana Republic...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Erin Fabio from Grit Studio. Grit Studio is a boutique marketing agency built for bold brands and the women behind them. Erin brings a “dream it, build it” mentality to every challenge. She also recently took up tennis and says it's her time to not think about anything other than being in the present.  Erin has so many good nuggets to share in this conversation...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Alexis Toney and Grace Kwak from Background Noise. It is a strategic consultancy that promotes diversity through inclusive strategies that help meet brands where they are and help them grow to where they need to go.  And diversity lives through every bit of their firm. Alexis is a New York City club deejay when she is not working on client projects. Grace balan...

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Mandana Mellano from PEONY Talent. It is a boutique talent recruitment and advisory practice that services the media, advertising, marketing, technology and entertainment industries. Her efforts have been focused on modernizing the talent recruitment process in our industry. I love how she’s innovating in that space for us all. Mandana and I talked about her j...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Chelsea Matthews from TUX, a creative agency with offices in L.A. and Montreal. Chelsea is also an owner beyond the agency world. She is also a partner in Highly Likely which has a number of casual dining restaurants in Southern California, and co-founded Candid, a content creation platform that was acquired in 2024. We certainly dove into her ability to thrive...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Tiffany Rolfe from R/GA. She is the global chair and one of the new owners of one of the world’s largest and most successful agencies so this episode has a lot of value in it. Tiffany has recently touched work with Puma and Jay-Z, the ACLU and many more. She’s in the middle of leveraging influencers and creating strategic solutions at the intersection of storyt...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Remy Stiles from Kepler. After serving as the North American president for the previous three years She is now Kepler’s global CEO. She’s been with the firm for over 13 years and came up through the account side of the industry. Remy has been instrumental in building the culture, innovation, and vision that defines who Kepler is, which is a critical piece of th...

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Lennon Barnica from Wild Manor. It is a editorial and finishing house that focuses on the quality and craftsmanship they bring to client projects. They say they’ve created a place for storytelling to flourish. We love that. Hearing Lennon tell her story was fascinating and inspiring. We had a wonderful time hearing that, getting to know her and certainly getti...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Emily Siegel from Lafayette American. She not only started her Detroit-based agency in 2018, but did so at the same time she had her first child. None of that held her or the firm back. It has earned AdAge Small Agency of the Year, was on the Adweek Breakthrough Agency of the Year Shortlist and Emily was named an AdAge Woman to Watch along the way. Emily came t...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Michele Kunken and Julie Liu from Slim Creative. As you might infer from the name, they are focused on the power of less and strip away the layers that crush great ideas. Michele and Julie lead the agency from different coasts with Michele operating out of the New York/New Jersey area. Julie is in Los Angeles. We dove into their firm, their individual and colle...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Aleena Kuzma from FUSE Create. She’s based in the Toronto area in Canada but immigrated there from the middle east when she was a teenager. That sense of adventure and travel drives her creativity. Aleena has been with FUSE for eight years and earned her way to a partnership role very early in her tenure. The firm promises to create work that turns heads. They...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Alexis Young and Danielle McNeill from Definitely Real. It is a creative marketing agency committed to delivering impactive creative solutions based in Vancouver, Canada. Alexis and Danielle started the firm in 2021 after meeting at a music festival in Toronto. Definitely Real was recently featured in AdWeek as a Top 10 Indie Agency to Watch. We had so much fun...

This week on Own It we’re talking to Meryl Draper from Quirk Creative. She is truly global, leading a firm that has offices in New York, Guadalajara, and Paris, where she is based now.  Meryl spent time at iconic agencies and with impressive brands through the years including Ogilvy & Mather, MSL Group, Cisco, Blackboard, IBM and more. After co-founding Quirk Creative in 2015, she has guided the a...