Own It

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Lucy Stratton from EA Collective. She and her team have delivered award-winning event marketing campaigns for Google, Twitter, Target, Oprah and more.  We talked about her journey to ownership, the experiences she’s’ delivering for clients and, of course, the challenge of closing the gender gap in agency ownership. She had so many valuable tidbits for us. You’...

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Cathy Murphy and Sylvia Herrera from Venus Media. Their agency is a multicultural marketing firm that has deep experience in media strategies. They both started their careers at CBS Radio, but touched an all-star roster of brands over the years. We talked about so much in this interview, from bourbon to television shows to building successful agencies. And, of...

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Erin Regan from Full Contact Advertising. It is a full-service creative agency based in Boston. Its purpose is to Make Impact, and boy, do they! Erin worked for several large agencies and a couple of brands over the years, the last several of which have been focused on driving growth. She said she has been fortunate to have strong women leaders above her throu...

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Ashley Rector from Quimby. She calls her firm the go-to social media marketing agency for revolutionary founders, CMOs and marketing teams. That word “revolutionary” certainly seems to describe her passion for her clients and this business. Ashley took a different path to agency ownership. She’s actually an attorney. We talked about that, her journey, and the...

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Holly Willis from Magic Camp. It promises to be a brand’s best friend. She founded her firm because brand-building is hard and working with agencies shouldn’t be. She’s built a firm that is designed for operational efficiency and has a unique approach to running an agency We talked about that, her journey to ownership which included stints at FCB Chicago and 3...

On this week's episode of Own It, we’re talking to Sonja Anderson of zö agency. Her firm champions the change-makers. It is a proud woman-owned marketing department for small to midsized businesses.  We talked about her journey to ownership, the reasons behind her focus on small to midsize businesses and, of course, her take on the challenge of growing women-owned agencies. We also talked a bit ab...

This week on Own It, we have a slightly different type of guest. We’re talking to Lori Murphree from Evalla Advisors. It is a financial services firm focused on mergers and acquisitions and investment banking. As you might expect, we certainly wanted to have her on the show to inform all of you about the possibilities of M&A in the agency world, but Lori is also passionate about female ownership a...

This week on Own It, we’re talking to Krista Ripma of Authentic Audience. It is a full-service digital agency that she says is now beyond the fight or flight mode of ownership. We talk about that and how her experiences as a business coach, yoga instructor and overall health and wellness expert impacts the work. We’ve always been fascinated by owners who run their agencies differently from the nor...

On this week's episode of Own It, we have a great guest, but also a great guest host. Megan Lally from High Dive in Chicago sits in today and interviews Caroline May from Grown Creative in St. Louis. Her firm likes to think of advertising as a way to sneak art into the world. They focus on marrying ideas and stories to connect with people.  They talked about Caroline’s journey to ownership which i...

This week on Own It, we have a different episode than normal. We are welcoming back Flor Leibaschoff, who visited us with her partner Salma Gottfried, to talk about their journeys to owning BeautifulBeast. That was Episode 45, which we’ll link in our show notes. Flor is back this week to talk about an equally important gap to fill in agency ownership and that is of Hispanic and Latina representati...

On this week's episode of Own It, we’re talking to Erin Creaney and Tammy Brody of Good Day Collective. They describe the agency as the non-agency agency. That means clients get talent customized for their unique challenges without the overhead of a holding company or big agency.  We talked about their model, their journey to ownership and, of course, the challenge we face in putting more women in...

On this week's episode of Own It, we’re talking to Julia Beardwood and Sarah Williams from Beardwood & Co. Julia started the agency almost 20 years ago after time at P&G both on the brand side, and serving them at an agency. And Sarah, though she was one of the first employees, just took over ownership from Julia.  The firm was born from a dissatisfaction with existing agency models. The agency ai...

On this week's episode of Own It, we’re talking to Kelly Bayett from Love Song and Barking Owl. She owns not one, but two audio production companies. Her work has touched many aspects of the advertising and agency world, so she not only has the ownership experience to share, but a unique perspective on the greater advertising world. We talked about her inspirations and challenges along the way to...

On this week's episode of Own It, we’re talking to Alison Monk from Eden Collective. Her resume is a Who’s Who of the advertising and media business. Edelman, Mercury, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Grey, Conde Naste, Merkle. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to get her on the show … she has such a deep and wide set of experiences to share with us. Alison and I talked about her journey to ownershi...

To kick off 2024 on OWN IT, we’re talking to Christine Olivas of No Single Individual. Her firm bolts on strategy to other agencies, but she has a wealth of experience across nearly every vertical you can think of. She’s also a 2023 Stevie Award winner which is an award for women in business.   We talked about her journey, her experiences working at and with agencies, and of course, we heard her p...

On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Tevis Houston of Friends Everywhere. Her creative studio is a little over a year old and  helps brands connect with their communities through what she calls transformative visual storytelling and seasonal campaigns. She has a lot of experience and work in the fashion and youth culture spaces and has driven award-winning work for brands like Levi’s, Vans,...

On this episode of Own It, we’re talking to Holland Martini and Maria Vorovich from GOODQUES. Their firm is what they call the “anti-research” research company that is changing consumer insights practices. Their approach is to tackle research in a creative way.  They founded the company in 2019 after years working in the larger agency world. They were named a top global research company to watch i...

Today, we are celebrating a milestone. This is the 100th episode of Own It! And what a journey it has been. Today we welcome back the co-founder of the Own It effort and our first guest way back in episode one, Jean Freeman from Zambezi. We wanted to look back on the last two years of conversations and progress, recap the amazing Own It Summit we just finished in New York, and talk about what’s ne...

On this episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Lee Deas from Obviouslee. She started her agency when she was 25 with no money or capital investment. She actually taught salsa dancing to make ends meet while she built it. Almost 20 years later, she’s built an amazing agency that does awesome work. Lee is a force. And you’ll get that in the conversation today. We talked about her lessons learned throug...

This week on OWN IT, we’re talking to Julie Sheldon and Lindsay Waugh of Tough Love. They say very clearly they are not an agency. They are strategy partners for all things brand, communication and social. Both come from backgrounds in strategy and planning for a variety of brands and agencies of all sizes. They came together to start Tough Love just one year ago. We talked about their inspiration...

This week on OWN IT, we’re talking to Jolene Delisle of The Working Assembly. She started out wanting to be in journalism, but came into advertising during an internship. She wound up leading creative for a lot of big-hitting advertising and branding shops along the way.  She launched The Working Assembly seven years ago and has flourished as an agency owner. But she also owns an ice cream shop, s...

On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Alisha Goldstein of the Jane Smith Agency. Alisha’s focus is on offering a speciality in what she calls the most powerful consumer in the world - The Discerning Female Consumer.  We talked about the unique focus of her agency, her path to ownership and, of course, her thoughts on why there are so few female agency owners in advertising today.  We...

On the latest episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Brittany Woitas of Kōvly Studio. She might have the most interesting career journeys I’ve ever seen. She has been a financial advisor, a family farmer, a teacher and an agency owner. Her parent’s family farm gave her that entrepreneurial spirit.  We walked through her journey and her take on the gender gap in agency ownership. She is just brilliant...

This week on OWN IT, we’re talking to Hollie Fraser of Shelance. It is a community of freelance female creatives that serves to help that talent get found and seen. As  you might imagine, Hollie spent time as a freelance creative, but comes from a long history of working at some of the biggest agencies in the world. Leo Burnett, Grey, MMC and others. She started Shelance in 2023 after frustration...

On this week's episode of OWN IT, we’re talking to Faith Hurley and Stacy Callighan from PinPoint Collective. In many ways these two power women are the Odd Couple, from their interests … food versus working out … to their backgrounds … Faith was an actor in a previous professional life. Stacy was an architect. They met at a human-centered research and design firm. Faith gathered insights and Stac...