I started We Are Rosie to change the lives of people in advertising. We are here for those who have been marginalized, overlooked, and underestimated. We are a home for those who feel like they never found a place in this industry.
The Advertising Industry Is Doing It Wrong
Our industry is facing perilous challenges around talent attraction and retention, which is impacting both our work and our happiness. As with any storm, many pressures have been building in tandem, including rampant harassment, discrimination that keeps diverse voices out of decision making, overworked teams, impossible staffing goals, rising competitive pressure from large consulting firms, and a shift to project-based partnerships. This industry-wide chaos has created an echo chamber of unfulfilled and overworked people shouting, “I’ve had enough.” I was one of them.
I was moved to action by a race to the bottom that has brought this industry to its knees. The ad world has been laser-focused on profit over people. True partnerships have been traded in for shortsightedness. Women and minorities are made to feel like an afterthought.
Advertising is a collective of incredibly talented people working to create a connection between humans and brands, yet we’ve become completely disconnected from one another.
We Are Rosie is calling for the industry to rethink the way we do business. We want to have an honest conversation about the challenges we are all facing.
Let’s change shit up. It isn’t going to be easy, but now that we’ve admitted we have a problem, we can work together to build something new, something better, something human.
We Are Here To Make It Right.
The numbers speak for themselves. Our economy is transforming. People are interested in working in flexible, non-traditional, and diverse environments that foster both career fulfillment and work-life harmony. We Are Rosie answered the call of the masses by becoming the harbinger of a new age of advertising. We are an entrepreneur-driven talent hub that embraces the diverse perspectives and experiences of over 500 ad industry rock stars who are ready to create the change they want to see in advertising.
And so, We Are Rosie is here to be the wrecking ball and the clean-up crew.
And let’s be clear: the only thing we’re here to dismantle is an old, tired system that’s beyond repair. We haven’t sworn off agencies – quite the opposite. In fact, we are already partnering with agencies and brands who are ready to align with this new way of doing business.
In our first six months of operation, we’ve been tapped by some of the fastest growing brands in the world and have connected them to hand-curated teams of consultants to bring a powerful perspective to their business challenges. Our teams are excited, creative, and thoughtful. Our work is receiving rave reviews.
We have been embraced by agencies within the largest holding companies in the world. We have taken on project-based work, backfilled for parental leave, provided subject matter expertise that hadn’t existed within the agency, restructured agency teams, and freed up agency team members to onboard new business during times of transition.
Most importantly, we have connected agencies with a level of talent and thought leadership they have been missing while allowing them to offer more flexibility and support to their full-time employees.
We Are Advertising Reimagined.
I created We Are Rosie to support a modern workplace through flexibility, work-life harmony, mutual respect, decency, and equity. We believe that allowing people to choose how they approach work delivers better results for our clients. And, so far, we’ve been right. Every single one of our clients has renewed with us. We launched over 30 projects with brands and forward-thinking agencies in seven months, and have access to hundreds of marketing and media experts who offer a nearly unfathomable range of skills, perspectives, backgrounds, passions, and personal stories.
By partnering with my team, brands and agencies can achieve more while benefiting from the proven value of diversity in advertising.
And because we are answering a long-overdue call, We Are Rosie is growing rapidly.
Next year, we will set out to build a community platform, develop a mentorship program, and create space for people to live the life they want while bringing their whole selves to work each day. And, of course, we will continue advocating for flexible, inclusive, and employee-first workplaces.
We are welcoming change and ushering in a new era of emotionally intelligent work. I invite you to join us as we re-imagine advertising.
We’ll see you on the front lines.
