How To Succeed In Advertising: Rewrite the Rules

My mother worked until she had my brother in 1996. She had to take time off to care for us. She was always planning to go back, but then she had my youngest brother. Then she was raising three kids, buying food, running errands, and bringing us to school and soccer and gymnastics and back every day. And by the time she was ready to work again, it had been 18 years. How could she just go back? Did she sacrifice her career for her family? And most importantly: Do I have to do that?

Two weeks ago, three female leaders of the three largest Boston agencies came together to talk about “how to succeed in advertising.” This was a big deal for a few reasons:

First off, the three busy leaders were all in one place, at one time, together. Not only that, but they made themselves available to a bunch of college students—just to give us advice and talk about being a woman in the industry. And if that wasn’t enough, they did it in the wake of a massive snowstorm, after sitting in hours of traffic. These women do whatever it takes to succeed and make themselves available, and their efforts paid off. They got me thinking about what I wanted to do, and how I could be more like them.

To rewind, I’ve known I wanted to go into advertising since my freshman year of college. And since then, I’ve seen a lot of different people speak about the industry. Without fail, every single one has mentioned the long hours and hard work. They tell us how they spend more time in the office than at home, and how their whole lives have become about advertising.

And I’m okay with hard work and consuming job. I love advertising, and I want that to become my life. But I also want a family.

I grew up in a Jewish home, constantly surrounded (read: bombarded) by grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends. We’re close, and I like that. I want that for my family. I want a family, but I want to be able to work the job I want, as well.

To be completely honest, I never thought it was possible — until I heard these women speak that night. Not one of the three leaders felt any sort glass ceiling for women in advertising—and that might just be because they’ve broken it.

They’re rewriting the rules, and they’re doing a damn good job at making it all work. “It is a time thing,” said Arnold Worldwide global president Pam Hamlin. “But make the most of everything you’re doing at that time, and it’ll work out.”

Karen Kaplan started off as a receptionist, and is now the CEO and Chairman of Hill Holliday. She actually hid the fact that she had kids in order to move up the ladder. She didn’t want people to think her family would prevent her from being a great leader — so she didn’t let them.

And then there’s Kristen Cavallo, President of Mullen, who runs the Boston agency while living in Virginia with her family. She commutes back and forth each week, and she manages to run the agency by only physically being there part-time.

Cavallo talked about some of the tough choices she makes daily to make it all work, but she proudly does everything she can. “I regret the times I wasn’t creative in my own defense,” she said. In fact, her unique arrangement wasn’t handed to her at all. Cavallo had to ask for it, and she had to work for it. “You have to want it,” she explained.

Each of these women is rewriting the advertising rules on her own terms, and according to her own vision. Why? Because they can. They’re doing everything they can to succeed—as women, as mothers, and as advertising leaders. And why not? After all, advertising is all about creative solutions.