This week, a member of the MAD//Fest team mused whether the best-known minds in our industry would have been quite so well-known had they been women?

FLC is about advocating for change in advertising, marketing, and communications – retaining the incredible female talent in our industry, and seeing a greater number of them attain C-suite and senior leadership positions. We’ve come a long way since Carol Reay became the first woman to have her name on the door of an agency, but there is still work to be done to establish a leadership culture reflective of the 70% / 30% divide of women to men in non-leadership positions, that make up the bulk of the workforce in our industry.  

If you joined in on the FLC action at this summer’s MAD//Fest, you’ll know that, since its launch in the summer of 2023, it has flourished from a space for sharing experiences and making new connections, to a full-blown, change inspiring content program hosting voices from every corner of our industry – all advocating for greater awareness and change.

This year’s stage was host to a riot of inspirational leaders, allies, advocates and activists, all in an atmosphere of learning, sharing, growing and connecting.

We heard keynotes from Helena Hills, the energetic Co-Founder at TrueStart Coffee, founders Susan Allen and Tara Chandra at Here We Flo, Maggie Murphy, recent CEO of Lewes FC, and pioneer, Claire Ferreira at Mums in Marketing.

Katie Street of Street Agency led conversations with Kerry Thorpe at Ben & Jerry’s, Seb Randle of BLOOM North, Amelia Sordell, Joanna Lyall of Better Menopausem, and the wonderful Sedge Beswick, about how men can better activate for change in the workplace and how organisations can better support women’s careers to continue and flourish through their different life stages – from planning a family to starting one, and from menopause to sometimes finding yourself the primary carer for relatives and loved ones.

WACL Campaigning Chair and 1021 Creative senior leader, Lianre Robinson, led the charge on conversations with Paul Wright at Uber, Carol Howley at Exclaimer, Oyin Akiniyi at Chivas Brothers, Perla Bloom at EA Entertainment, and Sarah Holt at Merlin Entertainments, on changing the language of leadership – advocating for one that is more reflective, inclusive and representative of the current and future diversity of talent that we want to see rising through our ranks.

Gill Huber, Managing Partner at the Future Factory talked to Matt Bushby, CMO at Rightmove about when and how to take control of your personal journey towards leadership. And interviews led by Julia Linehan at the Digital Voice and Ellie Edwards-Scott at The Advisory Collective reflected on the personal journeys of peers and colleagues, recognising moments of our own experience and learning about challenges some of us are likely to face as our careers progress.

Reflecting a cultural shift in gender dynamics, Louisa O’Connor at Seen Presents and Cali Christians at Netflix explored the move away from niche marketing driven by gender stereotypes, towards non-gendered brand experiences, through the lens of experiential marketing.

Lumen senior leaders Tanwa Edu and Donia Baddou highlighted the necessity of diversity of thinking and a culture of curiosity in driving creative approaches, building and retaining a diverse workforce, and helping to tackle stagnation and bias.

Hannah Mirza of The Responsible Marketing Agency talked with Bobi Carley at the ISBA and Casey Hendricks at Google about how brands and platforms are dismantling barriers to inclusivity in advertising. And Ilā Kamalagharan, of Maison Mercury Jones, Eve Horne of We are Unheard, and Becky Wilson at Songtrader shared lessons from the music industry – reminding us why it’s important to include diverse voices at all stages of creative productio, because those who make the work, shape the work.

Stefanie Sword-Williams of F*ck Being Humble taught us to build unapologetic confidence, not the most comfortable topic for a largely British audience, and led an unapologetically powerful mastercla­­ss on raising your profile and making your ideas heard. Judging by the noise levels, this last didn’t seem to be a problem for the FLC audience.

In true MAD//Fest fashion, we saved some of the best till last, capping the program off with creative coach, Kay Munday interviewing the incredible Vanessa Kingori OBE, MD of Tech, Media + Telecoms at Google, sharing her experience of building a personal brand that sets you apart, boosts your career, and positions you as a thought leader in your field, paving the way for more great female minds and recognisable voices in our industry. 

Want to join in on the conversation? Get in touch with aoife@madfestlondon.com to share your experience, opinion and ideas for the future of female leadership in our industry.