Every week I get them: Emails from women in the ad industry asking if they should quit. It happens so often that I’ve started to call myself the Quitting Coach.
These weary notes don’t surprise me. Despite recent efforts to hire a more diverse workforce and promote women, advertising is still a boys’ club. The women who write to me get passed over for raises and promotions. Their less experienced and less talented male colleagues get the prime accounts, projects, and job offers.
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Research performed by the 3% Movement bears out what is obvious to anyone who has worked in the industry: Women who don’t adjust to the grueling workweeks, inflexibility and family-unfriendly environment simply leave.
I understand the yearning for something different: I spent 10 wonderful, magical years working for Wieden + Kennedy, producing work for brands like Nike, Coca-Cola and Powerade — but I started itching for new ways to challenge myself and take some risks. Then the universe gave me the nudge I needed to finally quit. If I was going to work 14-hour days, I wanted to pour myself into something I was passionate about building — something that truly valued what I brought to the table. So, I went on to freelance and then founded my own agency, Red & Co., where every day I work to create a better version of this industry we call advertising.
The years after quitting weren’t always easy, but they were infinitely better. They made me question, should I have quit earlier?
