Amp spotlight: How the 'she-cession' has transformed advertising

Since the onset of the pandemic, the U.S. has witnessed an exodus of women from the labor force. Mothers are at the center of this economic crisis, or as it’s been termed, the “she-cession.” In 2020, according to the National Women’s Law Center, the unemployment rate for mothers more than doubled from the previous year, rising from 3.5% in 2019 to 7.5% in 2020. For women of color, these increases were even more stark.

Although employment figures have increased this year as the COVID-19 vaccination rates increase and the infection rates decrease, the latest jobs report came in far below the forecasted figures. The numbers paint a picture of the impossible situation women across the country have been facing for close to a year and a half, carrying out full-time jobs while also taking care of their families full-time.

“The lines between work life and home life have never been blurrier,” says Kimberly Brandt, senior strategist at Human Design. “This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on families and has caused women to exit the workforce en masse.” For those who have been able to strike that balance, it has been the prototypically feminine qualities within their places of work that made it possible: empathy, vulnerability, understanding and compassion. “As a society, we’ve spent generations embracing and celebrating masculine traits—assertiveness, confidence, competitiveness,” says Brandt. “Maybe it’s time to start embracing feminine traits.”

This month, we’re sharing the experiences of women in the Amp community: their struggles, their strategies for getting by, and their insights on how the industry needs to change to better support women.

On getting by

Andie Tilden Jewett, VP of Business Development, AMP Agency

“My first son was born at the end of February, and the world turned sideways only a few weeks later. When I returned to work, I felt severe pressure to find ways to immediately provide value to my team and company. I felt any free moment between meetings should be spent with my son, and every moment the baby was sleeping should be spent working. It’s taken many months, but I have invested time in establishing rules for myself. It’s territory I never thought I would have to navigate, but ultimately has made me a better mom and employee.”

Sara Buck, EVP/Partner Experience, Barkley

“As a working mom of two school-aged kids, we quickly realized how much we had depended on the physical boundaries of the school buildings and the office building to create space for us to work. Once I was able to carve out physical space for work with a door I could close, I was able to balance my mom time and my work time.”

Rebecca Lysen, Group Creative Director, Night After Night

“There really is no possible way to find true balance when you are a working mama. Every moment at work you feel guilty for not being with your child, and while with your child you are thinking about something you could be doing for work. Mix in the pandemic and all of a sudden you are working 100% of the time and mom-ing 100% of the time. Every day is just figuring out a way to make it work.”

Shannon Engel, General Manager, Night After Night

“When we first went fully WFH and my two children were also home full-time, I quickly realized I would need to figure out a plan to provide some routine for us all. I started making lists of activities for my kids so they had something to check off while I focused on work. The lists can only last so long, so I just had to find new ways to tackle each day, one day at a time.”

Laura Steele, Director, Business Operations, VOLTAGE

“Personally, I was very concerned about my 82-year-old mother, who though independent and fit, was alone for nine months. I was able to quarantine in the fall and spend a month with her afterward, while working remotely.”

Shelley Elkins, Chief Creative Officer, Jack Morton

“Balance is not a thing. I’m not a working mom. I am a mom, fully, and I am a CCO, fully. You never hear, ‘He’s a working dad.’ We need to change our terminology and how we think about moms who work. It will help us better support them to fulfill all roles versus the balancing act.”

Amy Merenlender, Director, Digital Production, The Experience Design Studio (XDS)

“I had my second baby during lockdown and began working three and a half months after my son was born. I was lucky enough to have a part-time babysitter, but there was never a time I could completely shut off being a mother or shut off my working self. I would find myself leading conference calls while changing diapers, potty training, feeding and everything in between.”

Ashley Parker, Head of Client Services, 3Headed Monster

“When the pandemic hit, I’d just become pregnant, lost childcare for my toddler, work exploded and my husband (an employment attorney) was busier than ever. Any time of day became a good time to work on a presentation. My son’s naptime became my go-to conference call window. Toddler meal prep and entertainment was peppered somewhere in-between.”

Dhanuj Selvaraj, Senior Data Strategist, Movement Strategy

“As a working mother, the pandemic has been a challenge that I am continuing to work through every day. It takes a lot of planning and preparing to keep an active toddler occupied for 8-10 hours a day. I plan every hour of my and my daughter's day the night before. One year in now, we are a well-oiled machine. Some days are more difficult than others.”

Shayna Cohen, VP, Client Services, Laundry Service

“Over time, I realized that taking a walk or scheduling ‘busy’ time on my calendar for lunch with my daughter wasn't selfish; it's necessary. Women feel the need to do it all and do it well. If we're succeeding in one area, we feel like we're failing in another. It became vital to remember that doing it all is not the same as doing it all at the exact same time.”

Suzanne Barbosa, VP, Account Director, MullenLowe New York

“I have learned to actively recognize and respect my priorities knowing it will not look the same each day. Some days I am more of a mom, some days I’m more of a business leader, or a wife or a sister. Instead of fearing this fluidity, I have learned to embrace it.”

Carla Guy, Chief Strategy Officer, Dagger

“I didn't realize how precariously I'd been juggling the roles of executive, wife and mother. When the pandemic hit, I was crushed by the weight of it all. Feelings of inadequacy overwhelmed me. Life has since returned to a more normal rhythm, but I’m still processing the shame the pandemic surfaced relative to who I want to be.”

Jane Jo Lee, Director of Business Development, Questus

“Once our 1-year-old started walking and moving around, it all became very difficult. Little work things would bleed into feedings or putting him down for a nap. Even drafting an email took hours. When our family realized the pandemic was not going anywhere, my mom graciously offered to move in to help. I realize how lucky I am now to have the gift of a grandmother watching our child.”

Lindsey McNabb-Hover, Executive Director, Growth, FIG

“Over the last 12 months, my husband and I moved out of New York City, bought a house in New Jersey, are expecting our first child in June and I just started a new job at FIG. There are days where I’m not quite sure if I’m thriving in any facet of my life, so much as surviving it. And there are other days where I look in the mirror and think about everything I’m doing, and I’m pretty damn proud.”

Dounia Senawi, Digital Customer Lead, Deloitte Digital

“As women, we often feel the expectation to be ‘always-on,’ even while balancing caregiving and managing our work. I encourage well-being and balance among my teams. They also know how important my family—especially my 10-year-old son, John—is to me. I lost loved ones this year, and it’s a reminder to enjoy every day, every moment.”

Sarah Ann Walters, VP of Client Engagement, Grow

“Any boundaries between work and home all but disappeared during the pandemic. For working moms especially, we now find ourselves actively parenting and leading at work in the very same moment. We’re running a meeting on video and trying to keep our toddler from eating Play-Doh at the same time.”

Samantha Louise, Co-Founder and CFO, Versus

“I’m used to being the go-to for a lot of requests, but working from home seemed to make it easier for the requests to be more frequent and numbered. Laundry wasn’t sent out since I was home to do it. Cooking and cleaning became a constant. Making lunch and dinner was always on me. It’s less trying to figure out how to balance and more trying to figure out where to find additional hours in the day.”

It takes a [virtual] village

Sara Buck, EVP/Partner Experience, Barkley

“We knew from the beginning the emotional toll remote work would take, especially on those in caregiving roles. The Barkley Women's Group started eight years ago to provide a network for women in our company, and through this group, we have hosted workshops as well as a panel this week of Barkley Women sharing their experiences.”

Shannon Engel, General Manager, Night After Night

“As the GM at my company, I'm all about being there for the strong women I am honored to work with, whether that's sending manicure kits to pamper themselves at home, or an apple pie at the start of the school year since I knew they were playing part-teacher. But mostly, it's about being someone they can talk to.”

Kasha Cacy, Global CEO, ENGINE

“We have tried really hard to welcome our employee’s home life into our working space, and I’ve made a point not to hide the juggling I have to do in order to set an example for our employees. We have also spent a lot of time and resources supporting mental health, from education sessions to tools like mindfulness apps, meditations and reading clubs.”

Katie Re, Brand Strategist, ArtVersion

“My workplace has always been completely understanding and accommodating to the things that come up—and because working from home has caused everyday life to blend with work, disruptions happen more often. But it’s never an issue, and I never have to worry about something like that affecting my salary or standing at the company.”

Andie Tilden Jewett, VP of Business Development, AMP Agency

“When childcare centers shut down, AMP parents worked closely to understand one another's schedules and block out calendars when we needed to be on kid-duty. We created an #ampparents slack channel where some employees hosted virtual story time every morning. At the end of the day, where I see support for women showing up the most is our mutual respect for one another.”

Evann Bishop, Director of Account Strategy and Planning, Conquer

“We promoted showing patience and grace, and also implemented half-day Fridays. While it may seem small, it gave us breathing room if we needed some personal time during the week. Overall communication was raised, allowing people to be honest with their mental and physical health.”

Emily Brinkert, Senior VP, Head of People, Just Global

“Given the reality of parental responsibilities disproportionately falling to moms or the self-identifying primary parent, I believe flex time was especially helpful. Our agency places a higher value on quality of work than on how, when or where it gets done.”

Danielle Wiley, CEO, Sway Group

“We already had processes in place for a remote environment, but none of these took into account kids being at home full-time. We immediately offered more flexibility and started an internal program focused on fun and wellness for employees and their children—virtual yoga, Zoom farm tour, Disney singalongs and more.”

Ashley Parker, Head of Client Services, 3Headed Monster

“3Headed Monster is exceptionally flexible. There were no weird looks when I worked from bed due to pregnancy nausea, and the team was thrilled to catch a glimpse of my toddler’s guest appearances.”

Carla Guy, Chief Strategy Officer, Dagger

“I’m proud of how our leaders modeled empathy and understanding. Our response began with no-meeting lunch breaks, half-day Fridays and mandatory PTO to give people space to tend to their personal needs. We normalized honest conversations—I personally spoke publicly on my own struggles—and our leadership team began regular check-ins to understand how to support employees individually.”

Lindsey McNabb-Hover, Executive Director, Growth, FIG 

“My first day at FIG also marked my being 33 weeks pregnant. My initial reaction was, ‘But I’m so pregnant, it may not be the right time.’ Our CEO reminded me that maternity leave is just ‘a blip in time if you’re the right person for the job.’ The more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. Companies grant six-plus months for the ‘right executive’ to wait out their notice periods all the time. Why should a pregnancy be any different?”

S.R. Tommie, Founder and President, Redline Media Group

“Our commitment is to provide greater flexibility, understanding and communication surrounding the unique challenges experienced during the pandemic. We launched EAP resources, including counseling services, mental health support, legal and financial consultation and more.”

Dounia Senawi, Digital Customer Lead, Deloitte Digital

“A sustained commitment in words and actions—especially with the impact of the pandemic—is needed. It’s important to continue to recognize biases and take action, and be strong allies by creating opportunities for growth.”
 

Cheryl Eaton, Managing Director, Guru

“We’ve tried to crack the agency conventions that keep moms and women from thriving. We talk about our personal lives and our kids, we ask for help when we need it, and we encourage healthy boundaries. And we’ve succeeded: 73% of us are women; 50% are working moms.”

Samantha Louise, Co-Founder and CFO, Versus

“As a company, we agreed we wanted to keep our studio available. We understand that not every person has access to a safe, healthy home environment where they can be comfortable working 24 hours a day. This made each of us reflect on our privileges or lack thereof, and respect that others may be at a disadvantage when asked to work from home, particularly women.”

Linda Hogan, Chief Operating Officer, Bader Rutter

“The health and well-being of our employees comes first before anything else. We’ve placed boundaries on our workday, declaring noon-1 p.m. a no-meeting zone. We’ve shared resources, offered mental health education sessions and built a parents group for peer support and resource-sharing.”

Laura Steele, Director, Business Operations, VOLTAGE

“Our company has a flexible work policy that enables working women and parents to balance their family’s needs during the pandemic. Parents can have a late start, take time off during the day for childcare needs, move to a 32-hour workweek and work remotely.”

Kristina McCoobery, Co-Founder and CEO, INVNT

“Looking back on my time as a new mother 19 years ago, I was afforded the opportunity to take time to focus on my daughter. This balance helped me get to where I am today. We’re flexible, understanding and accommodating at our agency, but reaching out to our women for this piece, I see that we need to do more—as an agency and an industry.”

A critical culture change

Rebecca Lysen, Group Creative Director, Night After Night

“More women are needed in leadership roles. When women are leaders, they understand and respect the unique challenges we all face. One of my goals as a leader is to uplift the women who work for me and fight to get them paid what they deserve.”

Kasha Cacy, Global CEO, ENGINE

“Our society has never really adapted to a family unit where two parents work. Schools, childcare, doctor’s offices, banks, stores—they aren’t built for this dynamic. All of this strains the person who plays the maternal role. If we are going to keep women in this industry, we have to give them the flexibility, confidence, time and space to manage both of the important roles of their lives.”

Goran Paunovic, Principal Creative Director, ArtVersion

“Companies can’t afford to lose women as leaders and creatives. Shifting to a more flexible and empathetic workplace, equal opportunities and work-life balance is a must. It is something that, if not addressed, would hurt the entire industry.”

Emily Brinkert, Senior VP, Head of People, Just Global

“We must listen and fearlessly take on women’s challenges. In advertising specifically, we need to ensure we set reasonable expectations of work hours and build support systems that encourage guilt-free time off, creating a culture where folks are comfortable asking for support.”

Suzanne Barbosa, VP, Account Director, MullenLowe New York

“While becoming a first-time mom during a global pandemic was challenging, I look back to when I first came back to work at three months postpartum—exhausted, and trying to not let the cracks show. I hope to see more companies champion a better system for working moms to have more inherent trust and flexibility. The work will always be there, but we need to make sure women are the ones returning to it.”

Danielle Wiley, CEO, Sway Group

“Don’t automatically penalize women for having breaks in their resume—especially if that break (or left-hand turn) is related to parenting. The resume of a working mother may look different than an uninterrupted linear ascent up the corporate ladder.”

Dhanuj Selvaraj, Sr. Data Strategist, Movement Strategy

“Empowering women in the workforce starts with equity—for the employer to acknowledge the challenges and take action to create an environment that allows women and their partners to thrive.”

Shelley Elkins, Chief Creative Officer, Jack Morton

“Close the pay gap and the experience gap. Stop penalizing women for time spent out of the industry. Two, five or even 10 years raising children is valuable experience and relevant to what we do as marketers.”

Shayna Cohen, VP, Client Services, Laundry Service

“We need to promote a greater understanding of just how much women manage both at work and at home. I often feel comfort when I see a fellow mom on Zoom holding her baby, but I can't remember one time when the dads had their child in their lap during a call in all these months.”

Christofer Peterson, Senior VP of People and Culture, Dagger

“Stop making parenthood a career back-step. Now more than ever, companies need to implement a re-entry plan for women who take leaves of absence. Audit your agency practices around professional development and growth opportunities to identify any blind spots or areas in need of improvement, and implement a plan of action.”

Linda Chau, CEO, PAAPR Agency

“Flexible hours, telecommuting arrangements and compressed work weeks are just a few ways agencies can provide flexibility and support to help protect women from being pushed out of our industry.”

Jane Jo Lee, Director of Business Development, Questus

“There is still a major lack of awareness on how much working mothers are taking on during this pandemic. We are vacuuming and cooking meals in between Zoom calls and racing to make up for lost work time late at night and early in the morning. It should be a more widespread and accepted practice to have conversations surrounding additional support needed to ensure women can keep their jobs and be a mother at the same time.”

Sarah Broderick, CFO, Known

“The measures companies were forced to take in response to the pandemic accelerated decades of operational changes that needed to take place to advance women. The number one thing companies can do is be thoughtful about what it means to go ‘back to work’ and make sure we don’t go backwards from the progress we’ve made.”

Britt Fero, Principal and Founder, PB&

“There are many things working women need, but the biggest thing is something every employer can do: Lead with empathy. Family shouldn’t be a choice you make because of a job. Recognize that if your people are happy in life, they bring a better version of themselves to work.”

Fern McCaffrey, SVP and Executive Account Director, RPA

“Lack of affordable childcare was already creating a huge amount of stress for working moms. COVID turned that into a crisis, driving a lot of women out of the workforce. I would ask that our political and business leaders educate themselves. Look at average household net income, local childcare availability, and the costs of full-time care. Are your policies, compensation and benefits sufficient?”

S.R. Tommie, Founder and President, Redline Media Group

“As a Native American woman who created a global agency inspired by our unique attributes and perspectives, I believe embracing women as key decision-makers is critical to success in today’s workforce. Women possess the innate ability to approach challenges and areas of opportunity with compassion, consideration and care.”

Sarah Ann Walters, VP of Client Engagement, Grow

“Agency culture often celebrates the all-nighters, the overtime workers, the people who are always available. It recognizes and rewards what is unsustainable. Let’s shout out the people who can get their work done and be present as a parent.”

Cheryl Eaton, Managing Director, Guru

“Is it smart to have a bunch of young men developing communications targeting the holders of the purse strings? No. We need to start valuing women and mothers, appreciate their thinking and create space for them in our industry.”

Linda Hogan, Chief Operating Officer, Bader Rutter

“We need to re-imagine the industry. Advertising can be a greedy profession, where long hours, late nights and self-sacrifice are lauded and rewarded. Supporting work-life balance is critical to keeping women in the mix.”

Laura Steele, Director, Business Operations, VOLTAGE

“It is essential that communities work together to allow schools to open safely. It is extremely difficult for women and parents to focus properly on their roles if they are concerned about their children’s well-being.”