Cornett’s Christy Hiler is on a mission to make female-owned agencies the norm

In 2020, Christy Hiler bought the Lexington, Kentucky-based agency Cornett from her stepfather after working there for years. She initially didn’t see herself staying at the agency. “I kind of thought, I’ll come and work there until I find this big agency that I want to be at,” said Hiler, who was born and raised in Lexington. “But then it kind of shifted. I felt like I could build something different, and I always felt really heard here.” Hiler said she even turned down an opportunity to work at Wieden+Kennedy, a shop she had aspirations of landing at when she was younger. Since taking ownership, Hiler has driven steady revenue growth—from $14 million in 2021 to $17.5 million in 2022. Last year she co-founded Own It, an initiative to track and increase the number of women-owned agencies. Hiler also helped launch a podcast featuring female agency owners. “I want to see these female-owned agencies be successful,” she said. “More will come if they are.” See all of Ad Age's 2023 Leading Women here What advice would you give your younger self? Don’t dismiss or turn away too quickly from things that don’t look interesting or right; think about what would make them interesting or right. You’ll be surprised how many people want things to be different too. What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? Buying 100% of Cornett, believing this agency in Kentucky can be one of the hottest agencies in the nation. If you weren’t doing your current job, what would you be doing and why? I love my job and this business so much, it is hard to imagine doing anything else. But I imagine I would also love being an anthropologist. I could study and be fascinated by humanity forever. What should the industry do to encourage more women and people of color into its ranks? There are fantastic organizations like Own It, working to increase the number of female agency owners (from less than 1%), and BLAC, working to bring more young Black creative thinkers into this industry and helping agencies learn to hold them. The industry can encourage more participation and involvement in the work to be done. How do you expect emerging tech like Web3 and AI to impact your job in the future? I expect the speed of work to increase substantially. We are already able to get to first drafts of everything so quickly, from initial mockups to lists of qualified candidates. But, truly, I and most have only begun to tap the possibilities. See all of Ad Age's 2023 Leading Women here

Cornett’s Christy Hiler is on a mission to make female-owned agencies the norm

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