Switching gears: Lessons from our project management system overhaul
One of the major internal projects we tackled this year was switching project management systems. The system we had been using for fifteen years had taken us as far as it could go. The growing number of users, clients and projects required something more robust. After much research and some debate, we’ve settled on Monday.com. […]
2025-04-07
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Break the mould: Embracing what makes women great leaders
On the anniversary of International Women’s Day, I have reflected on some of the issues I’ve faced managing a team of mostly women over the course of the past six months as I develop them for future leadership roles. I think they are perennial issues, and the more we can share the more we learn […]
2025-03-06
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Even capable leaders need spaces to be heard
Leaders need to maintain professional boundaries, and certain decisions, concerns, and vulnerabilities cannot be shared openly. The higher the position, the fewer people can fully relate to the weight of the role. This loneliness, though rarely discussed, is a reminder that even the most capable leaders need spaces where they can be heard, understood, and […]
2025-01-31
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The authenticity piece: are you bringing your true self to work?
Is it your graphic design skills that matter most when applying to work at Initiate Marketing? Is it your attitude? Or playing well with others? All of the above. Be Who You Are—Everywhere There’s something powerful about being the same person in every part of your life. Whether it’s on stage at the gym, like […]
2024-11-08
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The art of hiring: balancing creativity and culture in a design agency
Is it your graphic design skills that matter most when applying to work at Initiate Marketing? Is it your attitude? Or playing well with others? All of the above. Not a designer in a designer’s world Let’s talk about an interesting dynamic: when you’re not a designer but you’re leading a design agency. It’s a […]
2024-10-28
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A musing about perspective
One of the few good things to come out of the pandemic was more time at home with my husband and business partner. Specifically, more time to go outside for walks was a daily highlight. More often than not, nothing exciting happened in these times. Sometimes, we’d walk for over an hour without exchanging words; […]
2024-08-05
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A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet
As my father’s daughter, I’m not shy, quiet, or demure but confident, exuberant, and outgoing. Instead of being described as such, like my dad often was, I was mostly labeled “aggressive.” I can’t remember with absolute certainty ever being told by our father that he wanted sons instead of daughters. But I am confident that […]
2024-07-08
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Remote work: it shouldn’t be about where, but how
Four years later my LinkedIn feed is littered with employee rants that theirs is the next company phasing them “back to work” or with stories from fully remote employees feeling isolated, some worrying they are being passed up for promotion because they aren’t being “seen” by the right people at the office. Of all the […]
2024-05-20
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Things to consider when applying for a job at Initiate
Hint: it involves some initiative Having recently reviewed countless résumés with spelling mistakes along with portfolios, the ability to focus or pay attention to detail is becoming one of the most attractive skill sets to me as an employer. I’m sharing from the perspective of what Michael and I are looking for from people joining […]
2024-05-13
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Birds do it; bees do it, and even creatives can do it
In November, I attended DesignThinkers 2023, a design conference put on by the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) in Toronto. I was thrilled to discover that Chris Do, an Emmy award-winning designer from the US, was the Keynote Speaker and would talk about selling. I had stumbled upon Chris’s work a year earlier, particularly […]
2024-04-02
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Before quiet quitting, there was just… quitting
In June 2020, I quit my job and left an industry I had known for over twenty years. The idea had been percolating for months, but I took the world coming to a stop as a sign from the universe that some changes needed to happen. So quit I did. With quiet quitting getting so […]
2024-02-19
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Where some of my learning will come from
From a business perspective, I look at all the books I collected over the years that I did not get to read and place them in order of what I need to know now anticipating what I’ll need to know more of in the future. Thus, in the spirit of sharing, here are my top […]