The Stable’s series of powerhouse women in adland-Aus for International Women’s Day continues. These women are not all CCOs or CEOs although some are leaders. The Stable, and the people who nominated them, want to applaud the grit, guts and gumption that exist in women at every level. We hope our powerhouse women will inspire everyone to see people, not their gender, in their colleagues, clients, friends and partners.

Until the pervasive stereotypes, gender pay gap, unequal parenting…the idea that women are less than…disappear. Until a person’s sex doesn’t affect their choices or their standing, let’s make sure that International Women’s Day continues to its job.

This edition features Mary Proulx, co-founder at Bread Agency, nominated by Amaury Treguer, co-founder Bread Agency, who commented, “I would like to nominate Mary, my fabulous business partner. Mary might just be one of the smartest social strategists I’ve had the chance to work with. She brings passion, creativity and a smile to everything that she does. I feel privileged to call her my business partner.” 

Here is a snapshot of what makes Mary Proulx a powerhouse woman:

The Stable: What was it about social media that attracted you. How did you begin your career?

Mary Proulx: My social media career started in PR. I had recently finished my post-graduate PR program and was an eager intern at a start-up PR agency in Toronto. Between drafting media lists and hitting the phones to pitch, I started poking around the newly-formed social media team to see what they were up to. This was around the start of when social media teams were forming within PR agencies – it was new, and I was intrigued. I loved that you had to come up with multiple ideas a month, shoot them, plot them out on a content calendar and analyse how they performed. 

In a social team within a PR agency, there was no creative director or creative team that owned the ideas, so the freedom that that allowed was really enticing. Once you had a solid strategy in place, if you had an idea that aligned, you could bring it to life… tomorrow. That mix of strategy and creativity with the immediacy that social required was exactly what I wanted. I was hooked and slowly started doing less media pitching and more social media work. I’ve not looked at a media list since.

TS:  Co-founding an agency takes grit, guts and gumption. Why did you do it?

MP: Well first, I wouldn’t have done it without my amazing business partner, Amaury Treguer. Starting an agency isn’t easy, and I wouldn’t want to do it on my own. Having someone to go through the highs and lows with has been so important. The idea to start our own agency happened really organically. After a few conversations around creating the sort of social agency that we’d always wanted to work for, the feeling was very much “well, why the hell don’t we?!”.  Were we naive? Most definitely. But that mixed with lots of curiosity and a healthy dose of competitiveness, and things started to take shape. And when I say competitiveness, I don’t mean with others, that was, and is, more with myself. A challenge to see if I could really do it. Without the backing of a network or big team, would it work?! I had been so lucky to start my career working for two incredible entrepreneurs who really championed breaking through big challenges and going for the risky things. That was hugely inspirational for me.

TS: What have you learned from doing so? What challenges did you have to conquer?

MP: You can accomplish a lot when you back yourself. There are always these little (very annoying) voices in your head that make things feel bigger, or harder than they are. Push through those. With a bit of patience and a lot of hard work, you can get it done.  

TS: What advice would you give to someone wanting to start their own agency?

MP: Be honest with yourself about why you’re doing it. Starting Bread has been one of the best professional decisions I’ve made, but it is a lot of work and requires a ton of energy.
It takes up a different sort of space in your life so make sure that you really want it. And if you do, then back yourself 110%.  

TS: Social media can be fickle – and vocal. How do you deal when things don’t go to plan – practically as well as emotionally?

MP: I used to have this app called WeCroak. It was inspired by a Bhutanese folk saying that to be a happy person, one must contemplate death multiple times a day. As dark as this may sound, I used to use that with my teams. When shit would hit the fan on social, we’d remind each other that this is not something we’re going to worry about when death knocks on our door. Morbid? A bit, but it did, and still does, put things into perspective. Crappy situations are temporary. Our work is important, and we really care about what we do, what we create and who we impact, but we can’t lose sight of the bigger picture.

TS: What are you most proud of?

MP: Doing great work is one thing, but being great to work with is something that is just as, if not even more important to us. So the fact that both past clients and past team members want to work with us again is something I am really proud of. Because as the saying goes, people may forget what you did, but they won’t forget how you made them feel.