Female Disruptors: Janet Casey of Marketing Doctor On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Working mothers “having it all” is a cliche. It’s tough to work and then head home to support your kids, make it to practices or parent teacher conferences, or, heaven forbid, they get sick. But the Holy Grail of “having it all” isn’t just silly, it’s sexist.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Janet Casey, Founder & President of Marketing Doctor, Inc.
Janet Casey launched Marketing Doctor, a media planning and media buying agency, in 2003 and has grown it into an award-winning, multi-million dollar business. Her dedication to her career and to advanced, strategic, results-driven advertising has led Marketing Doctor to be recognized as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Company in America for the fourth consecutive year.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Marketing Doctor began as a one-person consultancy because I was determined to have the bandwidth to be an attentive mother and the flexibility that requires. The “Old Boys’ Club” workplace where I started my career was unfriendly and inflexible especially to primary caregivers. As my company grew, it was imperative to me that I extend the right support to all parents. I keep an inspirational quote in the office that says, “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.” This quote guides us in prioritizing work-life balance and flexibility every day.
There were a lot of reasons to start Marketing Doctor, Inc., but this one has always been near and dear to my heart. No two working moms have the same exact experience, but I personally knew how hard it could be to balance everything — and I wanted to be a boss who could support my employees the right way.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Women wield the power to disrupt historically-male industries, simultaneously creating fulfilling experiences for their teams at work and at home.
It comes down to three M’s for me: Motherhood, Managing, and Multitasking. To thrive in each area is to be disruptive in the best way possible. To maintain optimism amidst the beautiful chaos of all these puzzle pieces is even more groundbreaking. I’m here to tell you that it’s possible to have your cake and eat it too in every aspect of your life, but you need an iron-clad support system.
We hire ambitious people who go above and beyond in their leadership, industry learning, and truly strategic collaboration with colleagues and clients alike. These individuals, many of whom are women and mothers, are the lifeforce of the agency, multitasking mavens, and the catalyst for success.
As a media planning and buying agency, Marketing Doctor breaks the mold because we know exactly who we are. We don’t pretend to be an agency that specializes in everything because when you specialize in “everything”, you specialize in nothing. You can’t be all things to all people, but you can form powerhouse partnerships with other elite agencies to produce profits for all parties.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I started Marketing Doctor, I was juggling a career and motherhood. I remember going to many meetings with baby vomit on me. Safe to say I was not in top form! Rather than ignoring the elephant in the room, I decided to lift the veil on working mom reality. It taught me to joke with men and women alike about parenthood during meetings. The common ground and often amusing stories opened up a whole new dialogue and bridge for deeper, more personal connections in the workplace.
Fast forward several years, and we have a beautifully-decorated nursing room in our office. Motherhood is a superpower, and providing proper accommodations to do what heroes do is a no-brainer.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
In the many years I’ve been a member of the Women Presidents Organization, I’ve met so many women growing successful businesses while sandwiched between raising young children and caring for aging parents. Women are the primary caregivers for both groups and the stress of running a business is surreal. I’ve met gobs of women who handle an ungodly amount of stress and even trauma while keeping their head above water and growing their businesses. I’ve been inspired by their endurance and their never-say-die approach to very overwhelming circumstances for prolonged periods of time. I have so many examples of this, it’s very common and certainly very inspiring.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
It all comes down to the heart of the matter. What are your intentions when inspiring change? Whose interest does the disruption serve? More importantly, how are those intentions manifesting in the real world, and how are people responding?
I believe in doing well by doing good. Putting my employees’ well-being above all else shouldn’t be a fresh take on management, but it is. So many companies have their blinders up when it comes to their bottom lines. If you don’t take care of your team, everyone, including your business, will suffer.
Introducing our internal “Hopes and Dreams” workshops disrupted Marketing Doctor’s culture in a magical way. In the spirit of work-life balance and personal development, our employees rate the topics they’d like to learn more about. For example: personal investing, first-time home buying, physical health and mental wellness, retirement planning, and pursuing passions. We invite friends and families to join the workshops as well. Positive disruptions like this within the workplace spark engagement, community, and smiles all around.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
I’m infinitely lucky to have had many mentors along the way! Here are a few that have had a major impact on my journey, and the words of advice they instilled in me.
Regis Crocker, Founder of Crocker Communications, Inc.
Lesson: “Women can dominate in a male industry.”
My parents, Tex and Patricia Douglas:
My parents have always been my role models. They both grew up in humble times with relative poverty, and were able to become industry leaders by out-working everyone around them in their fields.
Lesson: “Lead by example–don’t give advice or preach, and work hard!”
Dr. Shawn Garber, President and Founder of New York Bariatric Group
Lesson: “Pay attention to the financial side of your business, not just to your mission or passion.”
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Pivoting to the media world specifically, Marketing Doctor is full steam ahead on the evolution of traditional media buying and the trackability of results for old school ad types such as TV, Radio and Outdoor. A lot of agencies profess themselves as “full service”, but are they really? It’s common knowledge that digital media is immediately measurable, but traditional media has new accountability, and we are digging in. Our roots in the traditional media space run deep, and success requires nuanced understanding of how it started and where it’s going. In the Wild West of advertising, measurement is running rampant with various companies claiming to have the most accurate form of currency. Which will reign supreme? Maybe one, maybe many. Either way, our media buyers are keeping track and filling their cups with as much continuing education as possible. We’ll keep shaking things up with omnichannel paid media campaigns that transform organizations.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Working mothers “having it all” is a cliche. It’s tough to work and then head home to support your kids, make it to practices or parent teacher conferences, or, heaven forbid, they get sick. But the Holy Grail of “having it all” isn’t just silly, it’s sexist.
As a successful woman business owner, advocating for yourself can come with the fear of being seen as pushy or bossy or aggressive or emotional. Men doing the same are often seen as ambitious or take-charge. A real go-getter or someone who “has it all”.
Feeling unseen in the Old Boys’ Club is one of the many reasons I started my own business, and put so much heart and soul into seeing it thrive.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
This book really hit home. Ben Horowitz shares his own story, in raw detail, of scaling and selling his wildly successful business. It’s not for the faint of heart. He speaks to the struggles that most founders of businesses go through. The skills that make us good at a service are very different from the skills necessary to manage a business. And then another set of skills are necessary to scale a business. He shares his mistakes, many of which I made as well. I have reread this book because there is so much helpful advice packed in it. It’s a wild ride!
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
We believe that feedback is a gift. Delivering clear feedback is hard. This book is the ultimate guide in communicating with your team and becoming the type of leader I’m proud to be. It’s about building trust, actually caring about someone’s dreams, challenging others in a constructive way, and offering/taking both praise and feedback.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I have a headline from Forbes Magazine that sits behind my desk that really inspires me. It says, “Only 2% of Women-Owned Businesses Break the $1 Million Mark’’. I’ve always believed that if you want to get something done, hand it to the busiest women you know. Multitasking is a survival skill women, particularly moms, have had to develop. I believe that women can thrive and contribute during child bearing years. We should support and champion working mothers. It’s the right thing to do for business and it’s the right thing to do for our office culture.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
There’s a Michelle Obama quote that really resonated with me. She stated, “I have been at probably every powerful table that you can think of, I have worked at nonprofits, I have been at foundations, I have worked in corporations, served on corporate boards, I have been at G-summits, I have sat in at the U.N.: They are not that smart.” This lit a fire in me, and really rings true in the advertising industry! Many women unnecessarily suffer from imposter syndrome.
With this profound message echoing in my mind, I learned to believe in myself, and acknowledge that I’m qualified and courageous enough to have a seat at the table.
How can our readers follow you online?
Find us on social media, subscribe to our email newsletter, and check out our blog at mymarketingdoctor.com
Our Social Handles:
Facebook and Instagram: @marketingdoctorinc
LinkedIn: Marketing Doctor Inc.
Twitter: @marketingdocinc
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Janet Casey of Marketing Doctor On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.