Xtraordinary Women sat down with IMA’s two Managing Directors to discuss their journeys, learnings and insights for women in business today. IMA is a global communications and marketing agency based in Cape Town and is run by Katherine Freemantle and Catherine Mavrocoleas.
About Katherine Freemantle:
Katherine Freemantle is currently one of the Managing Partners at IMA South Africa. Her 16 years of experience comes from the traditional advertising and experiential marketing realm, working closely with a broad spectrum of clients on building their brands from FMCG, Financial Services Providers, the Hospitality Industry and Motor Vehicles to Educational Institutions.
Katherine spent the first 9 years of her career at small, independently owned Marketing and PR agencies where she took on multiple roles and was therefore exposed to different aspects of brands, campaigns, and the business as a whole. In the latter 3 years, she led and ran the Cape Town business portfolio in its entirety as Regional Business Director. At these agencies, Katherine worked on big household brands such as Metropolitan, Woolworths and Adidas.
She then moved to Ogilvy Cape Town and worked on well-known and much-loved brands such as Volkswagen, the Pearson Institute, KFC, Audi South Africa, Gumtree, and Castrol.
In 2017, Katherine began her journey at Elevator Agency as Client Service Director for the national group and three years later was appointed as Managing Partner. In April 2021 Elevator Agency rebranded to become IMA South Africa, part of a Smollan-owned global creative network and is currently working on amazing brands for their newly acquired and long-standing clients.
About Catherine Mavrocoleas:
Catherine Mavrocoleas is the other Managing Partner of IMA South Africa. Her responsibilities focus on business operations, finance, HR, process mapping and project management.
Catherine has been with the agency for a large part of her career and has worked on both the client and operational sides of the business until she became the joint Managing Director in 2020 alongside Katherine Freemantle. Prior to this, she also worked at Ogilvy Cape Town and worked for clients such as VW, Douwe Egbert, Stimorol and BAT.
Her main focus over the years has been to forge strong relationships with long-standing clients and ensure operational efficiencies and overall profitability of the agency while always delivering value to their clients.
Catherine played a huge part in the company merger, acquisition and rebrand. She has also closely managed the restructuring and change of management processes of all iterations of the agency through the years.
Q&A
Please tell us a little more about IMA and how you came to work there.
Katherine: IMA (previously Elevator Agency) is a Smollan-owned company. It was founded in 2011 by Michael Silver and, at the time, was one of South Africa’s first truly experiential agencies, with a focus on brand experience presented to the consumer in an unconventional way.
Over the past decade, the agency has grown in size and skill and now offers clients a truly through-the-line set of services. With Silver exiting the business in 2020, my Partner, Catherine Mavrocoleas and I were appointed to take charge of the leading, running and growth of the Agency. As joint Managing Partners, we each look after certain aspects of the Agency, while always supporting and aligning with one another as we go. I look after the Strategic, Creative and Client sides of the business where Cath is responsible for the Operational and Project Management divisions.
What is your favourite memory of working together?
Katherine: Having worked together for more than 5 years, jointly running the Agency for almost 3 years, Cath and I have lived through some wild and wonderful times together. We have really created a strong partnership, which has taken some work upfront but paid off tenfold. Remembering the hard-earned successes, we enjoyed at the end of 2020 is a highlight for me. Having taken over the agency at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were faced with a real challenge and made some magic happen during those few months.
Catherine: We took over IMA from the founder in 2020 in deep lockdown, which was both daunting and exciting. Making the decision to get a joint leadership coach meant we forged a strong relationship early on in our partnership. One of the best memories is taking our masked selfies to announce our partnership, just after locked down lifted. It was hilarious and awkward. But we could navigate it together, which really helped.
Are you busy with any interesting campaigns?
Katherine: Working in the ever-changing world of marketing and advertising, I feel like we are never not busy growing, exploring, and considering interesting initiatives. This constant learning and adapting is what keeps the role and environment exciting. We are currently expanding our skill sets and capacity on a couple of offerings, primarily in the digital and content space.
Catherine: We are busy with many fun and interesting campaigns at the moment, with the events being back on after covid. We are having fun creating some amazing experiential campaigns. We recently created an experience with Lipton Iced Tea at Rocking the Daisies, where consumers could be the DJ through an interactive experience using their iced tea which made the turn tables turn. It is great to be able to create an experience for real-life interactions again.
Who or What has been the biggest influence in your life and why?
Katherine: Specifically, from a work perspective, there have been a number of amazingly powerful women in my orbit over the years. Some my senior, a few my colleagues and others served as mentors and confidants along the way. All have had a huge part in supporting, counselling, and allowing me to see different perspectives.
What is your personal “motto”?
Katherine: Don’t talk over the music.
Catherine: Be nice – the world is a small town.
What advice would you give a woman wanting to follow her dreams?
Katherine: Keep a strong focus on the end goal but remember to acknowledge and enjoy the steps (and people!) that get you there.
Catherine: You need to work for what you what to achieve, no one is going to help you get to your goals. Learn from people around you, but also learn about yourself and what your internal beliefs and traits are and how they affect how you react. I would suggest personal coaching as a non-negotiable to help you solidify what your dreams are and then help you reach them.
Who or what is your inspiration and why?
Katherine: A few of my good friends whose unwavering eye on the prize and passion have me in awe. Watching the likes of Aisha Pandor (CEO, SweepSouth) start a business from her living room and grow it into what it is today, while also growing a beautiful family and network, while still being incredibly modest and authentic is inspiring to say the least.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Katherine: If it costs you your peace, it’s too expensive.
Catherine: Believe in yourself and ask for what you want. Don’t be afraid to have difficult conversations about your growth and needs.
Your favourite daily affirmation:
Katherine: The words you speak become the house you live in.
Catherine: If it feels hard, you are most likely learning a lot about yourself.
Which book are you currently reading?
Katherine: I am currently on maternity leave, so my reading material is slightly different to usual. Cribsheet by Emily Oster is sitting next to my bed. And when my brain is feeling up to something a bit meatier, 12 Rules of Life – An antidote to chaos by Jordan Peterson.
Catherine: More of a podcast kind of girl, listening to Dax Shepard, Armchair Theatre.
Where will we find you on a Saturday morning at 10 a.m?
Katherine: Either at Yoga, walking on the Sea Point Promenade or visiting the OZCF Market with my little boy, Jack and husband, Kyle.
Catherine: Drinking a cup of coffee at home with my family in my garden, after a run with friends.
What energises you about work?
Katherine: I have a passion for people, communication, the strategy behind brands and business and solving problems. Given that the work that I do involves aspects of all these elements, often together, I feel constantly energised and healthily challenged by the people and brands that I work with.
Catherine: Definitely the people! I thrive off the energy of the people within our business. I am happiest when I can interact with as many people as possible and see people grow and achieve their goals.
How do you manage self-doubt?
Katherine: I, like a lot of people I know, struggle with unexpected visits from Imposter Syndrome. When the feeling strikes, I have found it very helpful to take a few deep breaths and remind myself of what I have to offer and also that it is perfectly ok to not know everything. Part of managing self-doubt for me has started to include admitting what I do not know to myself and others and being open to continuously learning and growing.
Catherine: It’s a tough one, I don’t think I have found a solution to remove self-doubt altogether. But I make sure that I recognise it, and then I take that next step regardless of how scary it feels.
How do you unplug from work?
Katherine: Unplugging from work has been something I have historically struggled with. Over the past 3 years, I have worked a lot on understanding myself and why this is the case. This has been the beginning of my journey to learning to unplug but I have also made room for being plugged in ‘after hours’ for certain aspects that give me joy. Now that I have also recently had a baby boy, the importance of honing in on this ability to unplug will become a lot more important and therefore a focus in the coming months.
Catherine: It is still a work in progress. I rely on the village around me and split the load with my husband. I really try to have clear boundaries when I am at work, or at home. So, I can focus wholeheartedly on the people I am with at the time. I don’t always get it right, but I try my best and I try to be kind to myself when I feel I am off balance. I do some exercise, (try) to put my phone away and spend time with my family.
What are your top 3 business tips?
Katherine:
1.Always place a big focus on the people – without the people, you can’t do business.
2.Celebrate the small wins as much as the big ones – and acknowledge and look into the losses in order to grow.
3.Quieten the noise so that you have the opportunity and the headspace to go with your gut.
Catherine:
1.Make sure you have someone driving operations and finance.
2.Hire the right people for your culture.
3.Empower your team to reach their own goals as well as the clients’ goals.
What advice would you give to women trying to break into the marketing field?
Katherine: Tune into what is being said between the lines. Take time to understand people (the team, the clients, the partners).
What do you think is the most significant barrier to female leadership?
Katherine: One of the barriers to female leadership is the assumption that to be a leader as a female, one has to ‘harden up’ and adjust one’s leadership style to mimic male leaders. I would like to see more women leaders feel comfortable stepping up into the position without feeling the need to change or adapt. To be authentically themselves and lead accordingly.
Catherine: Leadership is perceived as being 100% available at all times to your teams and clients, but this means it’s impossible to succeed at work and motherhood. However, our male counterparts can focus on their leadership and seem more committed and available.
How we manage that balance is still a work in progress for the entire world, but small shifts are happening, and flexible work environments need to be created to encourage a balance for moms and dads in the workplace. So, no matter your gender you can still succeed as a leader and parent.
What do you think helped you the most to make a career as a woman?
Katherine: Rather than looking at it from the perspective of me being a woman, I look at what made me make my career full stop. And the answer to that would be that I have never been afraid of hard work, I connect with people and maintain those connections as I go, I have always been open to new opportunities as they have come up but have also been loyal and dedicated to the people and places I have worked while I have been there.
Catherine: I had a leader that let me have a seat at the table and saw my worth. I was the only woman at the table most of the time, but I had a voice, and this gave me the confidence to speak up.
Why do you think companies would benefit from having more women at the top?
Katherine: Women bring into their leadership an element of empathy and compassion that really does benefit the culture and the people side of any organisation. That is not to say that women bring the ‘warm and fuzzys’ as I do believe that one can possess great empathy while still being strong and direct.
Catherine: Women bring empathy and a more balanced way of life. It is important that the policies and ways of working change, to accommodate working parents, and what better way than have the women write the policies and make the changes themselves?
What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?
Katherine: Quieten the Imposter Syndrome voice and put yourself in the seat – you deserve to be there. You do know what you are doing. But also, try and work it so that you have fun while you do it.
Catherine: Go for what you want, don’t let being a woman stop you from achieving everything you want to achieve. Speak up for what you think needs to change to ensure there are more female leaders in your generation and the ones to come.
What’s the best work-related advice you’ve ever received?
Katherine: If you want to change something, analyse whether your change is going to make it better or make it different. And then assess whether the change is worth it.
Contact Information:
Website Address: https://imahome.global/
Facebook Page: IMA-HOME
LinkedIn: IMA-HOME | Katherine Freemantle | Catherine Mavrocoleas
Instagram: @imahomeglobal
Twitter: @imahomeglobal
Submitted by Tinkwe Communications
