Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 16.09.2024 
By Victoria Usher, GingerMay
“I founded GingerMay to reimagine what the culture of a PR Agency could be. When my daughters were young, I was working for employers who were regressive in their views of working mothers including insisting I return to work 3-weeks after going into labour. This spurred me to create an agency that put the work life balance and happiness of its employees over growth-for-growth’s-sake. I’m delighted that GingerMay offers common-sense flexible working practices, which has built a hugely commercially successful agency. While the PR industry comprises 4 in 5 women, the majority (80%) of PR businesses are led and managed by men. GingerMay’s leadership team is a true reflection of our industry in which we specialise – 80% female-led including working parents and non-graduates.
PR has a reputation for making staff work long hours in high pressure environments – but I feel strongly that this shouldn’t be the standard. This approach leads to burn out and does not inspire long term commitment from team members. From the day I started GingerMay, I am passionate about creating a company that bucks this trend and has a culture that truly values every member of the team. I want every person to be given the tools and support they need to grow and achieve sustained success.
Part of that is giving every member of the team the flexibility to achieve success. We have long allowed our teams to work from home, shift their working hours around their commitments, or condense them to work a four-day week. This is particularly important for those with childcare commitments but these benefits are available for the whole team. While it can present challenges, the payoff is unbelievably loyal and hardworking team members.
Flexible working is also vital for creating more equitable workplaces. As I found out through personal experience, not giving working mothers the support they need to balance both their career and childcare effectively leads to a workplace that is male-dominated, especially at the upper echelons. This not only holds back personal careers, but impacts the bottom line of companies themselves – if more workplaces achieved true gender diversity by 2030, global GDP could increase by $13 trillion.
Another cornerstone of our company culture is keeping sustainability at the core of everything we do. Every year we ask ourselves “How can we be greener? What can we change to reduce our carbon footprint and be better for the environment?” This can be anything from big shifts like switching to a sustainable energy supplier, to having staff take home coffee grounds to recycle them as plant fertiliser. The enthusiasm to be greener runs through all our team, and they often take the lead on ways we can promote more sustainable living. We regularly have clothes swap shops, for example, while they also voted to make 80% of the food we serve at company events vegetarian or vegan.
This focus culminated in gaining B Corp certification just over a year ago. It was one of the proudest moments of my professional career, but at the same time, it is just the beginning of GingerMay’s green journey. I am constantly striving to create a more environmentally friendly company.
Ultimately, the culture that I have strived to build at GingerMay involves being sustainable in everything we do. That means creating a working culture where every person is given the support to succeed, reducing our impact on our environment as much as possible, and giving back to our community.
Biography
Victoria is Founder and CEO of GingerMay, a multi-award winning strategic marketing and PR consultancy with offices in London, New York and Berlin.
A former political researcher, data analyst and agency CMO, Victoria founded GingerMay because she was unable to find a role that challenged her intellectually while also allowing her to work flexibly around her young children.
She has received international acclaim for her work in the PR and communications sector and was named Mentor of the Year by Management Today, Industry Leader of the Year by the PRCA, PR Communicator of the Year at the Marketing Awards, and Global Entrepreneur of the Year at the Stevie Awards.
Victoria dedicates much of her spare time working with individuals to develop their leadership skills and championing professional development, as well as with the wider community to tackle barriers around female inclusion in venture capital and investment via education and networking.
