It’s been a huge year for Keep Left under the leadership of CEO, Caroline Catterall. The agency has achieved astonishing results for a growing list of clients with some of the year’s most ingenious and innovative PR and creative campaigns for brands including Australia Post, ANZ, Guide Dogs Australia and PassportCard.
So it’s not all that surprising that on Friday night, Caroline was recognised by media and marketing trade publication B&T’s Women in Media Awards.
WHAT’S THE WIN FOR?
B&T’s Women in Media Awards have been championing women in our industry and advancing gender equality for more than a decade.
Keep Left has been shortlisted in the past and this year, we’re proud as punch that Caroline took out the top gong in the Public Relations category.
SUPPORTING WOMEN
Caroline has always campaigned for gender pay parity and supporting more women to rise to the top. B&T was particularly impressed by her achievements in the past year such as:
- Promoting three senior women internally. Women now make up 80% of the Keep Left senior leadership team.
- Appointing a Sydney MD, a return-to-work mum who lived in Newcastle. Caroline recruited her based on her talent and worked through the logistics to make it work for the agency and the team member.
- Investing in a custom-designed, in-house training program run by Gruen panellist Camey O’Keefe with weekly mentoring of five female executives (and one male!) in Keep Left’s account management team.
- Supporting a 23-year-old account executive as she explored her tech side hustle, keeping her job open and providing mentoring and advice.
Olyvia Munro is the account executive in question and she says: “When I told Caz I’d been accepted into a start-up accelerator program for my tech side hustle, she and the Keep Left team supported me with flexible hours and kept my job open. She even gave me advice on pitching to investors! I’ve seen her support so many women, professionally and personally. She’s extraordinary.”
But perhaps the reason for Caroline’s win is best summed up by Melinda Geertz, former CEO of Leo Burnett and Caroline’s mentor. She said: “Caroline’s brave. In fact, she’s pretty darn fearless. She lives by a creed of ‘Why not?’ and backs herself. And she backs other women. She’s embedded a high-performance, supportive culture that’s envied by every other agency. She attracts interesting, leftfield and hugely talented women and instils an infectious curiosity and self-confidence in all of them.”
Keep Left Strategy Director Laura Agricola who says: “Caroline’s been a huge champion of my growth, encouraging me to be my true self and never be afraid to spread my wings. This year, she pushed me out of my comfort zone (in a good way!) by getting me on the industry speaking circuit which has been transformational. I’m very lucky to be in the Keep Left family.”
With a track record of innovation and growth, Caroline is a legendary figure in the communications industry and an inspiration to women in the industry. This is likely to the be first of many more awards to come. Three cheers for Caz!
