As Women’s History Month comes to a close, it is important to the Slick Marketers team that we acknowledge our female predecessors that have paved the way and inspired us in the marketing world. One such woman is Mary Wells Lawrence, who, in 1968, co-founded Wells, Rich, Greene advertising agency. Wells is known for becoming the CEO of a company that was later traded on the New York Stock Exchange. 

Having been responsible for some of history’s most memorable campaigns, Lawrence paved the way for female marketing professionals from the get-go.  

Lawrence had a very strong creative eye and felt interconnected with her audience. She battled uterine and breast cancers in 1980 and 1984, but persisted and continued to do what she loved. She is remembered as history’s greatest female marketer, and she won the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Woman of the Year Award in 1971.

We certainly cannot leave this month without honoring Caroline Robinson Jones, a prominent woman of color who helped shape the marketing world as we know it today. Having started in a position of power at a large corporation, Jones gave it up to work for Zebra Associates – one of the very first black-owned advertising agencies. 

While she worked as Zebra Associates, she quickly moved up the ranks and became the first black female Vice President of a major company. She had a hand in opening and working with many black-owned ad agencies, along with her own. 

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon is another well-known name in marketing history, primarily because she helped so many other women to thrive in the advertising world. Focusing the majority of her efforts on the fashion industry, she began her own advertising agency in 1954. Her agency helped countless women to start their own copywriting careers. 

Inducted into the Advertising Hall of Family in 1981, Fitz-Gibbon accomplished a lot during her career. 

Women’s History Month is a time to reflect on the courage of women throughout past generations, and to celebrate their efforts and bravery that led us to where we are today. Without their hard work and sacrifice, the women at Slick Marketers certainly would not have the opportunities, capabilities, and advantages that they do today.