The emPOWER Breakfast 2025 Speakers
February 5th 2025
Framestore, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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‘Beyond the Brief: A Producer's Story of Strength, Care, and Redefining Success in Leadership’
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Sally Miller, Deputy Head of TV at Hogarth since April 2019, has been responsible for award winning campaigns across both traditional TV and more recently Socials, for most of her career. Sally has worked across agencies - WCRS, Lowe Worldwide and Ogilvy, working her way up from Production Assistant to Deputy.
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During her 25 years in the industry, Sally has been a sought after Producer based on her reputation for being calm under pressure, her positive can-do attitude, and her brilliant people skills. Sally is passionate about the next generation of producers and giving a really robust foundation in training. Sally has been involved with the nonprofit organisation ‘The Voice of a Woman' that celebrates women working in film who even asked Sally to represent herself at their 'made by her' award ceremony. Sally was also thrilled to be selected by the British portrait and fashion photographer and director Rankin who took Sally's portrait in 2018 as part of a series on working women that he was doing.
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Sally's journey hasn't been plain sailing and she has significant stories to share on loss, not least more recently with her family caring for her Mother who has been living with Alzheimer's. Despite these experiences Sally is one of the most positive people you will ever hope to meet and we look forward to learning Sally's recipe for positivity through adversity.
March 5th 2025
Framestore, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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‘Changing ‘The Change’: How Vulnerability Around Menopause emPOWERS Workplace Culture’
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Melissa Robertson has been in the industry for 30 years, starting at Grey London before joining Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy in its infancy, and later becoming Managing Director. She was a co-founder of the creative agency, Now; was a Director of the women's lifestyle platform, The Pool; and has been a vocal supporter of gender equality. Melissa is also a Director of the Women’s Sport Trust, a charity focused on using the power of sport to accelerate gender equality.
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She is now CEO of Dark Horses, a creative agency focused on sport, fitness and health. She has written extensively about how businesses need to more actively respond to the challenges of menopause and has created an open source Menopause Policy for any business to adapt and use as their own. She is also a director of the not-for-profit organisation, Menopause Mandate.
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April 2nd 2025
Ogilvy, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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‘A Clear Vision: How Sobriety Launched My Leadership Journey at No.8’
Barny Wright is Managing Director and founding partner of No.8, one of London's most prolific boutique post houses. After serving as head of production at Big Buoy, Barny partnered with creative director Jim Allen to launch No.8 in April 2019, quickly establishing it as an award-winning creative sound and vision studio.
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Beyond his role as an industry leader, where he regularly serves on awards juries and actively participates in the APA and other industry forums, Barny is passionate about breaking stigmas around sobriety in the creative industry.
Drawing from his own transformative six-year journey of sobriety, he mentors others exploring their relationship with alcohol and drugs, demonstrating how personal growth and professional success can flourish hand in hand.
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May 7th 2025
Framestore, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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‘Get Sh*t Done: How Bold Moves Drive Creative Breakthroughs and Push Boundaries’
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Rebecca Rowntree is a Freelance Creative Director and Founder of the dynamic initiative Get Sh*t Done. Her passion is to craft emotive and engaging campaigns that genuinely move people. Over the last 15 years, she's created campaigns at the forefront of social and digital for a range of different brands including Nike, Sainsbury's, Uber, PlayStation and Hasbro. Rebecca was also part of the multi-award-winning 'Wombstories' campaign for Bodyform, which aimed to open up numerous narratives and break taboos surrounding the experiences of people with wombs.
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Named by Campaign Magazine and Creative equals 'Top 30 Future Leaders 2022' and The Dots '100 trailblazers redefining the creative industry'; she firmly believes that there is a better advertising world out there - whether that's inside the industry where she contributes with her Get Sh*t Done events and podcast, This Way Up, or on the outside by trying to create campaigns that portray a more diverse and realistic world.
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June 4th 2025
Framestore, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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‘Beyond the Breakup: The Parents Promise and Changing the Culture of Separation in the UK’
Ex Leagas Delaney MD and Brand Marketeer (Unilever Global Brand Equity Director) James Hayhurst is founder of The Magic Sauce Course, a course designed to enhance relationships between Ad agency and Brand clients, focussing on communication and empathy.
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James is also the founder of the Positive Parenting Alliance and creator of the Parents Promise. Having experienced up close the multitude of issues in the family courts and the numbers of children and parents affected by parents breaking up, James wanted to begin a new conversation about separation so in May 2021 the Parents Promise was launched. Backed by over 20 organisations ranging from the likes of children's mental health charity Place2Be to Relate to Black Mums Upfront, the aim of the Alliance is to effect important cultural change around separation in the UK and beyond. In January 2023 the Alliance launched a ground- breaking HR initiative encouraging a number of large UK corporations including Tesco, ASDA, Natwest and Unilever to sign up to recognise separation as a major 'life event'. This year they are focussing on separation and the impact on schools. In his own family life James is also a doting father to three girls including his preverbal Autistic 7 year old daughter who gives him a new perspective on life everyday.
July 2nd 2025
Framestore, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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‘Beyond the Forecast: Weathering the Storm Of Online Abuse’
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Jen Bartram is an award-winning BBC TV presenter and communication coach who is passionate about empowering people to tell their stories.
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Jen has spent more than 20 years on screen as a journalist and weather presenter, fronting live TV and radio broadcasts for BBC One, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 4, BBC 5 Live and the BBC World Service. In 2022, she won the Royal Television Society award for Innovation during the pandemic, after lockdown led her to turn her two bedroomed flat into a fully- functioning TV weather studio.
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Jen is also a qualified lecturer and previously held the post of course leader in Radio and Digital Media at the University of West London and in recent years has begun working as a communication coach, teaching storytelling and body language skills. She is passionate about helping other people develop confidence in presenting and communication.
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August 6th 2025
Framestore, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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'Breaking the Silence on Sexual Abuse: How Sharing Men's Stories Creates Powerful Paths to Healing'
Perry Power is an actor and entrepreneur, and the founder of Be Powerful, a movement dedicated to empowering trauma survivors to reclaim their voices through storytelling, film, and community. Through his flagship company, Powerful Books, Perry and his team have helped many survivors find healing through the process of writing their stories, which they then publish to impact others.
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Perry launched a production company to bring these books to life on the big screen. Currently, his team produces impactful short-form video stories with plans to expand into full-length films as the company grows.
September 10th 2025
Framestore, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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'The Compass Within: Evolving Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence'
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Rani Patel is a visionary, a creative leader and is now stepping into a newly created role as brand and business partner at adam&eveDDB following her recent transition from her role as Co-Founder and Managing Director of CALLING, an agency she launched in 2023 to reimagine brand advertising through empathy, inclusion, and cultural relevance. Under her leadership, CALLING delivered high-impact work for Dr. Martens, Interflora, and PG Tips.
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Rani’s career spans nearly two decades of shaping culture through advertising. Prior to CALLING, she was Business Partner and Director of Cultural Collaborations at Livity, a youth marketing and purpose agency, where she led partnerships for brands like Footlocker and Speedo. There, she helped launch the award-winning #SwimUnited platform to improve diversity in swimming and collaborated on landmark campaigns like Adidas London’s female visibility initiative and CoppaFeel!’s genre-defying breast cancer awareness work, putting the first naked breast on day time TV.
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Across her 18-year agency career including Iris, Cheil Worldwide, Fold7 and Ogilvy (as Global Business Director, leading Boots no less), Rani has been at the helm of some of the most socially resonant campaigns in the industry, from Adidas London’s work to champion female visibility, to Speedo’s drive to tackle inequality in swimming, to initiatives that have shifted public discourse around health, equity, and representation. In response to George Floyd’s death, she co-founded #BrandShareTheMic—an initiative that helped over 60 young black creators take over major brand platforms, organically reaching over 6 million people, and just for fun she launched FANGIRL. If you don’t know about it, look it up. She became a cult cultural voice and all the while reimagining her own creativity.
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Named one of Campaign’s Top 10 Trailblazers and honoured by Adweek’s “Future is Female” Awards, Rani is a leading voice in the movement for emotionally intelligent leadership. The recent joint decision to close CALLING was a hard but conscious decision informed by her own intuition to explore what the next chapter of growth could look like.
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At adam&eveDDB, Rani continues to champion values-led creativity, proving that brands can drive both commercial and cultural change, without losing the soul that makes every project she touches resonate deeply.
October 15th 2025
Framestore, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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‘Embracing the Struggle: Alchemising Adversity into Achievement’
Mia Powell
Head of New Business / Executive Producer – Caviar.
A creative and strategic hybrid, Mia Powell brings a dynamic approach to developing talent, and producing award-winning work.
Mia’s career spans some of the most respected names in advertising and production. At PRETTYBIRD, she served as Head of Business and Strategy, where her forward-thinking mindset and deep understanding of the director roster played a pivotal role in the company’s continued growth and success. She has also helped build the commercial arm of Sir Steve McQueen’s production company, Lammas Park, and held varied roles within agencies including MullenLowe and Iris Worldwide.
In her current role at Caviar, Mia continues to drive the creation of globally resonant work. Her passion lies in collaboration, partnering with agencies and brands to produce bold, boundary-pushing work across commercials, social media, branded entertainment, and beyond.
A strong advocate for change, Mia is dedicated to amplifying marginalised and underrepresented voices in the industry. Mia has recently launched Bid Different, an initiative to get more agencies to engage underrepresented voices across pitches and hit 33% annually.
She actively supports initiatives such as the Shiny Awards, Brixton Finishing School, Common People, and mentors students at East London Arts and Music (ELAM).
Her passion for the industry also takes shape in the form of moderating panels, and she is the master of ceremonies for Ciclope Festival 2025.
November 12th 2025
Ogilvy, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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‘Pride in Leadership: Creating Inclusive Agency Culture from Within’
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Matt Craigie Atherton is Chief Production Officer of NCA & Ogilvy UK.
Prior to being a founder at New Commercial Arts, he was previously CPO at Mother London, and prior to that, Head of Integrated Production at adam&eveDDB for over 8 years, having joined the original start-up adam&eve in 2009.
There, he produced much of the famous Christmas work for the John Lewis Partnership, including their proven “most effective campaign” ‘The Long Wait’ in 2011. He began his advertising journey working for leading UK production company Blink for 5 years - before moving agency side in 2008.
Matt is a passionate advocate for equal rights within the advertising industry, supports several LGBTQ+ & Equality projects and schemes, to help encourage and develop new talent. He has also always been a champion of home-grown talent, supporting the Advertising Producers Association, and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.
Event picture gallery coming soon!
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December 3rd 2025
Framestore, Arrival 9.45 - Talk Commences 10.15
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'The Motherload: The Truth About Motherhood in Adland & Building Something Worth Inheriting'
Zoe Scaman is the founder of Bodacious, a strategy studio dedicated to exploring the new frontiers of innovation within brands and entertainment.
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With over 20 years of experience and a futurist's lens, Zoe crafts transformative strategies that harness emerging technologies and cultural shifts to create impact. Her client roster includes iconic brands such as Nike, Netflix, Oatly, Unilever, EA Games, Coca-Cola, and Snapchat, all of whom rely on her expertise to shape their strategies for an evolving landscape.
Zoe co-authored The New Creator Manifesto, forecasting the shift from the creator economy to the community economy, and her essay Mad Men. Furious Women, a powerful commentary on systemic harassment in the advertising industry, drew international attention, with coverage in The Times, The Guardian, and Fast Company. Receiving excessive harassment and online aggression because of it.
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Recently, Zoe published The Motherload, a report shedding light on the harsh realities of motherhood within the ad industry-detailing the mental load, burnout, and systemic challenges that mothers face in balancing careers and family.
Event picture gallery coming soon!