Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women in MarComm Milestones

Women’s History Month is a time to reflect and honor the achievements made by women throughout the years. It’s also a time to inspire and encourage more fierce and trailblazing women to continue owning their impact now and for the future. Our work to get more women elected into public office, more women a seat in the C-suite, more women on boards and commissions, more women-owned business owners, and more women seizing the opportunities and representation they deserve is not done yet. There’s more work to be done; therefore, we will keep promoting, pushing and encouraging all women.

As a woman-owned communications agency, being led by a diverse, all-women leadership team and Latina CEO, celebrating Women’s History Month is an important opportunity for us to spotlight past and current notable figures in our industry, while acknowledging the role we have in paving the way for more women to make their mark in the communications industry. We will continue our work to #breakthebias.

Be sure to check out our social media channels, as we celebrate strong women in the industry—past and present—by highlighting notable women all through March.

Women in Marketing

1880

Mathilde C. Weil became the first woman to open a female-run advertising agency firm, M.C. Weil Agency in New York.

Image Courtesy of Economic Times Brand Equity
1977

Caroline Robinson Jones became the first black woman VP of a major advertising agency at BBDO, Batten, Barton, Durstine, Osborn.

Image Courtesy of National Museum of American History

Women in Publishing

1877

Lydia Starr McPherson became the first woman publisher in Texas with Whitesboro Democrat, now known as Sherman Democrat; a paper still in existence.

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
1910

Social activist sisters, Andrea and Teresa Villarreal, established feminist newspaper, La Mujer Moderna in San Antonio, TX during the Mexican Revolution. Primary goal: The emancipation of women.

Women in Reporting

1913

Doris Fleischman became the first woman journalist to report on a boxing match. She held the title Assistant Sunday Editor at the New York Tribune.

Image Courtesy of PRNEWS Group
1967

Kay Bailey Hutchison became the first woman television reporter in Houston, TX to cover the Texas Legislature. Kay was also the first woman in Texas to be a U.S. senator.

Image Courtesy of The Alcalde

Women in PR

1928

Belle Moskowitz became the first woman PR firm owner with her firm Publicity Associates in New York.

Image Courtesy of PR Daily
1957

Dr. Inez Y. Kaiser became the first African-American woman PR firm owner.

Image Courtesy of PRsay
1973

Betsy Plank became the first woman president of the Public Relations Society of America.

Image Courtesy of The University of Alabama
1987

Marilyn Laurie became the first woman chief communications officer of a Fortune 10 company.

Image Courtesy of Beyond Buzz

Women in Digital Marketing

Women continue to create milestones in the MarComm world, especially in Digital Marketing fields. Here are a few women who are paving the way for success in digital marketing.

Purna Vurji: A PPC Media Specialist who recently won 2019-2020 Search Personality of the Year by the US Search Awards.

Krista Seiden: Founder and Principal Consultant at KS Digital, Xoogler in the San Francisco Bay Area. Seiden specializes in digital analytics and currently holds a position as co-chair for the San Francisco chapter of the Digital Analytics Association (DAA)

Maya Pope-Chappell: Head of Audience Engagement & Distribution at LinkedIn News, Host & Producer for the #HowIGotHere series, which covers successful career journeys.

While these are just a few of the women who have paved the way for equality in digital marketing and communications, we celebrate all women who continue to make a difference and continue to fight for gender equality. Send us a DM on social @wetalkstrategy and tell us your favorite Women in MarComm milestones.

Privacy Preferences
When you visit our website, it may store information through your browser from specific services, usually in form of cookies. Here you can change your privacy preferences. Please note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our website and the services we offer.