Mary Buzbee and Lauren Meadows Are Proof That Teamwork Makes The Goodwork
Founders of The Workshop. Named to Adweek's Creative 100. This duo is kicking the advertising industry's outdated ass.
BFFs in movies usually come together after bonding over failed relationships or realizing they view this fucked up world in similar ways. For Senior Copywriter Mary Buzbee and Senior Art Director Lauren Meadows, the inseparable brainstormers became a team in portfolio school and have been lighting the advertising industry ablaze since then.
Currently at Barkley, Buzbee hails from Florida, and Meadows from Texas. Neither of them seriously considered working in advertising at first. “I bounced between nursing and art history curricula starting off,” says Buzbee. “I wanted to be an interior designer because I always appreciated the visual approach to things,” says Meadows. But thanks to a chance conversation with a coworker (Buzbee) and a need to graduate sooner than later (Meadows), the duo ended up in a portfolio program and immediately hit it off.
Five years later, their teamwork is better than ever before. They’re in-sync because of how open they are with each other — and that’s why they’re racking up awards, and opportunities, left and right. “We make it an effort to always be in a ‘let’s try it’ mindset,” says Buzbee about their connection. “There’s no judgment between us.”
Named to Adweek’s Creative 100 list this year, Buzbee and Meadows are two of the cheeriest, down-to-earth, and uber chill creatives you’ll meet. For the past three years, they’ve progressed from mid-level to senior positions at Barkley — an agency named a Standout by AdAge this year and shortlisted for Agency of the Year by Adweek in 2022.
Throughout their time working on brands like Planet Fitness, ARAG Legal Insurance, and Wawa, they’ve run The Workshop — a remote creative mentorship program for aspiring copywriters and art directors. It’s 100% free and is a smart alternative to traditional ad school that can cost upwards of $40,000. Some of their attendees have had similar, if not greater, success than those that went the traditional route. “We've had apprentices land at agencies like BBDO, Dentsu, and Mother,” says Meadows.
Although it’s going on a brief pause right now while they focus on work-related responsibilities, the duo assures that The Workshop will be back relatively soon. “We’re going to hold off on the next semester and through the summer to start back up in the spring,” says Meadows. Until then, the duo — that should be referred to as Lary (Lauren and Mary) — will be hard at work perfecting their craft and schedules so their return to The Workshop will be better than ever before.
Here are Buzbee and Meadows on how they got in the game, where they’re at now, and what’s exciting about the industry.
What’s the Lary advertising story?
Mary:
I was born in Pensacola, FL. My mom moved us to Alabama when I was five years old. I grew up in the suburbs of Birmingham and my family was more working class than well-off. My mom was a bookkeeper, so there were a couple of times that she lost her job and we had some economic instability. I went to college at the University of Alabama on a bunch of student loans. I knew I was creative and wanted to do something creative, but I wanted to do something that would still give me money in exchange for whatever I'm making.
I bounced between nursing and art history curriculums starting off, and then I remember wondering what I’d do with either of those degrees. At the time, I was managing a Plato's Closet in Tuscaloosa, AL and one of my workers there was in an Art Director program. She told me, “You should try this out” and suggested a creativity class in New York that I could attend to get a feel for what copywriting and art direction were.
I went with my then boyfriend, now husband, to the One Show’s Creative Week and we toured agencies. We visited the Young Ones award show and I remember thinking, “holy shit this is fucking crazy.” I’d never seen anything like this before. The professor that was leading that class had also just started a portfolio program. I stayed back a year to apply to that, got in, and did it for two years.
Lauren:
My story is similar to Mary, but in a different font. I grew up in Texas for a little while until I was 14. My dad, unfortunately, passed away. My mom was a teacher and quit to help take care of him. Once he passed, we had to move to Alabama with my mom's sister.
My mom tried to get teaching jobs but couldn't get them because they thought she was too old. She eventually got a job as a secretary for an engineer in town. I ended up going to college on a lot of scholarships and I got so inspired by all of the stuff that I was learning.
I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be an interior designer because I always appreciated the visual approach to things. I went to meet with my advisor to learn about that track and they told me that I’d need to stay behind an extra three years — which I couldn’t afford. I needed to graduate on time and start making money. Luckily, I had an Intro to Advertising class that I was interested in. Professors from a portfolio program came and told us all about creative advertising, copywriters, and art directors.
As they were explaining what art directors do, I thought that it sounded really interesting. I applied for portfolio school and got in. That’s where I met Mary. We worked our first job together in Birmingham, AL before moving to be closer together. Now we’re here as a team. It’s a partnership for life!
What do you think makes your creative partnership work so well?
Mary:
Wow, I feel like we've never actually been asked that. I think it's because we’re friends outside of work. We’re also not afraid to share our thoughts and opinions. We make it an effort to always be in a “let’s try it” mindset. There’s no judgment between us.
Lauren:
I agree. Yeah, I feel like our history really helps to make it where we’re just super comfortable around each other. I think we also are super honest about having off days and needing to regroup or relax.
So based on your experiences, do you think it’s best to establish a partnership before entering into the industry? Or can everything still work out if you meet someone at an agency?
Lauren:
I mean that's tough because I feel like it can be hard to find a solid partner that you want to continue with for every job. I think that if you do have that, it's best to come together and apply to places. Me and Mary are a package deal. I think that has helped with a lot of jobs because they've been like, “oh, well, it's great that y'all are already so comfortable together. We don't have to worry about if we hire you, hire an art director afterwards, and then you both don't work well together.” That makes the work suffer.
So I think it does help to have that kind of established partnership as you apply, but, at the same time, I don't think it’s make or break. One of our really close friends — a super talented copywriter — hasn't had the same partner throughout the whole time that they've been in the industry and they are still thriving.
Mary:
Yeah. I love having a solid partner. I think the key is if you want to do that, and I guess this kind of goes to the previous question too, it's just always about having open communication. If I’m like “Hey, these are my goals as a writer and a creative. This is what I want my future to look like,” and if that person has similar goals, I think it can work out really well — and it’s definitely something that you should pursue.
What was the inspiration like to create The Workshop?
Mary:
So we told you about how we stumbled into advertising in college. After we graduated, we would have a lot of people who didn’t study advertising reach out and wonder how to get into the industry. There are a couple options. You can go to portfolio school, which is a lot of time and money, or you can just try and build a book on your own, which is really hard — especially without someone shepherding you throughout the process and providing feedback. Withouthout creative briefs to create spec work, we just didn’t have a ton of resources to give those people.
We realized that we could just make them ourselves, and that’s what we did. We created The Workshop. The first term of it was an utter shit show. We didn’t think that anyone would really sign up for it, to be honest. We let everyone in. We didn’t think about time zones. The teachers didn't have a lot of resources to help teach folks so students jumped into briefs without learning what advertising is.
Afterwards, we completely restructured it to have one-on-ones in the first month to teach students about briefs. We had a strategist write the briefs every term instead of us just making them up out of thin air. We made classes a lot smaller. So instead of 100 students, there were about 30 the second time. They were much easier to manage. The last month of the program became about helping them build a website and get matched with a recruiter to present their work.
Lauren:
Since those changes, it's been going really well. We've had apprentices land at agencies like BBDO, Dentsu, and Mother. Obviously, we want to see each and every one of them land a job or an internship somewhere. So I think it's hard sometimes to hold yourself to that standard and then when it doesn't happen, you kind of feel down about it. But we do the best that we can. And it's really all thanks to the teachers, our curriculum director, recruiters, and all of the people who lead the one-on-one conversations.
What’s it like balancing The Workshop with your responsibilities at Barkley?
Lauren:
It's so interesting that you asked that because, actually, me and Mary are taking a pause on the Workshop for a short while. We’re going to hold off on the next semester and through the summer to start back up in the spring. It can be tough and it kind of fluctuates depending on our workload. It’s a huge responsibility to take on and we started to get a little swamped at work.
We have a lot of support though — from our director of curriculum, to the teachers that also act as mentors to our apprentices. It really helps Mary and I to take more of an administrative role by handling email communications and ensuring teams are coming together like they’re supposed to. We’re pausing to make sure we can bring the same effort that everyone else involved brings to the table.
One thing that I’ve seen you both talk about online is accessibility in advertising. It’s no secret that people from different backgrounds than traditional big city creatives have a harder time breaking into the industry. What do you think are some of the biggest issues impacting accessibility in this industry?
Mary:
Oh, I love this question. This was definitely true in a pre-covid world and I think still is .For creatives, it's so common to do internships before you have a junior role. A lot of times, these agencies expect you to move to high cost cities on, basically, minimum wage. And if you don't have assistance or unless you're working an extra job or two, it's nearly impossible to live comfortably on the wages that they pay. They expect people to move to cities that are super expensive without giving them pay to match.
Lauren:
I think there's some change happening in this sphere, which I appreciate. There are programs like Wieden+Kennedy’s The Kennedys where, if they're expecting you to come out there, they give a housing stipend and things like that. So there's definitely some change, but I think that's agencies being so averse to remote work so astounding to me. It's such a huge tool to make your agency more socioeconomically diverse. But you know, the weird coming to the office two days a week for this insane collaboration that doesn't actually exist in real life is such a hindrance.
What do you think has been the toughest pill that you've had to swallow on your creative journey so far?
Mary:
Can I say two? In ad school, you make these fun campaigns and it’s all about the concept. And then as you step into the industry, it can be not quite what you expected. Like whether it's you're working on banners for a long time or how little you could potentially get produced, it’s a bummer.
I think the other hardest pill to swallow is that from the outside looking in, advertising does look like a very progressive industry and puts on that face as if it is, but that changes once you know the environment and how it’s only like that in certain senses.
Lauren:
One of my pills is that bullshit “we are a family” mindset that agencies put on us. We’re all a family, we all love each other, etc. If an agency needs to cut you, they’ll do it and forget about you. I think company culture is bullshit. Some agencies, obviously, do a better job than others. I think Barkley is one of those places that truly does what’s best for their employees.
My other pill is realizing how little work that we actually produce. Coming into the industry, you romanticize it. You plan on filing all of these big cool spots and creating groundbreaking work. And then when you get it, it’s cool to have the fun idea — but then this person’s gonna change it, the client has notes on it, and it turns into something else entirely. It gets watered down.
I think about this when I see work and think “wow, that was a lame spot to have put out.” It probably was better, but it got changed along the way. I’ve learned not to be too precious with the work because it could get obliterated in the end.
On the flip side, what’s been a fulfilling moment for you both in the industry so far?
Lauren:
That's a great question. Well, I think the first thing that pops into my head is me and Mary being able to go above a client’s ask and making something special. There was this one time that we made big campaign work. It was one of those situations where we were tasked with making a small update to the client’s website.
Mary and I had this bigger idea and we were like, shoot, can we show this to them anyways? We know they don't have the money, but you know, can we share it and see what they say? Then, the client actually bought it! It was a one in a million chance that this came true and happened. That led us to make our “Legal Needs Are In Your Future” work for ARAG, which has been huge for Mary and I.
Mary:
I agree! And I think when any student that attended The Workshop gets a job anywhere and messages us about it, it’s so fulfilling. It makes me want to cry. I love seeing our community of teachers and apprentices come together.