We recently delved into the entrepreneurial journey of Emily Jeffrey-Barrett, co-founder of creative agency Among Equals.
With a decade of experience in creative agencies, Emily recognized a gap between brands and their audiences — one that often led to advertising efforts failing. Driven by a desire to create work that truly resonates, she founded Among Equals, an agency founded on the principle that no one inherently cares about a brand—until she makes them care. From her inspirations to the lessons learned, Emily shares the insights that have shaped her approach to business and life.
What was the inspiration behind Among Equals?
When I founded Among Equals, I had already been working in creative agencies for a decade. I had worked with incredibly talented creatives, ambitious clients, visionary founders, and NGOs on impactful missions and discovered a pattern: They assumed that people felt as important as they did. The CMOs and founders assumed that people cared about their brand or product as much as they did. The charities assumed that people would be as committed to the causes as they were. And the creatives assumed that the general public was as passionate about design and advertising as they were. The reality looks completely different. People simply don’t care as much as our industry assumes, and that assumption leads to work that doesn’t work.
This is not just something I have felt as a consumer and citizen, it is something that has been proven time and time again through research. The vast majority of advertising is neither loved nor hated; it is simply ignored. I wanted to build an agency that works with this reality and creates truly impactful work that gets people interested in issues, changing behavior and achieving results. So our philosophy is based on that reality: ‘Start with nobody caring. Build brands that change that.”
Who do you admire?
I’m a firm believer that the phrase “never meet your heroes” is there for a reason, so I’ve never put anyone on a pedestal. Instead, I admire anyone who DOES things. It’s easy to have ideas. It’s easy to talk about things you’re going to do. The hard part is actually doing it – taking the step, writing the book, starting the company, taking the plunge.
That’s why I admire anyone who realizes that the world doesn’t happen to them. It can happen to them. People like my client Emma Horton, who started a prescription skin care company – Uncouth – while pregnant and working as a doctor because she saw an opportunity. Or my colleague Joe Hedinger, who quit his great job at the BBC to move to Norwich and pursue his dream of working with books — he now works in a lovely shop called The Book Hive. Anyone who truly looks at life understands that it is short and takes steps to make the most of it.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
On the one hand, yes – so many things. For example, learn about the financial side of running a business, or the complexities associated with hiring and human resources, or understand the legal aspects of establishing and branding a brand. That would have smoothed out a lot of bumps along the way — I had a lot of very, very steep learning curves. But in reality I wouldn’t change anything.
If I had known all the challenges I would face along the way, starting the agency would have seemed extremely daunting. But because I didn’t, I just jumped in. It took a lot of energy and work to get here, but I am so proud of the company we have become and everything I have learned. It has made me much more resilient. Today I can honestly stand here and say, “Anything is possible” – and that is because of all the challenges I have faced, not in spite of them.
What defines your way of doing business?
People are everything. Point. Without the right team around you, you can’t achieve anything. That’s why I only have three rules at Among Equals: 1. Hire people who are better than you. 2. Empower them and then get out of their way. 3. When someone asks who is responsible for great work, there is only one answer: “the team.”
This also includes our customers. We work with our customers as equals and I am proud to call many of them friends. Someone once said to me, “I don’t want to be friends with the people I work with.” “I’m not like you, I don’t need more friends,” and I’ve never heard anyone miss the point more. Why don’t you want good working relationships with your team and your customers? When has good work ever arisen from contempt or conflict? Strange.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Learn how to deal with fear. I’ve wanted to own my own business for years, but I’ve been waiting for the perfect time. I was so afraid of not having a job or not having enough money to live on. But when the pandemic hit and everything seemed scary, I realized that there is no perfect time — if you want to do something, you just have to do it. I got to a point where the fear of not starting a business was greater than the fear of doing it, so in the middle of a global catastrophe, I quit my nice, stable job and started a company. Fear can be paralyzing, but it is also incredibly powerful. So embrace it when it drives you, and when you feel like it’s overwhelming you, just keep going and don’t look down.
