From the very beginning, at the same time she signed her first client, Jodi Katz, Base Beauty Creative Agency’s CEO & Founder, knew that she wanted to create an office culture that was different. A place where talent was always recognized, celebrated, and nurtured. Where people could grow and thrive. Where they would want to stay for a while, so all that learning would benefit the agency’s clients. In her book, Facing the Seduction of Success (available here), Jodi talks about her dissatisfaction with earlier jobs and unappreciative or even abusive bosses, experiences that convinced her that work didn’t have to be like that.
Some of the “big guys” in the agency world—the ones that consistently show up on the best-places-to-work lists—offer company cultures that focus on supporting and holding onto their people. They have the scale, the HR departments, and the budgets to do so. But not too many boutique-sized agencies do that from the start. Creating this inclusive, nurturing environment has always been top of mind at BBCA.
When I joined the agency, Jodi and I worked together to formalize our approach to creating an office culture built on kindness, respect, support, and positivity. We didn’t just talk about all these great-sounding values; we wrote them down and built them into our attitude toward everything, from pitching new business to handling sticky personnel issues. We have been disciplined about adhering to these principles, even painting them on our office wall. These values fuel our policies and programs:
- Value: Kindness
Program: Peer-to-Peer
We pair each new hire with a veteran from a different department, helping to form relationships that don’t necessarily develop from day-to-day work. This helps everyone feel connected to the entire agency. - Value: Empathy
Program: Mental Health Holidays
These bimonthly days off provide everyone with an extra day to spend as they choose to recharge, reboot, and regroup. Our leadership team chooses the dates based on overall workloads, planning so client work will not be disrupted. Our hard-working staff appreciates these islands of calm in a wavy sea. - Value: Respect
Program: Parental Leave
Family and personal lives are important at BBCA, so we upgraded our policy to ensure that our full-timers receive 100% of their wages during their leave as opposed to the 67% the state of NY mandates. This helps to reduce stress during these periods away from work. - Value: Pride in Your Work and Yourself
Program: Continuing Education and Career Development
When our people grow, we grow, our clients grow, and the ecosystem thrives. We offer fully compensated courses, coaching, and memberships to support professional advancement, and we help team members find the right courses to continue their professional journeys. - Value: Openness
Program: DEI Alliance
BBCA is focused on representing and amplifying diverse voices within our team and through our client work. We hold quarterly discussion-based meetings championing inclusion and cultural sensitivity. Attendance is optional. Topics have included:- Handling racist or sexist language from clients
- Creating on-set equity for non-white and curve talent
- Equity in pay for creators
- Celebrating pride
- Safe zone training
- Comfort with sexual wellness as a beauty category
- Value: Creativity, with a hint of an unspoken value of Fun!
Program: BBCA FUNds
We celebrate our staff by giving department heads a quarterly budget for fun activities with their team, from lunches to manicures to gift cards! - Value: See Above 😉
Program: Rent the Runway Retention Benefit
Full-timers celebrating their second anniversary receive a two-month subscription to the Rent The Runway Best Value Program. Because everyone wants to look fabulous.
During our 16 years, we have found that these investments in our people continue to pay off. I hear rave reviews on our company culture from our team, and I love talking about it with candidates because I am so confident in how the way we work contributes to the quality of the work. When a new hire comes to us from a toxic work situation, she finds solace in our open, empathetic, collaborative approach. People who are less stressed, deeply supported, and feel good about their work environment produce better work, build better client relationships, stay with us longer, and contribute to an upbeat office culture of creativity and professionalism. The costs to us, in dollars and time, are minuscule compared to the rewards for our agency and our clients. At Base Beauty, these values and the policies that support them are at the heart of what we do, how we do it, and why we look forward to coming to work every day.
Message our CEO with your thoughts: Businesses often reach out to us about how we implement these policies. Let us know if we can help!