Motherhood in advertising has long been an unspoken challenge – a career-defining crossroads where ambition is too often questioned, and support systems fall short. And while the industry has made progress in acknowledging the realities of working parents, tangible change is still slow, leaving many mothers to navigate the journey alone.
In this instalment of Motherland in Adland – the series founded by NERD’s Milana Karaica in partnership with LBB – we hear from Sarah Collinson, chief executive officer of Havas New York.
Sarah shares her experience of navigating pregnancy, parenting and leadership all at once – from fertility struggles and all-day sickness to the emotional tug-of-war between work and home. With candour and humour, she reflects on what it really takes to lead while parenting young children, and why embracing imperfection, drawing boundaries, and showing up authentically may just be the most powerful form of leadership we have.
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Being a leader is tough.
Being a leader, while being a parent to a 4 year old, while also being pregnant is maybe the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Part of me feels bad even saying this because my journey to parenthood has been an exhausting fertility rollercoaster that has taken up the majority of my thirties.
From the relentless ‘keep-trying-but-nothings-happening’, to the nightmare of miscarriages and an ectopic, to countless doctors’ appointments, injecting myself in random bathrooms, and running around cities at 7am trying to find somewhere to get a blood test before a meeting – it’s pretty much been the opposite of a good time
But MAN, working parenthood is tough.
Our industry is about people.
We have to research them, understand them, appeal to them – and yet with all that knowledge of what it takes to be a human, the basic pulls of working in a client-service business mean that for parents, balancing work and home can feel impossible.
The constant juggle that makes it feel like you’re half-assing everything, anti-social global hours that don’t take bathtime into consideration, and pitches that can swallow a weekend or five. All this, coupled with the thing I always struggled to admit – that when my son Felix was very little, working sometimes felt easier than being with a crying baby.
This industry also demands energy.
It’s a team sport, and we have to show up every day for our colleagues, teams, and clients.
It’s the thing I’ve found the hardest (and most rewarding) about being a CEO. If things are good, the people responsible need to be celebrated and recognized. If things are bad, they need encouragement and help. If you lose an account or a pitch, everyone else can despair, but you need to be there pretty damn fast with momentum and a game plan that helps people pick themselves up and start again.
It takes a lot out of you. And there are times I feel I give everything to work, and then rush home only to be a moody parent who doesn’t have the energy to read Curious George eight times in a row.
I found out that I was pregnant with my second child at the end of January and almost immediately started pretty epic morning sickness that lasted all day (and until week 16). Think heaving in the toilets no one uses on the 4th floor before big meetings, exhaustion levels that meant I wanted to nap under my desk and a generally crap feeling that never dissipated no matter how many bagels I ate.
Almost as soon as this phase wrapped (thank god), my hips and lower back seemed to disintegrate. I got an ugly belly band and tried to up my stretching, but walking was painful and standing still for any length of time became excruciating (why does no one sit down at drinks events??)
None of these things are conducive to being a pinnacle of energy and light.
It was a particularly tough adjustment because my first pregnancy was at the height of covid, and I didn’t step foot in an office.
To deal with it, I’ve become maniacal about energy conservation.
Getting good sleep, trying to ‘exercise’ – even if that means just walking for 30 minutes in the evening – and becoming even better at saying that wonderful word: “no.”
There is no solution for how to make this easy, but these are my learnings :
Tell partners early
Because of my fertility history, I didn’t tell anyone for a long time, but as soon as I brought the leadership team in, I felt supported. From ordering me mocktails when out with a booze client, to moments in pitches where I thought I might hurl and whispered they might have to take over (it never happened – but it came close), to simply having people to moan to – they, and everyone else at Havas, have been truly wonderful. The good news is we work in an industry of amazing humans. Let them help.
Prioritize ruthlessly
If you’re a parent, you’ll already be doing this. Do this more. Cut the chaff and focus on what is essential and meaningful. Sometimes that will mean cutting meetings short and delegating things you might not have before (they have to get used to you being out soon anyway).
Draw ground rules for yourself that you don’t break
This is something I’m telling myself in retrospect, as I very much did not do it initially. Give yourself a break, allow yourself to rest, hold time in your calendar to stretch, to walk, and to just sit in silence. Maybe don’t go into the office as much – especially if it’s summer in NYC and a million degrees.
Know there will be adjustments
I went to Cannes six months pregnant. I still did all of the Cannes things, but in orthopedic shoes with scheduled time for breaks. I also discovered the joy of swimming in the sea between panels and going for dinner. And yes, I mean that beach by The Martinez, where the chances of running into your biggest CMO in a towel are very high. I’ve never done it before for this very reason, but there’s nothing like being overheated and pregnant to make you think “fuck it.”
Lean into doing less
As someone who usually says yes to (almost) everything, turning down invitations and saying no has been tough, but I have to admit, it’s really helped. I’ve trimmed my priorities to family and work. Other things have fallen off a cliff, but with the knowledge that it’s not forever and they will be picked back up (I have a running list on my phone of all the fun things I am going to do when I can walk and drink again – a list my friends are increasingly terrified of).
Let yourself go to bed at 9pm
I feel like I’m a kid. But god, it’s helped.
The end is in sight but soon my new messy reality will be parenting two children, requiring more adjustments and a different type of exhaustion.
This journey has taught me that leadership isn’t about having it all figured out. It’s about adapting, prioritizing, and embracing imperfection. If you’re pregnant, parenting, or simply juggling life’s demands as a leader, your resilience to Keep Calm and Keep Showing Up is your greatest strength. So rest when you need it, learn to say no, lean on your people, and show up as the real you (even when that you is exhausted and with ankles so swollen you can barely fit into Birkenstocks), knowing that this authenticity is probably the most inspiring leadership of all.