When I was first conceiving the idea for The Social Story, I knew I wanted it to be an agency with a difference. Having spent my early years of full-time employment in some of the top agencies in Sydney, I was disillusioned with the grind of just trying to get to the next thing – the next week, the next promotion, the next job. I took the time to look at my values and the change I wanted to create in the world – and so a new sort of business was born that would work with brands already doing good in the world and being considerate in every part of the business.
It’s been a learning experience, both in learning the ropes of running a profitable business but also seeing where we could make positive changes at every point. It’s why we’re partners with B1G1 and continue to volunteer our time with organisations and through mentorship with young advertisers starting out.
I have been sharing my own story more so that others who come to a similar crossroads as I had can feel a little less alone. And it is why we approached The Millennial Crisis about hosting an event in Sydney for others feeling like they wanted more out of their careers.
Connecting on Careers With Purpose
On Thursday May 4, The Social Story and The Millennial Crisis hosted an event at The Commons to bring together like-minded people who wanted to chat purpose. The event saw 30 individuals be open and vulnerable about the struggles they were facing in their career and what purpose meant to them.
Does it mean indulging your passions in a side hustle?
Was it about standing up against bullying in the workplace?
Was it leaving the corporate life behind and pursuing a business on your own?
There is not one way to ensure that purpose is integrated into your life. And we had a panel of experts to close out the event to show just how different that life could look like. This included
- Demi Kotsoris, the founder of The Millennial Crisis who created the podcast and conversation events as a way to open spaces for deep conversations
- Andrew Marselos, Social Procurement Lead at Transport NSW (and previously at Social Traders) and Board Member of the Social Enterprise Council NSW/ACT (SECNA) who could speak to his background in youth work and the proliferation of social enterprise businesses around our state
- Teresa Romanovsky, Founder of Careers For Purpose, a recruitment agency helping to connect values-driven individuals with jobs that are aligned with them
- and myself, Tiff Ng, founder of The Social Story, a purpose-driven social media agency empowering people to use social for good.
It was an inspirational night, helping us all to delve further into how we spend our time on the things that are important to us, within and outside of our work.
Creating Change for Advertising
The advertising industry is one that can seem resistant to change. Old guards keep conventional hierarchies in place in the office. We’re told even in university Communications degrees that the only way to forge ahead is to just survive the first few years doing the grunt work before you get ahead.
But it doesn’t have to be like that.
Putting purpose into your life, particularly in industries that seem hard to change from the inside can start small. But it will take vigilance and self-responsibility to make it happen. It requires you to stand true to your values and show up. And it helps when you can have a community like the one created at our event to support you through the change.
We delved into this further in a guest blog written for Mavens – a content platform championing gender equality in communications.
