ABOUT US

WE HELP AGENCY PEOPLE GROW!

Mai Aristoteli

Founder & Director

There’s no place quite like agency. It’s an incredibly high-performance, fast-paced, with a business and client based that demands nothing short of excellence.

And yet, in my years working in this world, one thing I found to be far from excellent was the professional development opportunities offered to our teams.

I vividly remember how hard it was – while juggling client and business demands – to find enough time to spend guiding and developing my teams. And external trainers, not quite “getting” the agency language and environment, never really cut through with my teams.

School of Agency exists to bridge this gap, by giving agency professionals the learning they need through:

  • Interactive, thought-provoking, and highly practical training in account management, leadership, agency operations, and BD

  • A bespoke approach - we work with agency leaders to understand their team’s specific challenges, and then tailor a learning program to address them. We’ve never given the same workshop twice!

  • A creative, psychology-informed approach to learning. As creative storytellers by trade (we’re ex-agency people after all!), we take a unique approach to training that doesn’t just “inform”, but really makes the learning “click”

  • Most importantly, we “get” the agency world. We quickly grasp your team’s challenges, we offer tried and tested strategies to address them, and we keep it relevant

School of Agency is a passion project, created to help agency people thrive, and give agency leaders the people partner we we’d had when we were in there shoes.

If you’re looking to upskill your team, or yourself, please get in touch. We’d love to chat about how we can help.

WHAT TO EXPECT

PRACTICAL

LEARNING

Take home tried-and-tested tools that you’ll come back to daily.

SHIFTING

MINDSET

Interactive, thought-provoking sessions will leave you inspired.

AGENCY

MADE FOR

We're agency people too, We get your world, and we keep it relevant.

WHO WE’VE WORKED WITH

WHAT THEY SAY

  • “Extremely engaging. Very practical - was able to really absorb all the information. Loved the deep discussion among attendees.”

    SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR - BURSON (WPP)

  • “Mai is the one of the best agency directors I’ve worked with. She’s pragmatic, empathetic and inspirational - a problem-solver and an opportunity-finder. Watch your business and your people thrive.”

    TANYA HUGHES - EX-MD, M&C SAATCHI TALK

  • “Mai is just the best. She has the innate ability to bring out the best in people and teams.

    ANDIE CRAWFORD - MD, ALT-SHIFT

  • “The team has been raving about the many ‘lightbulb moments’ during the two day course. Thank you for sharing your brilliance!”

    CHLOE FITZGERALD - BUSINESS DIRECTOR, DENTSU CREATIVE PR

  • “Coaching with Mai played a huge role in my professional development. I’d recommend her to anyone.”

    SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, B&T 30 UNDER 30 WINNER

  • “Mai brings years of recent agency experience and a warm and professional approach to her training. She takes the time to get to know participants and tailors her training to meet them where they are at. I believe our team are in a much better position to deliver in their roles as as a result.”

    SUSIE LAURENCE - GM, SABIO

  • Just wanted to reach out and say thanks (again) for the killer training. Being able to lean on what we learnt and practiced in your sessions has helped HEAPS, as I had my first difficult conversation with a direct report today. THANK YOU!

    ACCOUNT MANAGER, DENTSU CREATIVE

  • The sessions were incredibly detailed, yet so easy to digest - thanks to the approachable, interactive and engaging training style. I really valued being able to get some practical tools that could be applied immediately. I feel much better prepared and more confident about my ability to do the job of Account Director.

    ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, C7EVEN

  • I thought the training was fantastic - it felt like work therapy! I learned so much that is incredibly helpful for performing well at an agency that you don't learn at uni or on the job. It was well delivered, engaging and helpful. I really valued receiving some key insights and ways of working from a clearly seasoned and polished agency professional.A

    ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE - ROWLAND