amy small

I’ve spent my entire professional life as a creative and executive leader in advertising and marketing — two industries that are notorious for their long hours, breakneck pace, and often unreasonable performance expectations. Between trying to climb the corporate ladder, supporting my agency and team, raising mostly un-fucked-up kids, maintaining my marriage and other important relationships, grieving the loss of a parent, and navigating a global pandemic….and I was consumed by a perfect storm of anxiety, depression, and disordered eating that took a significant toll on my mental health.

Through my personal journey of burnout and recovery, which is still ongoing, I began to realize that developing emotional and mental resilience is not a solo effort — it genuinely takes a community. But while agencies are so many creatives’ main source of connection and healthcare, few of them are actually structured to provide the leadership, benefits, resources, and supportive culture we need to thrive.

That realization highlighted a gap I couldn’t ignore.

My lived experience led me to a variety of courses, trainings, and certifications in the mental health space — and ultimately, to becoming an advocate, speaker, and founder of Way of Being, a mental health community and mutual aid society built by creatives, for creatives.

Through Way of Being, I also consult with agencies of all sizes to redesign, and integrate, more people-first organizational systems, policies, and processes into every aspect of their culture.

I believe that mental health, individual wellbeing, and agency success are interconnected, and that companies have a moral responsibility to take care of their teams. My hope is that through all aspects of my work, I’m able to play a small role in making that happen.

Mental Health + Organizational Design Experience

• Founder, Way of Being

• Former Managing Director and Operations Lead, Health Action Alliance

• Author of the 2024 Mental Health in Advertising survey and report

• Host and moderator forThe One Club for Creativity’s “Beyond the Breakdown: Addressing the Mental Health Crisis in Advertising” event series

• Architect and former lead of Wholebeing — Media Cause’s employee mental health and wellbeing initiative

  • Received Gold-level Bell Seal Certification from MHA (Mental Health America)

  • Awarded 2023 “Best New Workplace Approach to Mental Wellbeing” from This Can Happen Global

  • Read an interview about Wholebeing here

• Judge for 2024 This Can Happen Global awards

• Panelist at 2023 This Can Happen Global US Conference

• Plenary Speaker at 2023 Mindful Leader Summit

• Publications: check out my Speaking + Features page

Training + Certifications

As part of my passion for mental health, wellbeing, and organizational design, I dedicate much of my downtime (when I’m not busy building new companies, running ethik, or being Mom) to learning and exploring a variety of tools, methods, practices, and ways of thinking that I believe can help create more compassionate, intuitive, and human-centered workplaces. Some of these include:

• Workplace Mental Health Ally Certification (SHRM)

• Trauma-Informed Leadership Certification (University of North Florida)

• Mental Health First Aid Certification (MHFA-US)

• Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) Fundamentals

• Empathy Decathlon Facilitator Certification (Empathy Lab)

• Continuing Education in Positive Psychology (UPenn/Coursera)

• Power of Awareness training (Greater Good Science Center)

• Compassionate and Resilient Leadership Certificate (Center for Compassionate Leadership)

• Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute Certificate (SIYLI)

• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction training (New York Insight Meditation Center)

• Mindful Self-Compassion training (Center for Mindful Self-Compassion)