Sophie Maunder, executive partner at VCCP, left the agency as of April 3, ending a tenure of more than 22 years, to launch maternity coaching company Matri.
Matri will offer an 18-month programme supporting women through the full transition of maternity leave and their return to work, including live webinars, coaching sessions, and community support and advice.
VCCP has become the founding client of Matri and will offer the support and mentoring programme to all its staff across its 13 offices across North America, EMEA and APAC.
Stephanie Brimacombe, global chief growth officer and chief executive of EMEA at VCCP, said: “I wish Matri had been available when I had my daughters. There is so much pressure on women to seamlessly adapt to motherhood so that they don’t fall behind in their careers—and there’s no handbook on how to get it right.
“Thankfully, Sophie has created this brilliant programme to offer support to new mums, and it’s so needed. I’m really proud that she’s taking this amazing step to empower women around the world in many different circumstances and workplaces, and to see her turn her passion and side hustle into a full-time, impactful career. I’m pleased to be able to offer Sophie’s continued wisdom to my colleagues when they need it.”
Matri launches amid a series of cutbacks on DEI policies and return-to-office mandates in adland, which many argued can increase the motherhood penalty, with women returning from maternity leave “facing impossible choices”.
Maunder said: “I know now that I wasn’t alone in feeling alone when I had kids. Thankfully my employer offered me support, but there is a huge gap in terms of what companies offer for women going through a massive life change. I was surprised too that whilst I thought everyone else was coping better than I was, others thought I was the model mum who had everything. That’s when I realised that I had to do something to let people know that how they were feeling is normal, and to offer some advice from experts to help them return to work and thrive in their careers.”
Maunder first joined the VCCP in 2003 as head of planning, and has held positions such as partnership strategy director, group strategy director, head of group planning. She was appointed executive partner in 2022.
She was appointed chief executive of VCCP’s direct and CRM division VCCP Me in 2014, and was later appointed as head of its customer journey-mapping offering, VCCP Ignite.
During her time at the integrated agency, Maunder ran VCCP’s maternity coaching programme, which the agency said helped it reach a 100% retention rate among staff returning from maternity leave.
She started her career at WPP Fellowship.
Maunder added: “Matri means that women who go off on maternity leave at the peak of their powers in high-performing careers can return to the jobs they love and excel at—no woman should feel that they need to leave their job because they haven’t got the support they need.
“Especially working mums in adland, who juggle intense creative demands with family life, bringing invaluable skill and experience to the table.
“It’s been a heady mix of working AND living, and I’m just so excited that, being the staunch supporter of my life they have always been, VCCP remains my committed founding client. So the umbilical cord won’t be entirely severed.”
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