Women who make space

I was ready to leave. Not just the job, but the whole ‘reporting the A&M’ industry. I felt lost, unsure of how the industry worked, and even began questioning my writing. The rooms felt too loud, the pace too fast. Most days, I wondered if I belonged.

Who changed everything for me was my manager.

She joined the team and made me feel like I knew something, and taught me what I didn’t. She believed in me, and made me believe in myself. Three years later, I’m still here, in love with the very industry I once wanted to run away from.

Not every revolution comes with a rallying cry. Some unfold in boardrooms, in the rewording of an email, in a quiet nudge that says, 'you belong here.'

My manager calls herself a feminist, but not the kind who needs to say it twice. She’s more of a label-breaker than a label-wearer. I’ve seen her pause a meeting to give credit where it’s due, especially when a younger woman is being talked over. I’ve watched her pull someone aside after a rough call, not to correct but to uplift. 

She always insists we pitch ideas, even when we aren’t sure we’re ready, because she knows what it’s like to be underestimated. To be the only woman in a room full of loud voices and louder egos.

It’s in these small, deliberate choices that I first witnessed micro-feminism in action. No grand gestures. Just quiet, consistent rebellion against the status quo. Turns out, some label-breakers don’t make noise. They make space.

In the advertising and marketing industry, these moments might seem invisible. But talk to enough women, and you’ll find them everywhere. As I spoke to female leaders across the industry, I found that many of them are leading this silent revolution. One meeting, one nudge, one act of defiance at a time. 

In this piece, Pranali Tawte speaks to women leaders in the A&M world who live the unspoken realities of bias and exclusion every day. Their stories expose the invisible struggles that go unnoticed but fuel a movement that fights to carve out space, demand respect, and uplift those still finding their voice.

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