Series of senior departures hits Mamamia Women’s Network as it names US lead
Independent online women’s news and lifestyle publisher Mamamia Women’s Network has seen a series of senior departures from both the editorial and commercial sides in recent months, Mumbrella understands.
Yesterday AdNews reported that Mamamia chief operating officer Marc Barnett had departed after just seven months in the role, however it is now understood that within the commercial team David Johnson head of commercial products and Laura Fitzpatrick head of strategy have also left.
On the editorial side Renee Mundy who was an editor of Mamamia, Alyx Gorman launch editor of new venture The Glow and Jenny Valentish, who also briefly edited The Glow, have all departed in recent months.
The departures come as Mamamia names Sarah Bryden-Brown to lead its new US operation.
Bryden-Brown is the founder of blogger database Blogstar and also Great.ly a website aimed had connecting consumers with individual who hand make jewellery, baby products and other wears.
Mamamia announced its US expansion plans earlier this year.
“Out of 104 current staff we’ve had half a dozen people leave the business for a range of reasons including maternity leave, personal health circumstances, family reasons and in a small number of cases, we’ve agreed to part ways with people just because the fit wasn’t right,” Jason Lavigne, CEO of MWN told Mumbrella.
“This is something that is totally normal in any company. We’re a high velocity business growing at 80-100 percent per annum over the past three years.
“We have 12 new staff members joining MWN over the next six weeks and we’ve just opened our US operation with three senior hires including Sarah Bryden Brown as head of MWN in the US.”
All of those staff who have departed were with the publisher less than a year.
The Mamamia Women’s Network, which publishes Mamamia, The Motherish, The Glow and Daily Debrief, has been on a major hiring blitz in recent months.
The publisher said it was currently hiring for nine new roles in Australia and had hired approximately 60 new people here across editorial, sales, commercial and admin since August 2014.
Nic Christensen
Have seen it before where someone from a big media company then tries to reinvent themselves in the context of a small business or start-up. It rarely works,especially for those on the commercial side who all of a sudden can’t trade on audience share. Being able to articulate the value of a niche title and audience is easier said than done.
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If you believe the weekend magazine article on Mia a few months ago, she’s hard to work with, according to some staff.
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Sarah BB is great – did incredible things at Kidspot and should do the same for MM.
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I shan’t comment on the staff turnover aspect but I am super impressed with the hiring of Sarah BB – a seriously great asset for any organisation.
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