The Issue of Prioritising Hustle Culture Over Wellbeing

Christine Olivas is the founder and CEO of No Single Individual, a first-of-its-kind, high-growth company that provides freelance strategy and account teams to agencies, from global firms to hyper-local shops.

In her role, she has tirelessly championed the importance of outside talent to combat burnout within the advertising industry. Prior to founding the company in 2021, she held both freelance and full-time positions at Grey, Dentsu Creative/360i, FCB New York, Known, and McCann.

Before beginning her advertising career, she was a marketing executive for multiple scaling B2B startups, including the world’s first online ad network and video conferencing tool.

While she doesn’t like the term “unconventional path,” she does believe that great talent comes from anywhere and is passionate about forging opportunities for both new and seasoned talent who come at freelancing and/or advertising in unexpected ways.

Christine is also a published fiction writer, stand-up comic, and a new mother.

LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?

Christine> In my first agency role (about eight years into my career), I became the head of client services and strategy at a regional firm, with 10 direct reports and a portfolio of 100 accounts.

I was still in my twenties.

This never would have happened without the direct advocacy of my boss at the time, who decided to take an in-house position and convinced the partners to promote me versus hiring someone else.

I’ll be forever grateful to her for seeing what I was capable of.

LBB> How did you figure out what kind of leader you wanted to be – or what kind of leader you didn’t want to be?

Christine> People always say they learned about leadership by watching bad leaders and learning “what not to do,” but I’m not convinced that’s the best training.

That’s like basing your whole creative brief on how the brand should not show up but not providing inspiration and ways in for how they could.

For me, watching multiple people claim to be managers because they had formal oversight over my work, but never advocating for me or the team in ways that improved my productivity and happiness was simply a foundation. It wasn’t leadership training or inspiration.

The few amazing agency leaders I have had the privilege of working for were the ones that taught me what good looks like.

One boss I had refused to participate in classic performance reviews, as she believed they were biased against high performers, especially women. That taught me not only that I could push back against practices that weren’t working but also to go past the surface layer and advocate for the people who worked the hardest.

Another manager I had was adamant about being a critical layer between his direct reports and the executive team; if we needed something or deserved a promotion, he would take on making that happen and not come back to us until he had a satisfactory resolution to share.

He was also great at creating boundaries with our clients, even if it was challenging or risky, and our industry could certainly use more of that.

LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership

Christine> Last summer, things slowed down for us – and many in the industry. I realised in meetings that I was operating from a place of fear and scarcity – and that my attitude was negatively affecting my team.

How could I expect them to show up and do their best work if I didn’t believe the crisis was ultimately surmountable?

I had to dig deep and work on my own anxiety, so that I could come back to them and both acknowledge the very real challenges we were facing but be the one to rise above and spearhead real solutions, including continuing to do the sales and awareness-building activities that have historically led to great clients and repeat engagements.

I had to change my own attitude first.

It worked, as we had our biggest quarter in Q4 and started 2025 strong.

LBB> Did you know you always wanted to take on a leadership role? If so, how did you work towards it and if not, when did you start realising that you had it in you?

Christine> When I was pretty young – guessing eight or so – I started a science club with a small group of friends and made myself president.

Even at that age, I knew what I wasn’t good at, so I immediately appointed someone else treasurer.

So, yes, I always wanted to be at the helm of something – and to surround myself with people who could be exceptional at the things I’m not.

LBB> When it comes to 'leadership' as a skill, how much do you think is a natural part of personality? How much can be taught and learned?

Christine> Looking at my own childhood, I can see leadership tendencies that could very well have been part of my natural personality. But I also think we can’t talk about leadership potential without talking about systemic gender, racial, neurological, and class biases that block leadership-inclined people from their full potential.

How many people have the ability to be empathetic, transformative leaders who never get the chance to explore that side of themselves? Or who makes it to agency management, then falls off because their agency doesn’t have a strong, inclusive culture?

Part of my ambition with No Single Individual is to empower potential leaders within agencies by giving them the outside strategy and account support they need to stop just churning out briefs all day – and begin to take the time required to grow their skills, to develop their own leadership, to be better managers.

LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?

Christine> I am not risk-averse at all, and I lead with my intuition, which is great for innovation, for creating an environment where people can be successful – but not always so great for budgetary planning or cash flow management.

Rather than let this go unchecked, I invest early and often in operational talent and consulting that can help provide checks and balances to my approach.

I also sometimes find it challenging to serve an industry that often prioritises hustle culture over wellbeing.

We partner with so many brilliant, hard-working people who haven’t taken a vacation in years or who feel the need to prove themselves because they came from an unconventional background, and it can be really hard to see them struggle.

I work through this by trying to empower the leaders of our agency clients with solutions that reduce burnout, and while it might alienate some executives, I am working on being as candid with them as possible about how they have a responsibility to help their greatest asset: people.

LBB> Have you ever felt like you've failed whilst in charge? How did you address the issue and what did you learn from it?

Christine> Absolutely. We had an agency client last year who seemed great on paper. They needed strategic expertise to facilitate an important workshop with a new account, and it was not only an exciting opportunity for our team but also a great way to build a long-term partnership by helping the agency grow.

When agency leadership negotiated a bit on price and shared the very tight deadline, I overlooked it. But after beginning the work, I realised that I had not done a great job vetting the project and that there were red flags I should have seen, particularly with agency leadership.

After consulting with my team, I ultimately decided to terminate the contract. I learned that just like our agency clients, I could also be vulnerable to the excitement of new business – and that it’s critical for me to say “no” when a new opportunity doesn’t align with our values and expectations.

LBB> In terms of leadership and openness, what’s your approach there? Do you think it’s important to be transparent as possible in the service of being authentic? Or is there a value in being careful and considered?

Christine> Transparency vs. caution in communication is a false binary, in my opinion. It’s like when people follow up an insensitive comment with “I was just being honest!” as if unfiltered communication is the only way to be open.

I firmly believe that leaders should be transparent in terms of sharing as much as they can to improve empowerment, autonomy, and belonging, while working their asses off to frame the information in a way that’s empathetic and avoids panic or excessive fear.

In other words, I believe you can share a lot but do so in a sensitive manner. With my leadership team, I share nearly everything, but I take the extra moment to think through how to say it so I can strike the right balance.

LBB> As you developed your leadership skills did you have a mentor, if so, who were/are they and what have you learned? And on the flip side, do you mentor any aspiring leaders and how do you approach that relationship?

Christine> I haven’t had a formal mentor in a while, but I have found incredible solace in and gained real guidance from spending time with other women who are entrepreneurs or founders.

I also keep in touch with all of my favourite past bosses and try to get their perspectives as I continue on my leadership journey.

Finally, I’m starting to get into coaching as well. I recently engaged Cindy Gallop for coaching and got more out of an hour with her as I have from many books or blogs I’ve read in a lifetime. Her provocations helped me remember why I started this business and inspired me to keep trying to solve big, daunting industry problems.

LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?

Christine> This is so, so tough, and I can’t say I’ve cracked the code. Services-based businesses are so tough. But I will say that not having had a full-time role for nearly a decade has prepared me a lot for the inevitable boom-and-bust cycle, and I can pass these learnings on to my team.

I try to take a two-pronged approach: first, validate that slow/low-revenue times are scary and bring fears, but second, keep morale up by prioritising projects that keep us top-of-mind with clients and prepare us for when things get busy. Two things can be true at once. You can be both worried and optimistic.

LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?

Christine> As someone with an unconventional path to advertising, who really struggled to gain my footing in big global firms, part of my goal in starting No Single Individual was to support women, care-givers, and others sidelined by traditional agencies.

It’s a myth that simply going freelance ensures access to opportunities; as with full-time roles, so much of getting freelance work still depends on who you know and how much time and energy you have to dedicate to the “hunt.”

Our model, which affords members opportunities to work as part of a team, sharing workload and ideas, means that they can spend less time finding work and more time making money – and living balanced, fulfilling lives. And, in return, our agency clients have the opportunity to elevate their work with new perspectives.

LBB> How important is your company culture to the success of your business? And how have you managed to keep it alive with increases in remote and hybrid working patterns?

Christine> I founded this business in January 2021, so being fully remote and giving people (particularly, women and working parents) balance in their lives was always part of how we work.

Whether it’s my leadership team or the amazing freelancers who have done fantastic things for our agency clients, I’ve always tried to make flexibility and caring for others central to our culture.

In my opinion, you can’t start a business in a pandemic without remembering how short life is and making sure that your people can both do rewarding work and have meaningful lives.

And this culture extends to our agency clients, as our unrelenting belief that outside talent is critical to avoiding burnout has helped many professionals in our industry get relief and do better work. Traditional agency life often leaves talent drained. I intentionally operationalised a model where people aren’t commodities – because happier, healthier creatives do better work.

I believe that our client growth over the last four years – and nearly 3 million dollars paid out to freelancers – show the clear link between a culture rooted in both people and business success.

LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?

Christine> Online/hybrid communities are a big part of my go-to resources. As a business owner/leader and new mom in my 40s, extra time is at a premium.

Communities on Slack that also have in-person events (Ladies Who Strategise is one I’ve been part of for a long time) give me the opportunity to engage in discussion and interactions as I have time and energy, but also to get the networking and sharing time I need as a major extrovert.

Recently, I’ve also prioritised spaces and places that stimulate me intellectually versus just offering business or leadership advice. I quit standup comedy to focus on my business and family, but I recently went back to writing and performing.

Exposure therapy is a carefully-curated, thoughtfully-led community I recently joined that fosters the kinds of discussions I need not just to feel whole as a human, but also to get my mind and heart going in a way that makes me a better leader.