For Carolyn Stebbing, Founder, and Chief Enabler- in the best kind of way- of The Announcables and Little Village Creative, a good design hinges on its ability to stand out. “Cut through,” she says. “If the design doesn’t get noticed, everything else is academic.”

Stebbing, who sports a proud Trans-Tasman accent, comes from Auckland, New Zealand, and has called Australia home for 13 years. “New Zealand has a vibrant, creative scene, and Kiwis tend to punch above their weight internationally when it comes to music, movies, fashion, art, and creativity in general,” she says. “We’re proud of our culture and who we are but love to goof around. I think this light-hearted sense of fun shows up in the work that we create. I know it has certainly inspired me as an ‘agency person.’”

Thanks to her father, an audio engineer, she also has a family connection to creative work. “I spent much of my childhood hanging out with my dad at his studio,” she says. “At the time, most of his work was with agencies, recording voiceovers and jingles. As a kid, I got to spend time in the studio, meeting people, watching the process, and even voicing the odd ad myself,” she says. Seeing her father make a living doing this kind of work planted an early seed that it was possible to pursue a career where Stebbing could be creative and make a living at the same time. 

While Stebbing gets to flex her creative muscles at work, running a successful design agency also centers around building rapport with potential clients. “Trust is hard won but easily lost,” Stebbing says. “Based on experience, I know for sure that putting in the hard yards at the beginning makes all of the difference in building a strong working relationship.”