Editor’s Note: Supporting women should not be limited to a month. So at Reel 360 News, we have decided to amplify and promote dynamic women’s voices year-round. Today, let us introduce you to the CEO of Ready Set Rocket, Lauren Nutt Bello.
Lauren is a female founder who leads with transparency, real talk, and zero corporate masking. It’s helped her build a culture that’s earned recognition from Ad Age and Crain’s as one of the best places to work.
She also has a great perspective on leading through change. Ready Set Rocket was acquired by Sia Partners in 2024, and she’s navigated the shift from independent founder to post-acquisition CEO while staying true to her values regarding diverse thought and inclusive leadership.
Let’s meet Lauren!
What’s your origin story? Where did this journey really begin?
I grew up in New Jersey, technically close to New York City, but the town I lived in was so small that we didn’t even have a traffic light. So moving to New York after college felt like a pretty big leap.
I didn’t come in with a network or connections; I went to a small state school and didn’t know anyone in the city. My first few years were a lot of hustle: low-paying entry-level jobs during the day and waitressing and babysitting at night just to make rent. In a city like New York, especially early in your career, it can feel like everyone else arrived with a map and you’re just figuring it out as you go.
Eventually, I found my way into the creative agency world and fell in love with the idea of getting paid to be creative and solve real problems for a living. Once that clicked for me, my career really started to take shape.
But honestly, those early years of figuring it out are still the part I value most. Building a life and career in a place like New York without a built-in network gives you a different perspective. You appreciate the climb more because you experienced it and had to create the momentum for every step.
When you walk into a room today, what do you want people to understand about you before you even speak?
That I’m there to listen first.
I’m naturally very curious about how people think, why they’ve arrived at a certain point of view, what they’re trying to accomplish, and what the real goal behind the conversation is. I tend to ask a lot of questions, not because I’m challenging anyone, but because understanding the why behind something is usually where the clarity lives.
When you take the time to really listen, you can help simplify things. Most problems have many possible answers, but there are usually a few that really matter. My goal in a room is to help people reach that clarity while making sure they feel heard along the way.
At the end of the day, I care deeply about both the work and the people doing it. If someone is stuck, whether it’s on a problem, an idea, or even something in their own career, I want them to feel like they can come to me and we’ll figure it out together.
What’s one decision you made that shifted your trajectory?
Early in my career, I was choosing between two jobs: one at a “hot shop” agency that everyone wanted to work at, and another at Ready Set Rocket, which at the time was a very early-stage startup. I remember debating it with my boyfriend at the time, now my husband, and he asked me a simple question: What’s the best-case scenario for each path?
When I thought about it that way, the startup felt like the bigger opportunity. Not the safer one, but the one with more upside if it worked. And it changed everything. At a small company, there was nowhere to hide. I was the person talking to senior clients; we didn’t have layers of specialists, so you had to step into strategy, creativity, and problem-solving, whether it was technically “your job” or not. It forced me out of my comfort zone and gave me a much deeper understanding of how an agency actually works — something that could have taken decades to learn in a bigger organization. Less than two years later I became partner, and several years after that I stepped into leading the agency.
What that environment really taught me, though, was how careers actually grow. It wasn’t about politicking or waiting for permission; it was about stepping up when something needed to be solved, even if it wasn’t in your job description. It was about elevating the people around you instead of worrying about credit. And it was about genuinely caring about the work and the team, because you can’t fake that; both employees and clients can see it from a mile away.
That decision didn’t just change where I worked. It shaped how I think about leadership and growth to this day.
Imposter syndrome is real for many women. When did you stop questioning whether you belonged in the room?
I don’t think imposter syndrome ever fully disappears. It’s more of a gradual shift. The more rooms you sit in, the more you realize that everyone in them is just a person; no one has it completely figured out.
What I do think changes over time is how you interpret your own success. For a long time, even as things were going well professionally, I had a habit of not fully giving myself credit. I’d attribute outcomes to timing, luck, the team, the client, all good things, of course, but it was almost like I was subconsciously looking for ways to explain away my own role in it. Sometimes that narrative comes from inside you, and sometimes it’s reinforced by other people’s insecurities or assumptions. Either way, it can keep you seeing yourself through an outdated version of who you were earlier in your career.
The shift for me was realizing that imposter syndrome isn’t just about feeling like you don’t belong in the room. It’s also about not fully owning your contribution once you’re there. Confidence, for me, has been less about suddenly feeling fearless and more about learning to acknowledge the work, perspective, and judgment that got me there in the first place.
What conversation about women in this industry still isn’t being had loudly enough?
How much progress we’ve actually made over the last 10–15 years. Twenty years ago, only about 3% of creative directors were women. Today, women hold roughly 40% of C-suite roles across many agencies. We’re not where we ultimately want to be, true parity, but that kind of progress doesn’t happen by accident.
Sometimes the narrative focuses so much on how far we still have to go that we forget to acknowledge the impact of the progress that’s already been made. More women in leadership have changed the industry in really positive ways, from more collaborative cultures to more nuanced storytelling and a broader understanding of audiences. When leadership becomes more representative of the people brands are actually trying to reach, the work gets better.
And the reality is, women aren’t just getting seats at the table; they’re leading successful agencies, growing businesses, and proving every day that the industry is stronger because of it.
Recognizing that momentum matters, because it shows that advocating for change actually moves the needle.
Have you ever walked away from a lucrative opportunity because it didn’t align with who you are or where you’re headed?
I’ve been at the same company for 14 years, which I still can’t quite fathom, so there have definitely been moments when other opportunities, and bigger paychecks, came along. But I’ve always tried to zoom out and really think about what comes with that money.
Sometimes it meant giving up autonomy. Sometimes it meant a travel schedule that would have taken a real toll on family life. But more often than not, it was just a gut feeling that I wasn’t done with the journey I was on.
One thing people underestimate is how much you can grow inside the same organization if it’s evolving. As we added people, expanded services, and took on bigger clients, it constantly felt like a new challenge. In many ways, it’s been like working at several different companies over the years.
For me, the deciding factor has always been whether I’m genuinely excited about what I can build and contribute. If the opportunity doesn’t give you the ability to shape something meaningful, or the trust to make things happen, the money alone has never been enough to pull me away.
What are you building that will outlast you?
My family. I have three kids — 7, 5, and 3. Life with them is chaotic, and you never feel like you have enough hours in the day, but the priority exercise is always easy. Walking them to school, being the one who puts them to bed, helping make the costumes or the last-minute school projects — those small, everyday moments are the things that shape their sense of security and who they become.
I’ve always been very clear with myself that work has to fit around my kids, not the other way around. I can always find a way to get the work done, but those years with them are finite.
At the same time, becoming a parent also changed how I think about the workplace we’re building for the next generation. One thing I’ve advocated strongly for over the years is more equitable parental leave policies. For a long time, many companies offered leave for women but not for men, which subtly sends the message that caregiving is primarily a woman’s responsibility. That creates an uneven playing field for women professionally, but it’s also unfair to men who want to be present with their families.
Encouraging, and in some cases requiring, men to take parental leave is one of the most effective ways to close that gap. It normalizes the idea that both parents have careers and both parents show up at home.
So when I think about what outlasts me, it’s both things: raising kids who feel loved and confident in who they are, and hopefully contributing in some small way to a workplace culture where the next generation of parents — women and men — don’t have to choose between being present at home and building meaningful careers.
If you could change one structural thing about this industry tomorrow, what would it be?
I would realign what the industry rewards.
Right now, much of the recognition in advertising still revolves around visibility — awards, press, and the agencies that already have the largest platforms. Sometimes the work that gets the most attention isn’t necessarily the work that had the biggest impact on a client’s business.
I’d love to see us shift more of the focus toward outcomes. The best agencies are the ones helping companies grow, solve real problems, and build meaningful connections with their audiences. That kind of work isn’t always flashy or designed to win awards, but it’s incredibly valuable.
In some ways, I think the industry is already moving in that direction. With clients demanding clearer ROI and technologies like AI forcing everyone to rethink where real value comes from, there’s a bigger spotlight on measurable business impact rather than just creative recognition.
Ultimately, the agencies that will win in the long term are the ones that can prove their work actually moves the needle.
What’s the title of the chapter you’re currently living in?
Agility in Chaos
After all the grind, what still excites you?
People.
Right now, it feels like all anyone wants to talk about is tech and AI — and of course, AI is absolutely upending our industry and the world more broadly. But at the end of the day, there are still people living their lives, hoping to learn something, feel something, discover something new. That part isn’t going away.
Having taste, having instincts, having a gut for what people will actually give a shit about — that’s still what this industry is about. Technology will keep changing how we do the work, but understanding people is what makes the work matter in the first place.
And that’s the part I still find endlessly interesting.
What song plays in your head when you land a big win? And do you happy dance?
Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen – no dance, but likely some Karaoke.
REELated:
REEL WOMEN SPOTLIGHT: Morgan Bradley, actress
