How Amy Ferguson from Terri & Sandy, Owns It
This week on Own It, we’re talking to Amy Ferguson from Terri & Sandy. The New York agency was Ad Age’s 2025 Independent Agency of the Year, and its clients include Disney Princess, Gerber, Freshpet, Nutella and Revlon, among others. Amy joined the firm a year ago as its first chief creative officer and a partner.
Her resume reads like a tour of the industry. She started as a $5.25-an-hour intern at TBWA\Chiat\Day, then worked her way through Grey, Mullen, and freelancing, then back to TBWA\Chiat\Day to become the first female chief creative officer of its New York office. She was most recently at The Special Group, before Sandy Greenberg brought her to Terri & Sandy with a path to ownership.
We talked about her three boys, the magazines she made and sold as a kid, and her mom, a lawyer with her own practice who showed her you could have a full career and still be an engaged mom.
We loved her advice for women weighing their next move: listen to how you feel. Think about the leaders you’ve worked for and ask yourself if you could do a better job. Nobody has all the answers. We’re all doing the best we can.
This is a good one.
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Key Takeaways
EPISODE: Own It Podcast - Amy Ferguson, Chief Creative Officer & Partner at Terri & Sandy
1. Listen to Your Intuition When Making Career Decisions | [00:44:15]
Amy emphasizes that feelings should be a primary guide for career choices rather than relying solely on logic or external expectations. She describes herself as "a feeler" and makes decisions based on whether opportunities feel right, not whether they fit a predetermined plan. This intuitive approach helped her navigate major transitions, including turning down a demotion at TBWA and later accepting the ownership opportunity at Terri & Sandy.
2. Women Should Trust They Can Perform Leadership Roles by Evaluating Their Past Leaders | [00:47:10]
Rather than waiting for perfection or complete readiness, Amy advises women considering leadership positions to reflect on leaders they've worked for and honestly assess whether they could do a better job. This simple exercise removes the myth that leadership requires special qualifications only certain people possess, and recognizes that many people have succeeded in these roles despite not being exceptional.
3. Creating an Intentional Workplace Culture Doesn't Require Sacrificing Ambitious Work | [20:03]
During her time at Mullen leading the JetBlue account, Amy demonstrated that it's possible to demand "brave, cool, insane ideas" while also treating people well, making thoughtful decisions to minimize weekend work, and creating a collaborative environment. This counters the narrative that high-quality creative work requires a toxic, exhausting culture.
4. Organizational Layers and Politics Are What Make Leadership Difficult, Not the Work Itself | [00:31:06]
Amy reflects that despite becoming CCO at TBWA, the hardest part of the job wasn't the creative work or client partnerships—it was navigating organizational layers, internal politics, and competing interests. This realization drove her decision to move toward ownership, where she could focus on the actual work and people rather than bureaucratic obstacles.
5. Female Mentorship Accelerates Women's Leadership When Mentors Believe Before the Woman Does | [00:26:24]
Nancy Reyes' confidence in Amy to become CCO—"she believed before I did"—was transformative. Amy emphasizes that women leaders actively believing in other women's potential to lead is critical, as many women are held back by self-doubt rather than lack of capability. This type of institutional belief removes psychological barriers to advancement.
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