Sophie Pisano is the founder and CEO of Quartz, the London-based PR agency already making waves since its relatively recent launch in June 2024. With an impressive client roster that includes River Island, Bio Sculpture, Faves, and Navy, Quartz is quickly establishing itself as a go-to in the industry.
Prior to founding Quartz, Sophie held senior leadership roles across fashion and media - from CEO at K&H Comms to Chief Business Officer at Condé Nast Britain and Associate Publisher at Vogue UK. In this interview, Sophie shares what sets her agency apart, the lessons she’s carrying forward, and her vision for the future of Quartz.
Can you define your agency?
QUARTZ is a brand building agency, specialising in PR & communications, events and strategic commercial planning.
We describe our agency as taking ‘a consultancy-led approach to driving agency-scale results’. By that we mean that we approach each new relationship with entirely fresh eyes and challenge ourselves to really get into the minds of that partner - understanding their strengths, weaknesses, culture, ambitions and resources to shape an entirely bespoke strategy and action plan, ensuring we can achieve brilliant results, every time.
We believe wholeheartedly that the one-size-fits-all method is outdated, frustrating for clients and ultimately ineffective. Our individualised approach allows us to apply our creativity, relationships, experience and commercial mindset to driving genuine results and growth for our partners.
What sets your agency apart?
I’d say our success is attributable to two key factors; our team and our approach. Our team - In my view,
"a service agency is only ever as strong as the individuals within it"
and I’m incredibly proud of the team we’re building at QUARTZ - deliberately targeting varied skill sets and backgrounds to ensure we deliver broad thinking, a wide network of outstanding connections and extensive expertise for our clients.
Half of our team previously held roles within the sales and events teams of publishing house, Condé Nast and the other half have experience from within some of the best-known Fashion & Beauty PR agencies. As a result, we are able to apply a uniquely commercial mindset - a strength that has proven to be of huge value to our partners. We’ve benefitted from the unique training that a sales environment provides - there is no challenge we can’t solve, no contact we can’t find, everything is a negotiation, and when we experience a setback we are naturally resilient and resourceful, learning from it and bouncing back better.
Additionally our Head of PR & Communications, Jess, gained invaluable insights during her 5 years leading Net-A-Porter’s European PR team - learning to juggle the needs of the business, its stakeholder brands, whilst also supporting the profile building of the senior leadership team.
Our approach -
"At QUARTZ we take a ‘deliberately different’ approach to the services we provide"
recognising the role that traditional PR plays in driving brand awareness (and satisfying the needs of shareholders and SEO) whilst knowing that it may well be the components we layer around that outreach that really moves the dial in a meaningful and exciting way. Whether that be in helping create unforgettable events, supporting commercial negotiations, playing a central role to shaping the visual identity, actively supporting network building or anything else - we endeavour to apply a 360 service to every client, coupled with an honest perspective and fresh ideas so we can become the 'essential' resource they can't live without.
How do you manage your time between client vs stakeholders (influencer / press / VIP / creatives)? How do you ensure the right output vs retainer?
When considering time management between clients and stakeholders, my view is that they are intrinsically linked and shouldn’t be distinguished.
"You're only as strong as your relationships, so every interaction matters and no follow-up can be forgotten."
However, earning the trust and respect of clients is also essential and takes time - it requires nurturing, reassurance, time and dedication - and the occasional requirement to park your ego and rework even the best ideas, if that's what a client wants (or budget needs!). I’m lucky that our team’s background in press pitching and/or commercial sales means it’s embedded in our DNA to constantly seek and establish new relationships and to then work really hard to take care of them so they can be long-lasting and fruitful.
We know that allowing plenty of energy for external stakeholders ultimately spells better results for our clients, so we try to focus our eorts ‘outwards’ and only circle back to adjust the balance if we’re getting stuck in the weeds of too much internal back-and-forth.
With regards to navigating output versus retainer, I’ll be honest and say this is something I’m still learning to fine-tune. In these early years, we're not in a position to be complacent or cocky - so if I need to make myself available for a client, I will always endeavour to do so - even when I feel stretched or their needs are time-consuming. I rely on a gut feeling that we’re doing what needs to be done to build a spotless reputation and future-proof ourselves, so I’m inclined to lean into giving ‘more’ than required now to establish that first, and revisit boundaries down the road.
For me personally, that also means looking to those around me to maximise our output in as efficient a way as possible - my old boss used to regularly remind me that the key to becoming a leader was in learning to effectively delegate and this is still something I’m working on now - it’s not easy when you’re a perfectionist, but it is essential!
What’s your Agency mantra?
‘Being successful and being kind are not mutually exclusive’ - gone are the days where we need to mow others down in our own pursuit of success! Be polite and professional, be kind and considerate, have fun and don’t be afraid to champion those around you!
Also ‘Never stop learning’ - my pet peeve in an individual who thinks they’re beyond personal or professional growth.
‘Surround yourself with half full cups’ - relentless positivity and a good sense of humour makes everything feel doable.
What does the future hold for Quartz?
We're really just getting started and are so excited for the opportunities ahead. We’ve recently spent some time reevaluating our business plan and have since established defined agency divisions -
"QUARTZ Communicates, QUARTZ Creates, QUARTZ Consults and the QUARTZ Collective… with a few more planned for future expansion and diversification."
QUARTZ Communicates is our ‘always-on’, expert press office, led by the brilliant Jess Holman, QUARTZ Creates covers all experiential and creative projects, led by our events queen, Emma Farrell-Cox, QUARTZ Consults is a service we’ve recently defined for brands wishing to tap into our senior leadership directly - without the wider agency resource requirements - and the QUARTZ Collective covers a handful of strategic agency partnerships we’re in the process of formalising, in order to allow us to seamlessly amplify our existing internal resource pool and services. This will not only extend our offering to include specific new expertise in the creative, digital and AI space, but also will open doors for us in the European and EMEA territories too.
One of our key values is to stay open-minded to how we can better our agency and services. The QUARTZ Collective allows us to really embrace new opportunities, relationships and partnerships with confidence and excitement - knowing that with external help, we can fill any knowledge gap and upskill our team more effectively and seamlessly in the process.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to start their own agency?
I received some invaluable advice before I started QUARTZ and I’ve repeatedly returned to these three golden rules -
"1. Hire the best possible team members you can afford (and don’t be afraid to hire ahead of winning new accounts)
2. Be relentless in your pursuit of perfection (if a piece of work isn’t good enough, don’t let it leave the door)
3. Work back-breakingly hard in the early years (don’t expect it to be an easy ride). So, if you’re going to do it, do it properly!"
I’d also say there is a key difference between starting an agency and a small consultancy business - if you want to run an agency, you’ve really got to embrace building a business head-on, establishing strong foundations in every area - including nurturing your team culture from day one; finding an outstanding and reliable accountant so you can have confidence that you’re on top of your company accounts and financial responsibilities; working tirelessly to build a strong pipeline of clients and revenue; and giving consideration to how you build your own agency identity and reputation externally. For me, having a team makes it all so worthwhile - we succeed together, fail together and ultimately learn together, so it has always been more appealing to work with others, rather than independently.
I’d also say, ‘Don’t be gate-keeping, there's space for us all to succeed’. Some of the most valuable support and advice I’ve received has been from other successful and admirable agency leaders and I am so glad I put myself out there to ask questions and hope I can be of future value to others - there’s nothing better than connecting with like-minded individuals and championing each other up along the way.
In an industry that changes so rapidly and constantly, how do you stay ahead and constantly pivot to stay fresh?
Look up and out, and keep your eyes and ears open at all times - inspiration is all around, so don’t be afraid to observe and learn from others, and being inquisitive is a ‘must’. Also, say 'yes' to as many industry invitations as possible - you never know who you’ll meet.
Working across so many brands, how do you creatively ensure they maintain their unique sense of identity and you are constantly rolling out fresh concepts to stay relevant?
We believe there is room for every business to thrive, as long as our strategy is authentic to their core values and specific to them. Our goal is to
"elevate every brand we work with, helping them embody the mindset and longevity of a luxury brand, whilst pushing the boundaries of creativity for wide-reaching excitement."
Quite honestly, so much of our creativity is borne from the time spent developing a really interesting and dedicated team in-house. We really do actively try to ensure every hire is a dynamic-thinker and someone who has their finger on the pulse, with each individual offering something new to the agency profile. This enables us to constantly challenge ourselves to think bigger and better for our clients, helping our brands find their own identity, which in turn supports better competitor cut-through. It goes back to point 2 in the advice I mentioned above - ‘Be relentless in your pursuit of perfection’... every week we take the time as a team to run through every client and project to ensure that they’re in a good place and inject some fresh ideas, where needed.
We want our brands to feel empowered to push boundaries, experiment with new ideas and consider new audiences, whilst also staying relevant. We introduce a perspective that supports long-term success and relevance - helping them stand out from the crowd, whilst staying true to their individual identity.
How do you choose which clients to work with? Do you have a partner selection process?
Whilst we don’t have a specific partner selection process, we do always ask ourselves at the outset ‘Can we do a good job for them?’ - as long as the answer is ‘yes’, we take a very open-minded approach to how we might be able to support their ambitions. In some cases that might mean considering objectively if we need to introduce additional resources or expertise in order to do that, and in other cases, it might mean that we need to adjust our agency deliverables to fit their budget parameters.
An absolute fixation of mine is being realistic in the expectations we set whilst pitching - I think it is far too easy to fall prey to promising the world when pitching against other well-established agencies, but I really believe it can do untold damage to a client relationship from the outset. Yes, that means that sometimes we might lose out to others because we are a little more tempered, but our intention is always to then leave ourselves the space to exceed expectations down the line and I believe that we connect with the right partners in doing so.
We’re proud to have an incredible client roster of brands that challenge our learning in entirely different and diverse ways. Building this out further is always a focus for us and with a few exciting conversations in the pipeline, we look forward to sharing news of these wins as they come…
Quickfire Questions
Coffee Order
Small cappuccino with an extra shot in winter, iced black americano in summer.
What’s inspiring you?
I feel incredibly lucky that as part of my role, I get to connect with an ever-growing group of incredible people day-in, day-out! Nothing has been more heart-warming, inspiring or surprising (if I’m honest) than experiencing the support, cheerleading, advice and connection I have since starting QUARTZ - in many ways it’s been the highlight of my journey so far. A few names I’d particularly call out:
Emmy Brunner - an incredible executive coach who I connected with in January after she slid into my DMs! Her 3 month programme has been incredibly thought provoking, energising and eye-opening - I really have had a total mindset shift since meeting her, she’s challenged me to think ‘bigger’ and I now have a much greater clarity in understanding how I will achieve my goals.
Roxie Nafousi - one of my greatest cheerleaders and most supportive friends. Her success and the way she approaches her business inspires me daily, but I particularly love that she also always takes the time to celebrate and actively champion those around her.
Sahar Hashemi - someone who finds the time and energy to celebrate and amplify everyone but herself, even though she’s often the driving force.
Clare Goodwin - A fellow agency Founder, I love seeing her business fly and really value her perspective and advice.
Emma Farrell-Cox - one my QUARTZ team, Emma is an extraordinary woman, but would be truly mortified to hear anyone say that. Her path has been a challenging one and I am so incredibly proud and inspired by the woman she is today.
Louise Thompson - one of the most resilient and funny women I’ve ever met, I really admire her ability to find the light at the end of every tunnel.
Jessica Diner - not only is Jess a kind and reliable friend, the way she juggles plates is truly awe-inspiring and has me wondering how on earth she manages to be everywhere all at once, and still standing at the end of it. Also one of the most fun women I know.
My best girl friends, Soph, Poppy, Suz, Lucy, Flo, Occy, Harriet and Phillippa - all of whom have had incredible successes professionally (some running more than one business at a time!) - whilst also being brilliant, loving and present mothers. Our Whatsapp chats are my own internal ChatGPt - essential portals for advice, celebration, encouragement and endless entertainment.
And last but not least, my sisters - my living embodiment of unconditional love, I am grateful for them every day!
Your dream client?
This is something we talk about all the time! My beloved work-wife (and QUARTZ COO) Rachel Jansen, and I have now created a ‘QUARTZ Client Vision-board’ in the oce to help us channel our focus and dream big…
When I saw this question, my first thought was to be coy about it and then I thought f*ck it, let’s put this out in the universe and make it happen. So for me, Me+Em, SKIMS and ON Running would be absolute dream clients - if (or when) they happen, I think I’ll pass out with excitement.
Groundbreaking brand you admire?
I had to pick two!
Stanley - who would have believed that an 110 year old camping accessory business could become the viral, sell-out brand it is today! Fascinating and brilliant.
Anya Hindmarch - I absolutely love how the Anya team put creativity and cultural relevance at the heart of everything they do. I really admire their ability to keep surprising and delighting, with elegance and humour over and over! Ever since reading Anya’s book ‘If in doubt, wash your hair’, I have been obsessed with this brand and the woman behind it. *Adds Anya Hindmarch to QUARTZ Vision Board*
Campaign you wish you’d done?
The RHODE lip peptide phone cases - absolutely genius.
