Storyation co-founders Lauren Quaintance and Mimi Cullen have announced they are leaving the business.
News of the duo’s exit comes after the agency was acquired by Medium Rare Content Agency in 2019, which was majority-owned by News Corp Australia at the time.
Quaintance took to LinkedIn on Monday to share the news in a heartfelt post. She wrote: “Nine years ago – almost to the day – I took the biggest risk of my life and launched a business with Mimi Cullen.
“Today we’re announcing that almost three years after Storyation was acquired by News Corp we’re leaving the agency we founded.
“It’s been a hell of a journey. In 2013 Mimi and I left big, exciting jobs leading teams in an ASX listed media company that had more than 3,000 staff. And then it was just the two of us in my spare room (me with a new baby on my lap.)
“There’s no question it was a risk. We had a good idea, one that was right for the moment, and we both had a shared energy and drive to move forward,” she said.
Quaintance noted that they were fortunate to attract “incredible staff we couldn’t afford to pay as much as they deserved” and scored major clients such as Tourism New Zealand, Tourism Australia, IAG and Medibank.
“Along the way Mimi and I also shared a lot of plain egg sandwiches, some dodgy hotel rooms and even shared a pair of shoes once when one of my high heels snapped off just as I was about to speak in front of 500 people.
“The real key to our success though, one that I believe resulted in the acquisition of our business, was the alchemy of our relationship. We might often be confused for the same person, but we’re really the same but different.”
Quaintance praised Cullen on her love of storytelling and being a creative with a love of strategy and reaching commercial goals.
The Storyation co-founder also shared a special thank you to her father Denis Quaintance, whom she called the company’s “unpaid CFO” and “brutally honest accountant.”
Quaintance continued: “I’ve always said that the team own that culture. Mimi and I didn’t create it, we just got out of the way and created the space for it to happen. And it will continue long after we’ve left the building under the guidance of the ebullient, irrepressible Andrés López-Varela. I couldn’t think of a better person to lead the agency into the future.”
Quaintance concluded: “Thank you, Team Storyation. It’s been an extraordinary, life-altering experience.”
In June, News Corp Australia announced it increased its investment in Medium Rare content agency by acquiring 20% of the commercial content business it did not previously own.
See also: News Corp Australia increases investment in Medium Rare content agency
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Top image: Mimi Cullen and Lauren Quaintance