Award-winning podcast company, Mags Creative, celebrates fifth birthday

“From Faith and I tapping away at my kitchen table to working with some of the biggest companies in the world, we’re so proud of what the Mags Creative team has achieved.” - Hannah Russell, co-founder of Mags Creative

Founded in 2018 by sisters Hannah and Faith Russell, Mags Creative marks its fifth anniversary as a multi-award winning podcast company.

Described as having ‘their fingers firmly on the pulse’ at the 2022 British Podcast Awards, the women-founded and women-majority company has grown organically over the last five years, eschewing investment to build a sustainable business model with multiple revenue streams.

This includes pioneering a standalone podcast marketing service, creating branded podcasts that reach millions of ears with the likes of Meta, Puffin, and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, as well as launching hit shows with platform partners including Spotify, Amazon Music, Podimo and BBC. Alongside this, the in-house team has also developed their own Originals repertoire which ranges from innovative, multi-award winning, sound-rich story of the climate crisis Life Sentence (featured in the Guardian here) as well as Blended with Kate Ferdinand, serving as a celebration of blended families.

Faith and Hannah Russell, who started the business as freelancers from their kitchen table, comment on the success of the business: “We’re seeing in our fifth birthday with an incredibly talented team of 20 who are consistently developing quality content that tap into the societal zeitgeist and resonate with listeners around the world.”

When considering their roots, Faith comments: “The business was named after our grandma Maggie - a strong, fearless storyteller - and we feel we’ve really honoured her legacy. We’re obviously women-founded and we’ve always put women at the heart of what we do, building an impressive roster both in terms of talent and production expertise.”

As signatories to the Audio in Equality pact, as well as having run three years of the Summer Podcast Academy to mentor underrepresented voices within the podcasting space, Mags Creative is an active advocate of diversity and inclusion within the industry. The business promotes a positive workplace culture by being signatories to the Sanctus Mental Health Pledge.

The management team is made up of Alisha Dandridge (Head of Marketing), Kit Milsom (Head of Audio), Charlotte Newing (Head of Commercial) and James Norman-Fyfe (Head of Production - recently welcomed from the BBC).

Considering what’s next for the company, Hannah comments “Looking ahead, our focus remains on continuing to serve mass audiences and stay at the forefront of content innovation. With a passionate team and a commitment to this goal, we truly believe that this is just the start for us”.

About Mags Creative

Mags Creative is a multi-award-winning independent podcast production and promotion company, founded by sisters Hannah and Faith Russell in 2018.

Reaching millions of ears, Mags Creative works with brands such as Puffin, Meta, Google, Carolina Herrera, Duke of Edinburgh and Red Bull to produce and promote podcasts globally. Talent partnerships include the likes of Jonny Wilkinson (I AM…), Kate Ferdinand (Blended) and Laura Whitmore (Castaway). Platform partners include Spotify, Amazon Music, BBC and Podimo.

Shows produced by Mags Creative frequently top the Apple charts, and are featured by Spotify, Apple and Amazon, as well as coverage in titles such as Evening Standard, Stylist and The Guardian.