When Christine Weeks started her advertising agency, Eleanor Creative, she had four young children, not much money and had experienced her own childcare hardships and challenges, with unpaid
maternity leaves and little support for new moms.
Weeks didn’t want any of her own employees to feel alone and stressed about finances when bringing a child into the world. She wanted to empower them to fly.
And indeed, she has.
“My goal has been to create a healthy workplace, meeting people where they’re at, and making sure life milestones are celebrations and not burdens,” Weeks said.
The result is a thriving business with paid maternity leave, well-paid benefits including the option of bringing your infant to work for the first year, and an incredibly powerful practice for employees to develop additional marketable, career skills.
“It’s important to use your talents and resources for good,” Weeks says. “My mission is to make lives better, to step into other people’s stories and change lives. Life is hard enough on its own, so when we have the power to make it better, we should do that.”
Anne Brandt, executive director of Lincoln Littles – which advocates for quality early childcare in our community – looks upon Weeks as a role model for all business owners.
“While attending last year’s Inspire Awards, I was fortunate to hear Christine Weeks speak,” Brandt says. “She spoke about company culture at Eleanor Creative and how employees are supported and cared for including the ability for them to bring their baby to work for up to a year. I was intrigued and knew I needed to get in touch to hear more. The story Christine shared over coffee blew me away. Her approach is deep-seated, and Eleanor Creative is much more than a marketing agency. Christine is a leader in supporting her employees and their families.”
Weeks smiles at that thought. “I believe it’s a great privilege to lead people, care for them, infuse compassion into a sustainable, kind-hearted work environment.”
As CEO and founder of Eleanor Creative, Weeks leads an agency based out of Lincoln and Omaha that has grown to serve clients ranging from small nonprofits to large corporations. The company offers branding, logo and web design, social media and marketing plans, advertising and public relations campaigns.
When she first developed her company she knew she would immediately offer a paid maternity leave. But gradually, she offered more.
Currently, after new moms deliver, they can bring their baby to work for the first year of the child’s life. “I figured this was a place of business where it was practical and possible to bring a child. It wasn’t a factory, or a health care facility. Today, it has become part of our culture. We take turns holding babies, giving stroller rides, etc. However, when the sweet little kiddo starts throwing food, it’s probably best for full-time childcare.”
“As a mom, one of my constant struggles was childcare and also finding the time to manage all of the household responsibilities, ” said Weeks.
Eventually, Weeks started hiring employees to help with household tasks– a move that led to yet another powerful concept – the house manager.
The house manager role is perfect for someone who loves managing household tasks but wants to learn more about marketing.
“This person works in our employees’ homes three days a week, helping them with cleaning, cooking, and errands. Then, they spend two days a week in the office learning about copywriting, project management, event planning, and other marketing-specific tasks,” she explained.
It’s a win/win for everyone at Eleanor. The house manager can either become a career house manager or find a job in marketing. And, the Eleanor employee has help with their household tasks that they struggle to find the time to do.
Her back story explains much.
Born to a 16-year-old, Weeks was given up for adoption at five-days-old. Her adopted father, Dean, passed away when she was seven from Agent Orange, and from there, a cascade of family trials fell her way.
By the time she was fifteen, she became a ward of the state and lived in two different foster homes until she graduated high school.
“And yet, all my growing-up years, I was surrounded by people who cared about me, invested in my well-being, helped me to become who I am today.”
She loved dance, so her dance teacher allowed her to do some cleaning in exchange for dance lessons. She had been working overnights while in high school, but her high school principals and teachers learned this and found her a job at a local bookstore. They even made it possible for her to go to school from 8 am to Noon and then she would work from 1 pm to 5 pm.
Her mother, through all her trials, demonstrated the importance of hard work. Weeks learned the importance of showing up every day because life will always throw challenges your way but the beauty of work and the relationships they bring can help pull you through.
“When you’ve been a kid desperately relying on the generosity of others, when you’ve seen pain, felt pain, in turn, you want to help anyone else,” she said.
Perhaps that’s why she sees owning a business with different eyes than many leaders – with an emphasis on caring for and supporting her employees.
“In a way, I was lucky, because when I started my business I had no investors, no loans, no one I had to answer to. I had complete freedom to make the company what I wanted it to be.”
Today she has a team of about 20 in her business, but sees them more like family than staff members: “This is not just a job. We show up for each other. We celebrate milestones together. We are connected and bonded.”
One of her employees was getting married, so she took the whole business team on a four-day adventure to New York City to celebrate.
When a colleague turned 70, the entire staff headed for Mexico and the beach “to celebrate her and her life.”
And when yet another employee delivered her third child, members of the Eleanor Creative crew made meals and special trips to visit the new mom and her family.
“Don’t misunderstand,” Weeks stresses. “We do hard work here. We work with great people, have the best clients, and tackle the most interesting projects.”
And, yes, Weeks says, her business model probably takes additional ingenuity and strategy.
“When someone goes on maternity leave, other employees do feel the extra workload. That’s a fact. But I also know that the best thing for that mother is to be together with her baby for those early months, to feel rested and uninterrupted, to feel better about work and life when she returns to our agency.”
In turn, Weeks continues, “When other employees have some sort of challenge, when they face a difficult milestone in their lives, they know we’ll be there for them. They feel valued and appreciated.”
She resolutely believes this is a business model that works.
“I would tell any business owner that a caring work environment pays off. That a relatively small sacrifice for an employer is well worth the effort in the end. With better retention and little turnover, our business continues to grow.”
Nonetheless, she stresses – it’s about doing what’s right.
“My grandmother – whose name was the inspiration for Eleanor Creative – was from Silver Creek, Nebraska and she embodied the values of hard work, goodwill, and compassion,” Weeks said. “A calm presence in my life. She wrote me every week of my life – from when I could read until she passed away. She was always intentional with me, and poured her heart into my life. I know her unconditional love shaped my worldview and expanded my heart to care for others.”
** Weeks won the 2024 InSpire Award – celebrating women leadership in Lincoln – for excellence in small/medium business.