Shea Murtaugh on Building a Resilient Marketing Agency, Leading Through Change, and Using AI as a Strategic Advantage

Shea Murtaugh, founder of a nationally recognized integrated marketing agency launched in 2004 after leaving broadcast sales, reflects on her blue-collar upbringing, early “C student” years, and the commission-sales mindset that gave her confidence to go all-in as an entrepreneur.

She describes major setbacks—an employee taking clients, steep revenue drops, resigning a largest client during COVID—while emphasizing resilience as showing up “the next morning,” and credits long-term client retention to chemistry, trust, measurement, and preparing clients for change.

Murtaugh explains her shift from doer to CEO by hiring experts, joining Women Presidents Organization, and building a business that c ...