Women to Watch 2021: Leilani Abels, Thrive PR + Communications

Leilani Abels

Managing director
Thrive PR + Communications
Australia

Leilani Abels founded Thrive at the age of 25 to support The Alannah & Madeline Foundation, a charity formed after the Port Arthur Massacre to help child victims of crime—laying the foundations for a communications firm that, 21 years later, continues to prioritise culture as much as profit.

Abels has also proven herself to be an agile and exceptional business leader. Despite the struggles brought on by the global pandemic, Thrive has achieved double-digit revenue growth in the past 18 months and added 25 new clients and 25 new staff. This growth has propelled Thrive to become Australasia’s largest independent PR agency, according to the Registered Consultancy Group of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA)—making Abels one of the only female founders of an independent agency of Thrive’s size in Australia. Thrive now counts more than 80 staff across five locations and a roster of major global brands including ANZ Bank, Lego, Sodastream, Tinder, Reddit and Stockland. One of her clients called Abels “driven, visionary, a role model and a creative genius”. 

Her people leadership during the pandemic is also exemplary. Staff who worked through Covid were given a salary increase and loyalty bonus, investments in learning and development were doubled including the appointment of a people and culture director, and new financial and mental wellbeing initiatives were introduced. To protect the business, Abels dialled up the agency’s diversification strategy, including extending its full-service digital and production studio to capture new growth.

Thrive has extensive people benefits including access to eight weeks paid parental leave and 12 days paid childcare, free financial wellbeing training, professional and personal development funds for each employee, and 24/7 counselling services.

Abels is particularly passionate about fostering women in her agency—this year she appointed new female general managers, a CX officer and a head of digital integration. Working mothers make up 18% of the agency.

Giving back and fostering the community continues to inform many of Abels’ ventures both within her own agency and beyond. She has provided mentorship to two smaller independent PR agency directors, acted as a senior counsel to the PRIA, worked with universities RMIT and QUT to deliver internships for PR students, and acted as a judge on industry awards such as 2021 Dubai Lynx. Thrive continues to do work for charities and not-for-profits including Beyond Blue. Abels has also introduced accelerated technology training for her teams that is aimed at helping professionals across AUNZ grow tech expertise. The programme has gained the support of the local government and major technology partners.