In this episode of Brand Story, our president, Steve Gilman, sits down with Leeann Leahy, CEO of VIA, to discuss creativity, curiosity, and what it takes to build an agency culture people genuinely want to be part of. Leeann shares lessons from her journey through strategy and leadership — and why the best ideas create real consequences.
Ideas only matter if they move people.
In this episode, Leeann Leahy reflects on her journey from account planner to CEO, sharing how curiosity, empathy, and emotional intelligence have shaped her approach to leadership and creativity. She discusses why the strongest insights are the ones people instantly recognize as true, and why meaningful brand work starts with understanding human behavior — not just data.
The conversation explores VIA’s approach to agency culture, including its well-known “Go Do” philosophy, designed to keep teams curious, energized, and creatively engaged. Leeann also unpacks the challenge of helping legacy brands rediscover relevance without losing what made people love them in the first place, pointing to work for brands like L.L.Bean and Golden Corral as examples of emotionally resonant storytelling done right.
As AI continues to reshape the industry, Leeann offers a compelling perspective on why human creativity still matters: because the best ideas come from people willing to put something real on the line.
