Bonus: How the Hybrid Agency Model Is Changing the Way Brands Hire Creative Teams

Cubicle to CEO

Ellen Yin

Business, Marketing, Entrepreneurship

5.0 • 580 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Most brands have worked with an agency that felt like an external vendor. Rachel Leslie is building something different. As the founder and editor-in-chief of Lāer Studio, Rachel has spent years developing a hybrid creative partner model that embeds her copywriting team directly into the brands they support - from their internal Slack channels to their campaign briefs. With clients like Away, Zola, Avocado Green Mattress, and FILA, she's seen firsthand what changes when a creative relationship goes long-term and the brand finally has a creative partner they can actually lean on. In this episode, Rachel breaks down how she structures her team, how embedded support makes a difference to her clients during high-pressure moments, and how she keeps healthy boundaries without sacrificing the partnership model. She also shares what’s evolving with agencies and in-house creative teams in 2026 and beyond. Connect with Rachel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://laerstudio.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/laerstudio/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Workshop: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelaleslie Loving our bonus content and want more Cubicle to CEO in your ears? Join us every Monday on our subscriber-only premium feed for case study–style interviews with successful entrepreneurs debriefing their real-time growth experiments and results. Subscribe to get insider access to what's actually been working for businesses in the last 3-18 months: ⁠⁠cubicletoceo.co/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoyed today's episode, please: Post a screenshot & key takeaway on your IG story and tag us ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@cubicletoceo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ so we can repost you. ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠our premium feed⁠⁠⁠⁠ for case-study style interviews every Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Must remember, do not forget.
0:07.0	Remind me to bring photo ID.
0:10.0	Reminder, set.
0:12.0	Babe, can you make sure I don't forget my photo ID when I vote?
0:16.0	All right, love.
0:18.0	However you remember, you'll need photo ID to vote in the elections in England on the 7th of May.
0:24.6	Find out more at electoral commission.org.ukestr.ukestr.ukes slash voter ID.
0:30.1	The following is a sponsored episode.
0:44.4	Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the show. I'm so thrilled to be joined today by Rachel Leslie for a conversation on why the hybrid creative partner model is replacing traditional agencies.
0:50.9	I don't know about you. That term is newer to me, so I'm very curious to dive into
0:55.0	this discussion. But first, a quick intro to Rachel. Rachel's the founder and editor
1:00.4	in chief of Layer Studio, a copywriting agency supporting today's leading CPG and purpose-driven
1:05.5	brands like Away, Sola, Avocato, Goop Kitchen, and more. Their client portfolio is stacked. And with a journalism
1:13.1	degree and over a decade of experience in marketing throughout her career, Rachel has worked in the
1:18.0	agency world and on the brand side as a digital copywriter at Nike. She's obsessed with the power
1:23.2	of brand storytelling when it comes to today's top of mind brands. And at the helm, she supports
1:27.7	her team and clients as the editor-in-chief, leading creative strategies and collaborating with
1:32.1	marketing teams. At Layers, she also supports small business owners and emerging copywriters with
1:37.5	educational resources and DIY templates. Rachel, so happy to have you here. Thank you for having
1:43.1	me, Ellen. I appreciate it. I am always thrilled to get to chat with a fellow Oregonian. I think it makes it extra special. So you're not far away from me, just up north in Portland. And like I mentioned, I think this conversation's really interesting, Rachel, because, you know, hybrid creative partner, that's a term that I'm sure a lot of people maybe haven't thought of or heard of before. So maybe let's start there before we get into the
2:04.3	meet of this
2:04.7	conversation. How would you define what a hybrid creative partner is? And how is that different
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