December 2, 2022
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Pace Six Four's first employee, Maddie Hall, has been a near-constant presence throughout the company's journey. During her five years [and counting] with the team, she has seen enormous change that's been reflected in both her personal and professional life, creating plenty of synergies between her own evolution and that of the company.
Look around the Pace Six Four team and you will discover many different tales of individuals taking their first steps in this demanding industry. Dig a little deeper, and you will find progression into more senior roles, either internally or elsewhere within motorsport, is commonplace.
Creating opportunities for progression is a great source of pride at Pace Six Four – and nobody exemplifies this more than Maddie, who joined the team back in 2019 and has been climbing the internal ladder ever since, adapting herself to new roles to align with the company’s growth.
From new clients and colleagues to a global pandemic and some equally seismic personal shifts, Maddie has experienced just about everything during her time with the team to date.
Having recently returned from maternity leave to take on the newly created role of Head of Strategy, Maddie revisits her journey to date and the influence she has had in steering the trajectory of the company from its very beginnings.
“To be honest, it really doesn't feel like five years has gone by. It's happened in the blink of an eye, but I feel a huge sense of achievement from it.” Maddie reflects.
“I was very, very shy at the beginning and I didn't really use my voice much, but I'm now a completely different person. It’s an honour, to be honest, to have been here from the start, to see where it is now, and to have had my personal values influence the company culture as is exists today.”
Motorsport has been a significant part of Maddie's life through the years. Initially spurred on to pursue a career in motorsport by a sixth form tutor, it was a simple LinkedIn message sent while studying for a degree in Sports Journalism that proved to be life-changing.
“In our final year, we were challenged to find mentors – people who were working in the industry, in a position that we aspired to be in – and I searched high and low on LinkedIn,” she explains. “I found someone called Ben Cowley, who was then Head of Content at Mercedes F1 Team.
“I sent him a message on LinkedIn saying, ‘Hi, I'm in my final year at university studying Sports Journalism. This is what I want to do. Would you consider mentoring me and basically making me employable?'
“He agreed and, over the next couple of months, we'd have phone calls where he'd go through my CV. It was a really amazing experience to have someone who was in my dream role dedicating that time to me at such an early stage of my career.”
The experience would later prove to be hugely beneficial for both Maddie and Ben. Having gone their separate ways following the conclusion of Maddie's studies, it was not long before the pair were reunited and taking on an exciting new project together.
“I got a job as a Marketing and Social Media Executive for a gin brand straight out of university, but got made redundant nine months later,” Maddie recalls.
“I had just bought a house, got engaged, and made a down payment on a wedding venue, and suddenly I didn’t have a job anymore.
“10 days later, an email popped up from Ben saying, ‘I've just started a company. Would you like to come and work for me?
“It was like it was meant to be. If I'd been comfortable and secure in my previous job, I don't think I could have taken the risk on a start-up where I would be the first employee, however much it may have been my dream role.
“It was a daunting leap of faith but, with the position I was in, the stars aligned and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made.”
Maddie's early days with what was then 64th & Social, a team of just two at the time, meant taking on a role encompassing several different responsibilities across multiple clients. While challenging, this provided opportunities which were deeply cherished.
“I was a Social Media Officer when I first joined, and it was just myself and Ben. We were covering everything between us. I was doing content creation – video and photography – graphics, social media copy, race reports, and so on.
“It was all hands on deck and I got to try a bit of everything,” she adds. “It was very fun and very exciting, but also very tiring. We had clients in Formula One and Formula E and the calendars often clashed, so it might have meant that Ben was working one championship while I was working the other, or sometimes that one person had to work across both.
“It meant I got to try things that I never would have done previously and, while it was a lot to take on, there was a sense that we had something really good going. It felt like it was us against the world, because we were a tiny fish in a very big pond.
“Going to Formula E races and events with Susie [Wolff] was a real ‘pinch me’ moment in particular, because she has always been a hero of mine. Having the opportunity to travel and work with her was incredible.”
Over the years, Maddie has seen a lot of parallels in her personal growth and that of the company, which have been reflected in the evolution of the team culture. The greenness that was present five years ago is gone for both.
“Back then, it was like we were flying under the radar. Nobody would know who was running the channels or who was behind the camera for any of the clients we had.
“It's not that we weren't proud of our work at the time, but we have more time and importantly the credibility to talk about it now. We've become an international award-winning agency.
“Now, as a professional and a person, I no longer feel like I'm flying under the radar,” Maddie reflects.
“I've gone from being the Social Media Officer who was honestly scared of a fly to becoming Head of Strategy in an industry-leading company. That's an immense amount of growth and you don't get there by flying under the radar, you have to know your voice.
“I think that's the main way in which the company and I have grown so much together. We know who we are, we know what we're worth, and we're not afraid to shout about it.
“Personally, I have gained so much experience over these past five years, I'm now a more rounded colleague, a more rounded manager, and a more rounded person in general.”
That progression and self-confidence has not come without its challenges, but throughout, Maddie and the team have stuck together and emerged stronger.
“There have definitely been growing pains because we've expanded so quickly,” she explains. “But we’ve always had a sense of community and I think that's the most important thing.
“Even when we’ve struggled, it's never broken us and it’s never felt like we’d let it. There's something special about this team in that sense. We’ve always had each other’s back and we're in such a good place today as a result.”
As the requirements of the business have grown, Maddie has adapted to and thrived in a variety of different roles – some notably different to her original remit. But, in many ways, this evolution has felt very natural, as she explains.
“I feel the way my role has changed and adapted over the years has just been a natural progression. Being the first employee, there was always a sense that, when new people joined the team, I was someone who they could go to for guidance. Maybe not so much initially, but more so over time.”
“That naturally progressed into me taking on a managerial role. When I was working on the Aston Martin F1 Team account, at the start, it was just me on the social media side. But over time we hired some incredible talent and built the team up.
“I reached the point where the people we’d brought in were flying and I realised I wasn’t needed on that account anymore. I felt like I’d done my part and could move on to something new, which lead to a promotion from Senior Social Media Manager to Head of Athletes.
“It was a new role created for me, but one that was very much needed as we were building our athlete portfolio quite significantly. With that role came my first experience of line management, which was something I never really thought I'd be interested in until I took it on.
“I loved every second, being able to nurture talent and help them grow. Now my role has changed again and, once more, it’s been a natural progression that has felt very organic.
“I'm very lucky that Ben has always supported and believed in me. I know he wouldn't give me a role he didn't think I could do. It's like a superpower. If Ben believes I can do it, I know I can do it.
“Likewise, my husband has been a huge influence. He doesn't take no for an answer. If I say I can't do something, that's the wrong answer. He knows me and knows I can do whatever I set my mind to.”
Maddie's new role, Head of Strategy, is another new role created to meet the ever-expanding demands of the business – and a significant departure from what Maddie had come to consider ‘normal’ during her time working in motorsport so far.
“Your priorities shift a lot when you start a family. I knew before I started my maternity leave that I didn't want to work constant offset hours and weekends when I came back. I wanted to put my family first in that respect, so I needed a role that aligned with my personal life.
“During the 10 months that I was offline, Ben was monitoring what was happening with the company, what we needed to continue growing, and where I could fit in. We kept in touch and discussed quite a few options as things evolved.
“When he proposed the idea of a Head of Strategy, it ticked all the boxes that I needed.
“The role involves building strategies and campaigns across brand, digital and content, then following up with performance reviews – working closely with our Client Relations Team and Heads of Department to ensure we’re delivering on objectives from start to finish.
“I knew that once my head was back in gear and not fully in baby mode, I could smash it. So far, I feel like it's going well. What excites me most is that there’s scope for the role to add more and more value to the company and our clients as it develops.”
Now balancing motherhood with her professional ambitions, Maddie highlights the flexibility Pace Six Four offers its team members as vital for her relationship with her young family.
“I was helped a lot by the company when deciding in what capacity I wanted to come back to work too,” she explains.
“Having the option to work compressed hours – I now work seven until five, four days a week – is not something all companies would allow. But without that flexibility, we never would have full days off together as a family, as my husband works weekends.
“I feel like now I've come back to work, I'm also a better mum. I'm more present for my son when I'm away from my laptop because I don't see him 24/7 now that I'm not on maternity leave, so I treasure those moments with him even more.
“It just goes to show that, with the right support from your employer, you can achieve your personal and professional goals simultaneously.”
Pace Six Four is a specialist motorsport agency that offers a full suite of commercial, marketing and communications services to clients across the industry.
