This week on The MCA Prodcast, Pat Murphy is joined by Mary Bekhait, Group CEO of YMU, one of the world’s most powerful talent management companies. Representing global names across entertainment, music, sport and business - from Ant & Dec and Graham Norton to Simon Cowell and Davina McCall - Mary has led a major transformation at YMU, turning it into a progressive, social-first, globally integrated talent powerhouse.

Mary’s career journey began as a music journalist, before realising very early that what she really wanted was to be “in the room where talent made decisions.” A mention in Broadcast magazine’s 30 Under 30 list eventually led to her joining James Grant Management (later YMU) as a director. Her philosophy throughout: do whatever you’re doing brilliantly, add more than is expected, and the next opportunity unlocks itself.

When Mary took the CEO role in 2021, the first thing she ran at was social media. YMU’s roster of established television talent weren’t fully capitalising on the opportunities social platforms offered. Mary invested in skills and infrastructure to help them make the shift, while simultaneously acquiring Gleam Futures, the UK’s pre-eminent social-first management company, bringing their entire team and client list into the YMU fold. The combination of legacy broadcast talent and digital-native creators has, she says, been phenomenally successful.

Mary is known for her leadership principles of clarity, courage and curiosity, and for turning them into concrete action. On empowering women, she argues that small incremental moves such as speaking up in a meeting or going for a promotion before you feel ready compound into real career momentum. She credits parenting with deepening her empathy and her capacity for active listening; qualities she now considers as important to business as speed.

See Mary’s favourite ad: Yves Saint Laurent – Opium (2000)

Hosted by Pat Murphy

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