An inspiring account of entrepreneurial courage: how one woman co-founded a creative agency while nine months pregnant, challenging the myth that success requires perfect timing and demonstrating that meaningful achievement comes from decisive action amid uncertainty.
Influential Woman · Marketing
Elen Gasparyan
Executive Creative Director/Creativity Judge, Davel Creative Agency
Burbank, CA 91501
9Years experience
1Article published
7Awards received
Her Story
About Elen
Elen Gasparyan is the co-founder and Executive Creative Director of Davel Creative Agency, a marketing and creative firm she launched nine years ago while nine months pregnant. Based in Burbank, California, the agency has a team of 20 professionals and provides branding, marketing, digital campaign, website development, and creative strategy services to clients across healthcare, technology, finance, construction, beauty, aviation, and the nonprofit sector.
Before founding Davel Creative Agency, Gasparyan spent five years at HSBC, where she developed expertise in business analytics and client relations. She holds a master’s degree in economics and a Professional Diploma from the Digital Marketing Institute in Dublin, Ireland.
Gasparyan has served as a judge for the Webby Awards, the Anthem Awards, The Drum Awards, and the Digiday Awards. Her notable work includes “See Me, Not My Cancer,” a campaign created for Cancer Support Community Los Angeles that received Gold and Silver honors at the MUSE Creative Awards and gained international recognition.
She attributes much of her success to consistency a value she learned from her mother and encourages aspiring professionals to take initiative rather than wait for permission from others.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Elen
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to consistency, resilience, and a willingness to keep moving forward even when the path is uncertain. I learned the importance of consistency from my mother. She taught me that success is rarely the result of one major opportunity; it comes from showing up, doing the work, and continuing even when progress feels slow.
I started my agency while I was nine months pregnant, later moved from Armenia to the United States, and had to rebuild my professional network in a new country. None of those transitions were easy, but they taught me to adapt, take initiative, and create opportunities instead of waiting for someone else’s permission.
I also believe my success comes from genuinely caring about people. Whether I am working with a client, leading my team, or developing a campaign about a difficult human subject, I try to listen carefully and understand what people truly need. Talent and ideas are important, but consistency, empathy, and the courage to keep going are what turn those ideas into meaningful results.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I have ever received is: never wait for someone else to give you permission to begin.
When I wanted to enter the marketing industry, agencies were reluctant to hire me because I did not yet have agency experience. But I could not gain that experience if no one was willing to give me an opportunity. Instead of continuing to wait for someone to choose me, I decided to create my own opportunity and build my own company.
I launched Davel Creative Agency nine years ago while I was nine months pregnant. I did not have every answer, the perfect timing, or a guaranteed path to success. I simply started, learned through experience, and remained consistent.
That lesson has stayed with me throughout my career. You do not always need permission, an invitation, or complete confidence before taking the first step. Sometimes you have to believe in your own potential before anyone else can see it. If an opportunity does not exist, you may need to create it yourself.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to young women entering the creative and marketing industry is simple: start before you feel completely ready. Do not wait for the perfect time, the perfect opportunity, or for someone else to give you permission. I started my company while I was nine months pregnant. It was not the easiest or most convenient time, but it taught me that there may never be a “perfect” moment you create momentum by taking the first step.
Build your portfolio, even if no one has hired you yet. Create your own projects, study the work you admire, develop your point of view, and learn how to explain the thinking behind your ideas. In this industry, creativity is important, but being reliable, strategic, and consistent is what makes people trust you.
I would also encourage young women not to underestimate themselves or make their voices smaller to fit into the room. Ask questions, speak with confidence, and do not be afraid to pursue leadership. You do not need to know everything before you begin. Be willing to learn, accept feedback without losing your identity, and keep going even when the first answer is no.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges in marketing and the creative industry right now is that technology allows everyone to produce content quickly, but much of that content looks and sounds the same. Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool, but when it is used without a clear strategy or human perspective, the result can feel generic. The challenge is no longer simply creating more content; it is creating something meaningful enough for people to stop, pay attention, and remember.
At the same time, this creates an enormous opportunity. AI can help agencies work faster, analyze information, explore ideas, and improve efficiency. However, the strongest work will still require human insight, cultural understanding, empathy, and original thinking. Technology can support creativity, but it cannot replace the ability to understand what people genuinely feel and need.
Another challenge is that audiences are more skeptical of brands and traditional advertising. People can recognize when a company is being performative or communicating without a real purpose. Brands now have an opportunity to build deeper trust by being more honest, useful, and human.
I believe the future belongs to creative professionals who can combine technology with strategy and emotional intelligence. The agencies that succeed will not be the ones producing the greatest volume of content. They will be the ones creating the most relevant ideas and helping brands communicate in ways that people can truly connect with.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are kindness, respect, integrity, and being a good human being. No matter how talented or successful someone becomes, I believe the way they treat other people is what truly defines them.
In my work, trust is especially important. Clients share their ideas, challenges, private information, and sometimes deeply personal stories with us. I take that responsibility seriously. I believe in being honest, protecting their confidence, keeping my promises, and treating every project with care. I also value empathy because the best creative work begins with listening and understanding people not simply trying to sell something to them.
In my personal life, family, loyalty, and consistency guide me. My family keeps me grounded and reminds me why I work so hard. I try to carry the same values into every part of my life: treat people with dignity, help when I can, remain true to my word, and never allow professional success to come at the expense of humanity.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Elen
There Is No Perfect Time: I Started My Agency Nine Months Pregnant
How Starting Before You're Ready Changed My Life and Business
There is a phrase we hear constantly in business: "Wait for the right time."
Wait until you have more experience. Wait until you have more money. Wait until life becomes less complicated. Wait until you feel completely confident.
If I had followed that advice, I might never have started my company.
Nine years ago, I was nine months pregnant with my daughter when I co-founded Davel Creative Agency.
From the outside, it probably looked like the least convenient moment to start a business. I was preparing to become a mother while also trying to build something from the ground up.
But that experience taught me one of the most important lessons of my career: the perfect time rarely arrives. Sometimes you have to begin while life is still uncertain.
Before entering the creative industry, I spent five years working at HSBC.
Banking gave me a strong professional foundation. I learned discipline, structure, client relations, confidentiality, and how to remain calm under pressure. Most importantly, I learned that people do not want to feel as though they are simply being sold something. They want someone to understand their situation and help them solve a real problem.
When I decided to move into marketing, I faced a familiar challenge: agencies wanted candidates with agency experience, but I could not gain that experience if no one was willing to give me an opportunity.
I had two choices. I could continue waiting for someone to choose me, or I could create my own opportunity.
I chose to begin.
I did not start with every answer, a perfect business plan, or complete confidence. I learned through experience. I studied, listened, made mistakes, adjusted, and kept moving. I also learned how to become a mother and an entrepreneur at the same time.
Motherhood did not make me less ambitious. It made me more focused. It taught me to make decisions quickly, use my time intentionally, and distinguish between what feels urgent and what is genuinely important. It also strengthened my empathy—something that later became central to my work as a creative director.
Today, Davel Creative Agency has a team of 20 people
and works across branding, marketing, digital campaigns, website development, and creative strategy. Our clients represent industries ranging from healthcare and technology to finance, construction, beauty, aviation, and the nonprofit sector.
The growth did not happen because one extraordinary opportunity suddenly changed everything. It came from consistency: showing up, doing the work, protecting relationships, and continuing even when progress was slow.
Consistency is a value I learned from my mother. She showed me that success is not always dramatic. Most of the time, it is built quietly through the decisions we repeat every day.
My journey also eventually brought me from Armenia to the United States.
Moving to a new country meant rebuilding professional relationships and establishing credibility in a market where many people did not know my name or my previous work. Once again, I had to begin before I felt completely ready.
That experience reminded me that starting over does not erase what you have already built. Your knowledge, resilience, values, and perspective travel with you.
Over time, my work has received recognition from the MUSE Creative Awards and the International Design Awards. I have also had the opportunity to judge major international competitions, including the Webby Awards, the Anthem Awards, The Drum Awards, and the Digiday Awards.
One of the projects closest to me is "See Me, Not My Cancer,"
a campaign created for Cancer Support Community Los Angeles. The campaign encouraged audiences to see individuals living with cancer as complete human beings—not only as patients or diagnoses. It received Gold and Silver honors at the MUSE Creative Awards, but the most meaningful result was seeing people connect with its message.
That campaign was personal to me because I created it in memory of my twin brother. It reinforced my belief that creativity can do more than promote a product or service. It can help people feel recognized, understood, and less alone.
Looking back, I realize that many of the most meaningful parts of my life began at moments that did not appear ideal. Starting a company while nine months pregnant was not the "perfect time." Moving to the United States and rebuilding was not easy. Creating work connected to personal loss required vulnerability.
But waiting would not have made those decisions easier. It would only have delayed them.
My advice to women who are considering a new career, business, or creative direction is this: do not confuse preparation with permission.
Learn as much as you can. Build your skills. Understand the risks. Ask for advice. But do not wait for someone else to confirm that you are ready.
You may not have every answer when you begin. Confidence often develops after you take action, not before. Your first version may be imperfect. Your plans may change. You will make mistakes, and some opportunities will not work out as expected.
Begin anyway.
The right time is not necessarily the moment when fear disappears or every part of your life becomes organized. Sometimes the right time is simply the moment when you decide that your idea deserves a chance.
I started my company while preparing to welcome my daughter into the world. In many ways, I was building two new futures at the same time.
Nine years later, I am grateful that I did not wait.
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