A storyteller, a strategist, and a self-made success — Lizzie didn’t just dream of building a business, she built one that’s changing the game. With Stakked, she’s fusing AI and creativity to deliver bold ideas, smart strategy, and meaningful impact — proving that passion with purpose can reshape an industry.
Lizzie, can you briefly introduce yourself and share a bit about your background in PR?
I’m the founder and CEO of Stakked, the first collective of ‘boutech’ creative agencies powered by AI to free up more time for creativity, offering brands the ability to work with one of our fantastic agencies directly or ‘stack up’ services across our group for 360 marketing.
We have Munch, a creative PR agency that creates fame in the media for brands, social media agency Flabbergast that makes viral moments online, Another Blank Page offering full-suite digital – from branding, to building websites and digital programmes – and Nibble – our AI-powered freelance platform for brands and other agencies to find the very best freelancers.
Nibble is the only PR-focused platform of its kind that pre-vets and interviews every freelancer in our network, saving clients time with a shortlist they can trust, and cutting out costly recruitment fees.
Usually, a complete 360 marketing solution in one place can only be found at huge agencies, but Stakked allows brands of all sizes the chance to house all their marketing needs in one place, delivered by specialists, and without the price tag of a huge firm. We call it ‘big agency muscle, boutique hustle’!
We help brands to achieve their business goals by cutting through all the noise using creativity – across PR, social media, branding and everything in between – that’s been strategically designed to reach the target audience with the right messages.
My background has always been in PR, since my first job as an intern many years ago. On my very first day I landed a piece of coverage in Cosmopolitan magazine for a female chef, and just found it magical that I was able to infiltrate the media and help her to spread the word about her business. That was it. I just got it, loved it – and still do!
Launching Munch PR at such a young age must have been a unique experience. What motivated you to take that step, and how did you overcome any self-doubt along the way?
Running a business was a childhood dream. Maybe that’s a weird dream for a child to have… but it was mine!
After spending years working at global agencies for big household brands, I reached a point where I wasn’t learning as much as I wanted. Launching Munch felt like the natural next step.
I’m passionate about other people’s businesses, and I knew that I could bring big agency creativity and know-how to growing businesses that didn’t have the budgets for a large firm. Across all our agencies, we work with growing brands, as well as huge household names who want the fresh thinking and tenacious energy of a boutique.
The variety of brands we partner with keeps things exciting. Growing businesses benefit from our big strategic thinking, while larger brands love our fresh, innovative and resourceful approach.
What do you think were the key factors that helped Munch PR stand out and gain recognition so quickly?
We never do anything for the sake of it. And we’re not afraid to say ‘don’t do that’ to our clients, advising them where to spend their budget to have a real impact.
Across all our agencies, we are excellent at understanding our clients’ business challenges and goals – not just their PR, social or digital goals – and we use AI-powered data analytics to really understand their customer or audience – barriers, perceptions, lifestyle – before we get to the creative part.
It means we can shape campaigns that really have impact. Great marketing makes people feel in order to move them to action – it could be a direct business goal, such as clicking, downloading, buying, or changing perceptions of a brand over time, or educating in a way that will have a tangible impact on the business later on.
The end result is fresh and inventive creative campaigns that reach the right people in the right places and capture their attention.
Pausing Munch to create Nibble was a significant decision. What inspired you to explore the idea of combining AI with PR recruitment?
At the beginning of our journey, we could work with any brand with any budget. But as we grew, there was a tipping point that meant we couldn’t do excellent work for some budgets.
Doing an average job is not something we ever do, and so I hated turning brands away to end up at an agency that would take them on but put the most junior person on the account and risk a mediocre experience.
When I put the agency on pause at the end of 2019, I spoke with every single brand and founder who got in touch with me. I had hundreds of calls and realised two things; there were thousands of brands that wanted PR but didn’t need an agency and hadn’t considered a freelancer, and if they had they didn’t know who to ask; and that growing brands were looking for all their marketing to be delivered in one place.
So I started building Nibble right then, fusing years of experience in the industry with AI to create the best matches, and launching it under Stakked – along with Flabbergast, Another Blank Page and relaunching Munch again for the second time.
When you were building Nibble, what was the most challenging part, and how did you navigate through it?
The toughest challenge was creating something simple yet powerful enough for busy founders and agencies who need immediate results. Rather than launch a basic MVP, we spent four years carefully building Nibble from scratch, ensuring it genuinely solved hiring frustrations for brands and agencies.
Now, brands sign up, match with freelancers, and often start working together the same day – something that still excites us every time it happens. It will never get boring.
We’re expanding Nibble into social and digital freelancing next, keeping it constantly evolving to meet user needs.
Relaunching Munch as part of Stakked sounds like a fresh start. What new opportunities does this collective approach offer compared to the previous model?
At Stakked we can work with any sized client. If they don’t have the budget for an agency, they can find great freelancers on Nibble. If they want a full 360 marketing campaign, integrating PR, social and digital, we can do that too by stacking up our agencies and working together as one team.
For example, we recently launched a small arthouse film called Up The Catalogue, about a fictional shopping channel. We ‘launched’ a spoof channel for real – 4QTV – with the website we built, a TikTok we started from scratch and a PR campaign with the goal of getting the channel ‘cancelled’.
It worked- our social team generated 1m+ views for a business and products that don’t even exist in just six weeks (so imagine our results for real businesses!) and our PR team used the social proof to generate tons of media coverage about the stunt and film.
Because Stakked can do it all, we can offer the most unbiased advice on where clients should focus their time and resources, and when.
And, because we’ve integrated AI throughout all our workflows, we can focus more of our time on the work that clients hire us for – creative and impactful campaigns – rather than time-consuming admin, research or analytics work that can be done faster and more accurately by technology. Our proprietary AI assistant is MINDA, and it saves our team hours every month, which is passed back to clients.
You’re known for your innovative approach. How do you keep yourself motivated, especially when leading multiple ventures?
Feedback from clients keeps me motivated, knowing we are really helping them and are a part of their future success story.
And being able to do things other agencies can’t. Our in-house AI tools mean we’re always one step ahead. We started working with one of our clients, Napo – the UK’s most comprehensive pet insurance company – just before Christmas and they tasked us with getting them national media coverage just before the holidays, a tricky time to cut through.
Because MINDA was already building an understanding of the media appetite for brands like theirs, we quickly came up with a new offering – the world’s first ShoeChew Cover insuring pet owners’ footwear against puppies’ teething habits. The story got lots of national coverage at a really busy time in the media.
And my team keeps me motivated of course. Success to me is keeping them forever and helping them to achieve their own professional and personal goals.
As someone who manages various projects, how do you make sure you don’t feel overwhelmed? Any personal strategies that keep you balanced?
To run and grow one successful business, let alone four, you need to be in tip top condition – physically, mentally and everything in between. It’s like being an athlete. To be the best, you have to feel the best.
I make sure I’m eating well, getting my sleep, surrounding myself with inspiring people, and taking my vitamins.
It sounds basic, but nearly everything in life (and business) starts with getting the basics right. I need to be functioning at 100% for my team and clients and so neglecting these things isn’t an option.
The right mindset is key too – looking at ‘problems’ as puzzles to be solved. I am committed to constantly evolving and improving anything that can be done better, faster, or more accurately, instead of getting bogged down or ‘stressed’.
With four businesses, there is always something pressing to do every day. There’s very little coasting. Accepting that as the norm is key, but that’s also what’s exciting: We’re doing things differently, and that takes work, vision and commitment.
Who or what inspires you when you’re looking for fresh ideas or a new perspective?
Everything inspires me to be honest! I’m constantly reading the news, looking at what brands are up to online, and just keeping tabs on what’s happening around the world, not just in the UK.
I can get inspiration from anywhere, and I have a list of all the things, people, concepts I come across, ready for when we get into creative planning for campaigns. It could be anything from an amazing artist I find on social media, to a photo of a weird and wonderful cocktail someone sends me from their trip to Japan. Literally anything can spark a great idea.
I also make time just to think. It’s too easy to get stuck into the day to day, but fresh thinking and perspective needs space to formulate. So I make time in the morning when I’m freshest just to sit and think sometimes. It’s underrated!
In your opinion, what’s the most rewarding part of running a business, and what do you find most challenging on a personal level?
The most rewarding part is the work itself and my people, who are not only super bright but lovely to work with. I’m so proud of what we achieve for our clients across all our companies at Stakked and I love seeing my team evolve and grow with us too.
Our ethos is ‘do great work, and have a great time doing it’. We’re in the creative business. Creativity is enjoyable. We’re lucky to get to do what we do, with the team and clients we do it with.
The biggest challenge for me is always time. I’d love to have more of it, but we pack a punch with the hours we have!
With such a demanding schedule, how do you make time for yourself? Do you have any hobbies or activities that help you recharge?
The mornings are my time. I cross several time zones and the morning is when I have the most headspace for myself.
I use this time to play padel which I am obsessed with, play guitar – which uses a different creativity and physicality than work or sport – or simply just rest and think.
Looking ahead, what personal goals are you aiming for alongside your professional aspirations?
Aside from becoming a professional padel player (which, despite my ‘anything is possible’ mindset, I’ve accepted might be a tad unrealistic) I’d love to mentor someone at the start of their business journey, and help them to reach their potential.
