For Hannah Moreno, founder and CEO of purpose-led PR agency Third Hemisphere, the decision to “go all in” on feminism wasn’t part of a long-term strategic plan, it was a gut instinct.
Chatting with us ahead of B&T’s Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media, Moreno reflected on that decision, that could have easily backfired, one she’s now grateful she followed.
On-time entries for B&T’s Women In Media Awards close in just two days!
“The first time I purposefully wore my feminist values on my professional sleeve was when I sat down to write two award applications in 2022,” she recalled. “The broad theme of both was ‘why woke ain’t broke’, and I knew this approach would either strongly endear me to the judges, or it would result in both applications being thrown in the metaphorical bin. We won both awards, so I guess the former was correct!”
Since then, Moreno’s unapologetic approach to values-driven leadership has only deepened, particularly as the head of an agency that focuses on climate tech, fintech and social impact. Her guiding principle, one she also shares with clients, is deceptively simple: “When you wear your values on your sleeve, you will alienate and attract people in equal measures, and in both cases it’s right.”
It’s a mindset that has earned Moreno recognition and respect in the industry (including the 2023 Women Leading Tech Woman of the Year), but also shaped the way she runs her business. One of the pivotal moments in her career came when she decided to use her media contacts to expose a serial offender allegedly bullying women in the tech space, an industry where many of her clients operate.
“It was incredible validation of the choices I’d made that were at the crux of my application, to use my media contacts to ‘out’ a serial misogynist pest bullying dozens of women,” she told B&T. “As it had all unfolded, I was quite scared, and making it up as I went. But recognition like that award taught me to better trust my intuition, knowing it’s been honed by decades of researching and engaging on gender inequality in professional and everyday spaces”.
That trust in intuition is something she continues to nurture as the leader of Third Hemisphere, reminding herself often that instincts shaped by lived experience are a strength, not a risk.
At Third Hemisphere, Hannah Moreno and her husband Jeremy Liddle have built an agency guided by a clear purpose: to work only with clients who are solving real-world problems through science, technology or social policy.
From climate action and gender equality to food sovereignty and public health, their focus is on impact-driven organisations that align with their values. “We both seek out clients who are doing important work in the world,” Moreno explained, adding that ethics and inclusion are central to how they operate, not just what they promote.
But it doesn’t stop at client selection. Moreno ensures that once engaged, clients are held to high standards of transparency and accountability. “When someone missteps, we counsel our clients that the way forward is always to own that mistake,” she said.
To her, ethical communication is not about spin, it’s about authenticity, integrity and being on the right side of public sentiment. “Taking this approach is actually a form of pre-emptive risk mitigation,” she added, “because it puts you in a good position to be on the front foot with social sentiment.”
It is that same commitment to values and accountability that drives Moreno’s long-standing push for diversity, equity and inclusion across the industry.
Leading for Inclusion
As a long-time advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, Moreno believes one of the biggest failings of the media and communications sector is its persistent leadership gap. “Incredibly, the female-dominated media and PR industries are still male-dominated at the leadership and c-suite level,” she said. “This is almost worse than a male-dominated industry with male-dominated leadership”.
To truly move the needle, she argued, organisations must go beyond vague commitments to ‘equal opportunity’.
“This is a situation where we must manually override the status quo and seek out equality of results, not equality of opportunities.”
Her advice was practical, and urgent. “If your organisation is full of women, consider promoting internally instead of hiring externally,” she said. “It’s a controversial notion, but consider the fact that a woman and a man who are ‘equally’ qualified are probably not, in fact, equally competent because the woman has had to overcome a myriad of barriers the man hasn’t to reach the same level”.
“Part of this,” she added, “is also understanding that women are more likely to put themselves down, not consider themselves worthy of a role or promotion, or be more exhausted by work outside of the office and maybe opt out as a means to cope. Account for that, in any way that you can. Actively favour women if that’s what it takes.”
It’s a philosophy that extends to external advocacy too. When Moreno noticed an AFR summit’s speaker lineup lacking gender representation, she called it out.
“She [the organiser] lamented that none of the women she reached out to were able/confident enough to participate. She assured me that she had ‘reached out to an equal number of men and women,’ but I asked if she had accounted for the fact that women were less likely to say yes for many reasons, so to achieve the result of equal representation required the unequal action of asking more women than men”.
“This concept is unpalatable to many people. But if we want equality of outcomes, we need to put significantly more work into ensuring the participation of certain groups,” she explained.
It’s a clear reminder that outcomes don’t reflect intentions, they reflect systems. And systems must be rebalanced.
Mentorship That Fits Real Life
Inside Third Hemisphere, Moreno has built a culture of mentorship tailored to the realities of women’s lives.
“Women are notoriously time-poor because the data shows that, on average, we still perform the vast majority of domestic labour and unpaid caring, even if we are the primary breadwinners. So it’s a bit unfair to also put the burden of mentoring women on other women. But until men step up, who else is going to do the work to ensure women progress as well?”
Her model is flexible: formal monthly check-ins are important, but small, everyday acts matter just as much.
“Mentorship can occur in small moments every single day, like providing instructive comments in a document you’re editing, or a quick lesson on how to approach something slightly differently during an internal meeting. I do this every day in my role as head of PR delivery, and constantly check in to see if staff are receiving this well and learning from it”.
For organisations wondering how to better support women and build truly inclusive leadership pipelines, listening to leaders like Moreno is a good place to start. and recognising those organisations that are already doing it is just as important.
Vulnerability, With Boundaries
Moreno’s public advocacy has often involved sharing her own experiences, many of them deeply personal.
“Speaking out on feminist and vulnerable topics is less dangerous for me than it is for other people. This is because I own my own business and can’t be fired. I also have a feminist husband who supports my feminism, and would back me up if clients ever took issue with anything I put out in the public arena. This is a massive privilege that I’m acutely aware of”.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy.
“I’m still human, and a lot of the vulnerable experiences I speak about publicly involve trauma that I’ll probably need to manage for the rest of my life. Running a business is also tiring enough in and of itself, so adding the trauma, and also our baby and toddler, means it can all take a toll”.
But authenticity, she said, has been a superpower. “I’ve found over and again that this type of authentic engagement gives others permission to be equally honest about their own experiences too. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve had staff members from quite private cultures share their own vulnerable experiences with me, expressing that it’s not the type of thing they would normally share in other circumstances”.
“What helps is that the advocacy side of myself has simply become integrated into who I am as a person and a leader. I’m not ‘business owner by day, trauma victim by night’. I am both of those things and much more in all of my interactions, whether it’s with staff, the media, or current and prospective clients.
Despite increasing backlash to DE&I efforts in some corners of society, Moreno remains confident that the world is still moving in the right direction.
“Don’t forget that the most wrong people are often the loudest,” she told B&T.
“I hope the industry understands that DE&I is as important as it has ever been despite recent pushback, for all the reasons we’ve known for a long time: because it fosters innovation, improves decision-making, increases employee engagement, enhances financial performance, and aids in risk mitigation”.
At Third Hemisphere, that belief isn’t just policy, it’s the foundation for every strategy, every story and every stand they take.
On-time entries for B&T’s Women In Media Awards close in just two days!
