In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two colleagues with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.

Marijana Simunovic:

Dan and I first crossed paths in 2009 at an events and brand experience agency called ABT. He was an animator in Melbourne, and I was a producer in Sydney.

I’m not sure I’ve ever told him this, but I knew his work before I knew him. The agency once presented a case study about an event in Dublin, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Dan had created the most incredible piece of theatre – stunning cinematic content as the backdrop to live storytelling. I’d never seen anything like it, especially in the corporate brand space, and I vividly remember thinking: I want to work on that.

A couple of months later, I ended up on the account and that was the start of our partnership. We delivered a series of big projects together as a producer/art director duo, and it just seemed to work. Beyond being a brilliant creative, a beautiful designer, and a gifted storyteller, it was Dan’s willingness to be in the trenches with me that really solidified our relationship. He wasn’t just sprinkling creative stardust from the sidelines; he was there making the work. And because he’s a bit of a perfectionist (like me), we both cared equally about making it the best it could possibly be. It felt like a true partnership.

Fast forward a few years and, both feeling stressed and burnt out, we left to do our own thing. We never intended it to be anything more than a little freelance project team, we just wanted to do good work, with good people, and reclaim some balance. But one job turned into another, and before long we realised we had a business.

That was 10 years ago. And while so much has changed, two things have never shifted. First, the supportive, flexible environment we wanted to create for........

© Mumbrella