Caroline May, founder and writer at Grown, spent her whole career as what she calls “an indie girl in St. Louis.” In the summer of 2023 she decided the view from a bigger independent agency wasn’t close enough to the work, so she did the un-grown-up thing and quit. Then she asked her old boss and design partner, Dan Rayfield, to quit and join her. He did.
Grown opened its doors in 2024 and is now heading into its third year. It’s a creative-only agency — five people full time, all art directors and copywriters — that builds richly designed brand work and grabs specialist partners as needed. “We really love and derive a lot of personal gratification out of making things better than they have any reason to be,” May says. It’s a philosophy that runs from the ornamentation in the work to the name on the door.
How Grown started with two resignations and no clients
May had spent years at larger independent shops, consulting on decisions she wanted to actually own. So in 2023 she left to get closer to the work and have more influence over it. Then came the twist: she convinced Rayfield, her former boss, to leave too and become her design partner.
Starting an agency from scratch with no existing clients is the kind of bet most people talk themselves out of. May made it in St. Louis for a reason — more on that later. Two and a half years in, she calls the whole thing “a blast.”
What Grown is known for: a strong point of view and a love of ornament
Grown comes in with a POV, not a menu. May points to a line from the IAN summit that she loves — get paid for opinions, not options — and it fits how the shop works. They push clients toward what’s distinctive rather than what’s trending.
In practice that means visual richness and complexity, across a lot of different styles. “We love ornamentation and layers and richness,” May says. This is not the place to hire for a simple, modern, clean brand. It’s the place to hire when you want to feel the care.
Three things Grown does differently
The top three, in May’s telling: exceptional art direction and illustration, sharp messaging and copywriting, plus being genuinely fun to be around. That last one isn’t a throwaway — she means making the whole process of working with an agency less painful and more of a thrill.
Underneath it is a belief that craft communicates. “When something clearly took a lot of effort and care and time and craft, that says to the consumer, this is something somebody cares deeply about,” May explains. Design becomes proof of intention before a single word is read.
The power of being beholden to nobody
Grown is 100% independent, and May frames the value in plain terms: no shareholders, no private equity, no third party in the back room. That freedom lets the agency make decisions based only on what benefits the client.
“There’s not a big back office conversation happening about how we’re going to squeeze every dollar out of you,” she says. The math is simpler than that. When the client does well, Grown does well, gets hired again and gets referred out — the whole flywheel of a truly independent shop.
Why brands should work with Grown
Grown is creative-only by design — just writers and designers — and it believes the best work happens when those creatives talk to clients directly. May has watched the account layer at big agencies and holdcos turn into a kind of gatekeeping, and she’s not interested.
“Creatives are capable of managing their own time and their own calendar invites and sending an email,” she says. The myth of the disorganized mad-scientist creative doesn’t describe anyone at Grown. Direct relationships build the trust that lets a client take the riskier, more out-there swing — and that’s usually the one that pays off.
Why talent should put Grown on the list
Responsibility arrives on day one. Even junior talent at Grown is client-facing, running projects and sitting in on production. “If you sold the idea, then I want you to lead it,” May says.
The other draw is range. A small shop with a wide variety of projects turns out to be a strong place to build a portfolio, with a senior partner right there to help rather than to hover.
An underdog, on purpose
Offered weirdos, misfits or underdogs, May picks underdog — and it’s about relative size. Grown regularly walks into RFPs against agencies billing themselves as full service, and the pitch is that specialists deliver better creative at better value.
“You can’t be all things to all people,” she says. That flattening makes you mediocre at everything. Grown would rather go deep on what it’s great at, bring in compensated friends for the rest and scale up only as the work demands — no inflated overhead to keep the lights on.
Dear Costco (and Ash Hotels): Grown sees you
Asked which marketer she’d wave to, May goes two ways. The first is a bit of a cheat — Costco has no conventional CMO — but she admires it as a company that knows exactly who it is and doubles down under pressure. “We over-index sometimes on catering to what we think an audience wants, when what they really want is a strong POV and some backbone.”
The second is Allegra Lorenzotti, brand director at Ash Hotels, home of Hotel Peter and Paul in New Orleans. May keeps Peter and Paul artifacts around her office — coasters, matchbooks, the tassel on the key — as proof of world-building done right. “They are a perfect example of making something better than it has any reason to be.” Which, of course, is the whole idea.
A quick note on the name
Grown has nothing to do with age. “It’s everything to do with worldview and work ethic,” May says — the kind of people who take accountability, quarterback their own projects and, in her shorthand, act like grown-ass adults. It’s the standard for who Grown hires and who it works with.
St. Louis makes the model possible. A deep bench of freelance talent left over from the city’s Anheuser-Busch and big-brand era, plus a cost of living low enough to leave a little delta, is exactly what let May do something as crazy as quit her job and start an agency from scratch. “I don’t know that I would have made that bet in a Chicago or a New York or an LA,” she says. St. Louis is where a grown-up gamble like this one still pencils out.
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