The nation’s largest women-focused media company Mamamia has appointed the son of founder Mia Freedman as the company’s next chief executive.
Luca Lavigne, 28, will take over as chief executive in September following the departure of Nat Harvey, who has been named chief revenue officer of Southern Cross Media, owner of the Seven Network, Triple M and Hit radio networks, among other assets.
“On behalf of the entire company, I wholeheartedly thank Nat for her outstanding leadership through a period of great opportunity and momentous change for the industry,” Lavigne said in a statement on Monday.
“Her leadership is defined by expertise, passion and dedication. This is a better business today because of her, and Nat will always have our friendship and our gratitude for everything she’s done during her time with Mamamia.”
Lavigne is the son of Freedman and her husband and Mamamia co-founder Jason Lavigne. His appointment is the latest stop on a rapid rise at Mamamia, where he has spent the past two years as chief operating officer. He has worked at Mamamia for the past 10 years, first as a content producer in 2015.
The appointment comes just one year after reporting over his “handsome” six-figure salary reportedly triggered internal backlash at the company and led Lavigne’s wife, Jessie Stephens, to publicly deny the figure cited in media reports. Stephens has been executive editor at Mamamia for the past four years.
Mamamia, through a spokesman, declined to comment on the value of Lavigne’s CEO remuneration package, but said there are other female employees of the company set to earn more than him.
The company further declined to confirm whether he would receive the same remuneration package as Harvey, who has roughly two decades of experience in media, including nearly a decade at Seven, where she served as national sales director before taking the top job at Mamamia.
“Mamamia is one of the few workplaces in Australia where the gender pay gap is reversed, according to the annual Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) pay gap figures. Luca Lavigne’s remuneration package reflects that,” the spokesman said in a statement.
“As CEO, his remuneration will still sit below that of several female Mamamia employees when he officially assumes the role in September.”
Mamamia was co-founded by Freedman and Jason Lavigne in 2007. The network reaches nearly 8 million people a month across its website, podcasts and events, according to audience figures reported by The Australian Financial Review in January.
Jason Lavigne served as chief executive of the company until Harvey’s appointment in 2024, and now serves as executive chairman. Freedman, meanwhile, announced in January last year that she would step back from her podcast, No Filter, after 10 years.
“There are two main reasons for my decision. One is burnout but not in the way you might think. Doing the same thing, over and over, is a form of creative burnout I struggle with periodically,” Freedman wrote in a Substack post explaining the decision.
“The other reason for my decision is maths. It’s simple, really. Co-hosting Mamamia Outloud (now Australia’s 3rd biggest podcast which is a daily show), writing this newsletter, being co-founder of a company that’s grown from just-me to 150+ people, plus three kids, two dogs, and one granddaughter is a lot.”
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John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.From our partners
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