In May, PRovoke Media said Moxie Strategies was the best new agency in North America.
Turns out that was underselling it.
The industry publication has named the Asbury Park-based communications and advocacy firm led by Maggie Moran its 2026 Global New Agency of the Year, the top worldwide prize it gives to new agencies.
Moran gave the credit to her team.
“I founded Moxie, but this team built it,” she said. “They left stable careers, bet on an idea, and worked nights and weekends to prove it. Size was never the point. Impact is. Today the whole world knows it. I couldn’t be prouder of our team.”
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Moxie is not quite three years old. And while it has opened a second office, in New York City, it still has fewer than 30 people. That’s not usually what a global winner looks like.
Moran said she hears that a lot.
“People always ask me how a firm our size beats the biggest names in the business,” she said. “The answer is the Moxie model.”
The model, as Moran tells it, is pretty simple. The people a client meets are the people who do the work. A lot of them have worked in government. And they lean hard on data.
“We pair that with unmatched data that tells us exactly where the decision will be made and who will make it,” she said. “Then we do not stop until it gets done, and we move at a speed the oligarchs cannot match.”
According to the firm, Moxie has completed more than 100 client engagements in 20 states, for clients in energy, health care, labor, tech, philanthropy, higher education and the public sector.
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Moxie has grown used to winning awards.
Its Aimi by Moxie polling platform won Best AI Product at PRovoke’s 2026 Innovation SABRE Awards.
Winning means more work, and more work means more people.
Moxie is adding four, and the résumés lean heavily on government on both sides of the Hudson.
Rebecca Carvalho: Senior vice president of creative. She was digital director at Bellweather Agency, where she led health care, advocacy and tourism campaigns. Before that, she was at EssenceMediacom.
Kara Burke: Principal of public affairs. She comes from NYSERDA, where she handled communications on building electrification and workforce development. She earlier served as deputy press secretary in the New York Executive Chamber.
Kiah Lattimer: Principal of public affairs after nearly seven years in New Jersey state government, most recently as senior advisor of operations to the lieutenant governor.
Mel Josephson: Associate of public affairs. She worked in former Gov. Phil Murphy’s office, supporting then-first lady Tammy Murphy’s maternal and infant health initiatives. NJBIA named her one of its six 2026 Rising Stars.
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Partner Jeannine Frisby LaRue said there’s a reason for that kind of hiring.
“An award like this is earned by people who have carried the weight of real decisions, and that is who we hire,” she said.
Partner Tommy Meara said growth won’t change the formula.
“We are growing fast but with great intention, and we will never trade away what won us this award: senior people doing the work,” he said.
