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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n The nation\u2019s largest women-focused media company, Mamamia, has appointed the son of founder Mia Freedman as the company\u2019s next chief executive.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cOn 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,\u201d Lavigne said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cHer 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\u2019s done during her time with Mamamia.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The appointment comes just one year after reporting over his \u201chandsome\u201d six-figure salary reportedly triggered internal backlash at the company and led Lavigne\u2019s wife, Jessie Stephens, to publicly deny the figure cited in media reports. Stephens has been executive editor at Mamamia for the past four years.<\/p>\n Mamamia, through a spokesman, declined to comment on the value of Lavigne\u2019s CEO remuneration package, but said there are other female employees of the company set to earn more than him.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cMamamia 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\u2019s remuneration package reflects that,\u201d the spokesman said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cAs CEO, his remuneration will still sit below that of several female Mamamia employees when he officially assumes the role in September.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article 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.<\/p>\n Jason Lavigne served as chief executive of the company until Harvey\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThere 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,\u201d Freedman wrote in a Substack post explaining the decision.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other reason for my decision is maths. It\u2019s simple, really. Co-hosting Mamamia Outloud (now Australia\u2019s 3rd biggest podcast which is a daily show), writing this newsletter, being co-founder of a company that\u2019s grown from just-me to 150+ people, plus three kids, two dogs, and one granddaughter is a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Luca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0129242b1dba9ca269a92e574255176cd4e1a0e1.jpeg\")
Luca Lavigne will replace Nat Harvey as chief executive of Mamamia from September.Luke Latty<\/p>\n![\"Mia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e7f3d24eb362de510d5199acfd5b0bc8f29707e2.jpeg\")
Mia Freedman co-founded Mamamia in 2007.Cybele Malinowski<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784570491_717_e7f3d24eb362de510d5199acfd5b0bc8f29707e2.jpeg\")
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John Buckley<\/a> is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-812699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}