Maggie Winters

Maggie Winters is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of This January, an independent creative agency in Washington, DC, building category challengers into household names. Integrated creative and media teams sit side by side, turning strategy into things people notice, including names that stick, mascots people get attached to, and campaigns that suggest the golden age of advertising is not necessarily over.

Maggie cofounded the agency with her partner Zach Goodwin at the age of 29 and has grown it from five people to twenty, with six consecutive years of growth and a place on the 2026 Inc. 5000.

Though she’s worked across categories from cannabis to finance, dog treats to airlines, she has a special spot in her heart for women’s health and sex education, starting with her college thesis about the graphic design of sex ed materials as a commentary on our society’s attitude toward sexual health. In her career, she has led design for a gender-agnostic period app, brand mascot creation for a libido vitamins brand, and branding for Sextech School, and she believes these categories deserve the same craft and ambition that gets spent on soft drinks.

Before starting This January, Maggie cofounded Pop Wed Co, a startup that pioneered the microwedding. The company built a stress-free, easy-to-plan alternative to the traditional wedding, and the model spread nationally after coverage on the front page of the Washington Post Style section, in the New York Times, and on NPR. She wrote a book the same year to help couples plan their own, putting the focus back on the marriage rather than the production of a large-scale wedding.

Maggie is a vocal champion of DC as a creative city. In 2026 she founded the NOOK Artist Residency, through which This January funds one DC-based artist at a time with a stipend, office space, and mentorship. Her goal is to talk to 100 students a year about a creative career, and organize events for at least 1,000 people every year. (So far she’s doing okay, but is committed to doing better.)