Advertising wants to make a change in the world- Multicultural Creative Career



Last week, on October 30th, I had the pleasure to attend the conference, “Here Are All The Black People”, an annual multicultural creative career fair. The one-day event took place at the Times Center, and it gathered around 200 people, including students and professionals from the industry. The whole event, sponsored by “The One Club”, offered different activities and conferences, to meet and learn from top professionals of the advertising industry. This was a huge opportunity to learn, share ideas with people with similar interests, network with creative professionals from the best advertising agencies in the world, and even to show them my work and portfolio.



The event started early in the morning around 8:00 am. As soon as we got there we could enjoy an amazing breakfast in the lobby and we could start networking. During the first session of the conference we could meet Franchesca Ramsey, an American comedian, activist, television and YouTube actress, who has appeared on MTV and MSNBC. She shared with us the story of her career, and the steps that she took in order to get where she is today. I felt inspired by her, because she is a clear example of a constant and hard worker who clearly knows what she wants and who is passionate and loves what she does. She told us about her career from the beginning, since her years at school, and how she started her career as a graphic designer. Early she switched her path to become a Youtube and TV celebrity and to create videos with a social cause. With her humor, she really connected and interacted with all of us. In her videos she touches different multicultural issues, but in a unique way, with a humoristic and comedic tone. She spoke about micro-aggressions, that are little insults that people may deal with. “People don’t think that those comments are harmful, but they are. The problem is that people who say these comments don’t understand the multilevel meaning behind them”. The videos that she creates in Youtube generate a global conversation, and that is exactly what she wants. “It is not about blocking people from saying offensive comments. It is about creating a conversation with them in order to understand each other”. In fact, this new era gives us the opportunity to be close to each other and generate that conversation.



Right after this first section, there was a panel discussion covered by, Susie Nam, Chief Operating Officer at Droga5, Karina Wilsher, CEO & Partner at Anomaly, Jimmy Smith, Founder and CCO at Amusement Park Entertainment, Pippa Seichrist, Cofounder, Director of Innovation & Development at Miami Ad School, and Mike Lescarbeau, Chief Executive Officer at Carmichael Lynch. They were speaking about the importance for the industry to respond to social issues. One of the takeaways I got from this panel was the responsibility that we have as advertisers to respond to these diversity issues. Susie Nams presented a TV spot created by Droga 5 for its client Honey Maid. This ad shows characters with diverse cultures. “The ads with the white family with the cute dog is not a reality anymore, the modern family is a real thing, the composition of America is very different that we were used to see before in advertising”. “Although the values are the same, parents want their children to be happy and safe, but the characters in the ads change”. We see more diversity, and at the end of the day a closer reflection to our society. By exposing our children to different cultures or different religions overtime they will accept everyone. Also, as advertisers it is our responsibility to show and reflect this diversity to our audience. What we share is the thing that matters most. 


To finalize, after this conference I attended a mentoring section, which I found very interesting. Professional creatives from top advertising agencies were telling us their experiences and the steps they took from the moment they graduated from school to today. What I found very interesting is how openly they were explaining the difficulties that they had while finding a job. Probably the best advice that stayed with me from this mentoring section is from Jayanta Jenkins, Twitter Global Group Director, who said, “Don’t ever let anyone say that you cannot do something or that you won’t be able to work at a specific company, that is poison”. The whole event finished with a portfolio review, where we were able to present to art directors, and creative directors from companies such as Droga 5, McCann Erickson, Leo Burnett, Y&R, and many others.

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