The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

The Ad Club of New York Marketing Diversity & Inclusion

The Summit on Black Women in Advertising calls for determination, confidence and mentorship in empowerment drive

Author

By Kyle O'Brien | Creative Works Editor

March 28, 2017 | 8 min read

Attracting more black women to advertising is something that the industry says it strives to do, but the numbers still don’t match the desired trend.

Black Women in Advertising

Their Truth: The Summit on Black Women in Advertising, Marketing and Media

At Their Truth: The Summit on Black Women in Advertising, Marketing and Media on Monday (March 27) evening at the Paley Center in New York City, co-hosted by IPG and the Advertising Club of New York, a varied view of what it’s like to be a black woman in the industry showed that the reality is one that takes determination, confidence and persistence, plus a good mentor to climb the ranks.

Breaking into the industry can be daunting, especially for a young black woman, the panel determined, but as times change and more people keep pushing for that change, it is possible.

Watching the feed on Facebook Live, as many did, saw Gina Grillo, president and CEO of The Advertising Club of New York, and Michael Roth, chairman and CEO of IPG, introduced the evening’s event, noting that it was part of the I’mPart program, with the night’s tag as #impartoftruth. Roth and IPG have been at the forefront of a diversity charge, winning awards for Roth’s commitment to diversity and the company’s Interpublic Diverse Emerging and Aspiring Leaders (IDEAL) program.

It was fitting that the program opened with statistics presented by Tai Wingfield, from the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI), a thinktank that produces research that leverages talent across the divides of gender, generation, geography and culture. Wingfield’s research showed that black women are 2.8 times as likely as white women to aspire to a powerful position with a prestigious title. In addition, 43% of black women are confident that they can succeed in a position of power, and 54% out-earn their spouse or partner.

In seeking to find out what black women want out of their careers, she noted five things: the ability to flourish; the ability to excel; finding meaning and purpose in their careers; they want to earn well; and they want to have the ability to empower others and be empowered.

More black women listed independence as a driver, which is why they concentrated on earning well.

Wingfield noted that business isn’t yet ready to let black women lead, however, since no Fortune 500 CEOs are black women and fewer than 100 serve as executives in advertising and media industry.

That stated, the panel took a more positive tone, and one of strength. Joy Reid of MSNBC was the moderator for the evening and welcomed to the panel, Jocelyn Carter-Miller, president, TechEdVentures and SoulTranSync and IPG board member; Pam El, EVP, chief marketing officer, NBA; Vita Harris, EVP, chief strategy officer, FCB; Jeanine D. Liburd, EVP of marketing, corporate communications and corporate social responsibility, BET Networks; Lisa Price, SVP, founder & creative director, Carol’s Daughter, and Carol H. Williams, CEO and chief creative officer, Carol H. Williams Advertising (CHWA).

Carter-Miller noted how difficult it is for black women and people of color to be successful in the industry overall, but she saw the trend as hopeful. “We cannot walk away from the idea that ad agencies on the whole are failing to take advantage of the diversity of talent,” she said, adding that she is in a unique position to reinforce the importance of having diversity in the workplace which includes black women in key roles. “It allows me to stand as an advocate in this industry.”

Harris noted that she had plenty of challenges early in her career – including a time she was asked off a piece of business because she was black – but also opportunities. She brought up that she was blessed to have people that served as sponsors, helping her find her way and climb the ladder, which is something many on the panel echoed.

“There are sponsors and mentors there,” said Williams, adding that young talent will step on mines along the way, but to be a good mentee you must share when you step on those mines and share experiences to learn from them.

“The issues and stereotypes will always be there. There will be men who have never met anything like you…They are immersed in all the stereotypes. Self-awareness is so important,” she said, citing Spock from Star Trek, saying “control your emotions, or your emotions will control you,” when dealing with tough situations.

Having pride and confidence in yourself was a big point of advice for many on the panel.

“The thing I am most proud of is being a black female…it’s the thing I was born with and can't change and that I’m most comfortable with,” said El. “It makes some other people uncomfortable, but it should never make you uncomfortable as a black woman.”

Price said she was shy at first but she learned how to speak up and assert herself. “Don’t feel uncomfortable stepping on toes,” she said, adding that you have to have conversations and not worry about hurting other people’s feelings.

“You must stand up for yourself…you can’t be just kind of successful. You have to knock it out of the ballpark,” chimed Carter-Miller, meaning that as a black woman, you have to be very successful to get noticed and get ahead.

Liburd noted that millennials are coming into the workforce with clarity and confidence. She sees them leading multicultural lives with different views and perspectives but a clear sense of identity, which they can use to support each other and build their own support “squads.”

Reid turned the conversation to social media, noting that black women dominate on Twitter and in social engagement, which the panel agreed was an underutilized market by both marketers and advertisers. Williams said social gave black women a voice that could be heard globally and let them be exactly who they are. Television is also over-indexed by black women, and Reid pointed out that it was another area where marketers could truly capitalize.

But Harris summed it up best when she said that what was once a formerly minority market is now a majority market. She said companies can’t just hire their way into the solution, however.

“I believe it’s every single person’s responsibility to be culturally competent, and be part of the conversation…it is incumbent upon all of us be aware of what’s going on in our country, to be aware of different cultures. If you’re not learning something new every day about somebody you don’t know about, you’re in trouble. That’s the essence of what we do for a living,” she said.

The session wrapped up with author Valere Graves, who read from her book Pressure Makes Diamonds: Becoming the Woman I Pretended to Be. Her powerful analogy about trying to keep up with her 1970s colleagues – the “office’s only black amongst Mad Men…and the least powerful entity in the room” as they handled the Pontiac account in Detroit was both touching and humorous. Rather than talk about the quality of the idea, she called herself a “token” in front of the crowd. While it eventually got her fired, she was proud that she stood up.

The lesson? “ You don’t need to say what they want to hear.”

The Ad Club of New York Marketing Diversity & Inclusion

More from The Ad Club of New York

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +