Creative leadership program aims to help close the gender gap in APAC
Female creatives across APAC will be offered places in a new leadership and creative development program that aims to close the gender gap across the region.
the L’avenir program aims to change the gender ratio among creative leaders in APAC
Developed and led by Natalie Lam, the chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe APAC & MEA, the L’avenir program, aims to change the gender ratio among creative leaders across the region.
“Globally at Publicis Groupe, more than 50% of our workforce is female and 41% of key leaders are women: we’ve made huge strides when it comes to gender representation overall. Yet industry-wide, the percentage of female Creative Directors remains comparatively low,” said Lam.
L’avenir, which means the future, aims to lead the charge with the annual program offering mid-and senior-level creatives with the skills to become creative leaders. The program includes monthly one-on-one mentorship meetings, as well as leadership masterclasses and the opportunity to shadow creative leaders. The program will culminate with participants partnering with a major client for a project.
“We’ll identify our top female creatives, because true diversity makes the work better. L’avenir is a tailored program that pairs mentees and mentors according to specific skills and potential, backing up their positions as future leaders with a strong portfolio of work,” said Lam.
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The mentors have been recruited from across the Publicis Groupe network. APAC mentors include: BBH China CCO Kelly Pon, MetaDesign China Group CD Sally Anderson, Publicis Groupe Southeast Asia CCO Ajay Thrivikraman, Leo Burnett Australia CEO Emma Montgomery, Publicis Groupe South Asia CEO Anupriya Acharya, MSL APAC & MEA CEO Margaret Key and Publicis Groupe ANZ Chief People Officer Pauly Grant .
They will be joined by Publicis Groupe’s Chief Creative Officer; Ed Booty, Chief Strategy Officer; Anthony Wong, Chief Client Officer; Laurent Thevenet, Head of Creative Technology; Jason Williams, Head of Creativity and Lam.
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Loris Nold, CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Publicis Groupe, said: “This program is tailor-made to the needs of each participant’s skills, strengths, gaps and career goals. For our clients, this means boundary-breaking work and more progressive, modern thinking that avoids unconscious bias and stereotypes. For our culture, it means creating an inclusive environment that supports the creative development of our next generation of leaders.”
The first L'Avenir program kicked off in October 2022.