3 of My Contemporary Career Role Models
In honor of it being Women’s History Month and Blach History Month just passing, I decided to create a list of inspiring BIPOC women in advertising, marketing, or digital marketing. Why are their stories so important? According to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the business marketing sector lacks ethnic diversity, particularly among Black and Latinx marketing professionals.
The biggest contributor to this is the lack of representation, especially in leadership positions. For example, a study from the ANA shows that Black professionals have 3 percent of CMO or CMO-related roles, while Hispanic have 5 percent. For other senior positions in marketing, it is a measly bump to 4 percent for black professionals and 9 percent for Hispanic professionals.
While women have a stronghold in marketing positions, the diversity of these teams is lacking. As a result, it would be important to point out my personal list of inspirations for BIPOC women in the advertising and marketing world.
I learned from these women through a past internship I had with Adspire.us, a website that shared stories of these women professionals to inspire other women.
Lecocq has 14 years of experience in the advertising industry. She has worked with well-known brands like Verizon, Starbucks, and McDonald’s. She also founded Secret Code, which featured custom children’s books with girls as tech heroes.
She also developed a database, Where Are The Boss Ladies? which holds thousands of women leaders in advertising and marketing. This database connects young professionals with female leaders as managers or mentors. She now works as the Head of Brand & Creative for Fishbowl, a community platform surrounding professional and career development between employees and companies. Her story encourages me to try new things and seek out women mentors.
In my past internship, I had the pleasure of talking with Jolene personally. She shared her career story with me. We discussed the importance of looking at work experiences and picking career paths that will empower you and drive you forward. She utilized all her work expertise and knowledge to found her own agency, The Working Assembly. A creative agency that focuses on branding and content for women-owned and minority-owned companies.
She worked with several cutting-edge and emerging brands through her company, like Suitably, Lola, Obé, NYC Pride, and many others. Her work ethic and commitment to uplifting innovative, women-owned, or minority-owned brands motivates me to carve out my own career plan on my own terms.
Nicole is an executive producer and content director for many notable brands, like Clorox, Colgate, and Cocoa-Cola. While working with amazing brands has a nice ring to it, she has founded and built an online platform called, We Heart Our Lives, which works to break down stigmas regarding mental health through exposure, open discussions, and offering support.
While her career does not involve a lot of marketing, her story, and courage to build something different from the norm inspire me. While mental health has been more at the forefront lately, we still need to build more awareness and craft open spaces for people to discuss their struggles openly.
Just the beginning
While my list was brief, the journey does not end here. In truth, I find inspirational women leaders like these are everywhere. With International Women’s Day fast approaching, now is the perfect time to notice and highlight those amazing women who utilize their talent and skills to uplift and enrich the world.
