EVOLUTION THE SECRET TO YOUR NEXT STEP

[Music]

[Music]

a few weeks after

my 11th birthday i was riding in the

passenger seat

of my older sister’s red mercury cougar

we were headed south on the florida

turnpike from west palm beach to fort

lauderdale when we got the call

my strong smart jamaican dad

known to his friends as bully had lost

his two-year battle to cancer

that child that loved to create also

died

that child that when she was nine and

found out her father was diagnosed with

throat cancer her first instinct was to

draw him a magical drink to cure it

when she was seven she drew the fastest

thing in the world

the turtle with a turbo glider and when

she was four

she cut the bottom of her brand new

easter dress off to create a matching

scarf

you see my love for creativity ran deep

but i was conditioned to believe that it

wasn’t important

you have to see it to be it and i did

not see it

in the media i didn’t see examples of

professional black creatives

especially not black women and at school

teachers didn’t talk to us

about creative careers how come

art and music classes are considered

specials rather than essentials

this made me believe that creativity

wasn’t important

it wasn’t essential and it wouldn’t lead

to success

so i started over and focused on making

my parents proud

according to immigrant parents success

means three things

go to college work hard get a good job

so like a good first generation child i

graduated from florida state university

with a degree in advertising

i worked hard and landed an internship

through the multicultural advertising

internship program

known as mape and then

i landed a media planning internship

at wyden and kennedy also known as the

most creative agency in the world

does anyone know who this man is that

i’m standing next to

that is dan wyden

one of the founders of wyden and kennedy

and the man who created nike slogan

just do it a few weeks into my

internship

i realized i loved the perks of media

planning

like free concert tickets and food

but i hated the work numbers and excel

sheets were not my thing

i had achieved success by making it to

the mecca of advertising at such a young

age

but i didn’t love what i was doing i

didn’t feel energized or purposeful

being in the weirdest city in america

that summer portland oregon

pushed me so far out of my comfort zone

that it caused me to question my purpose

now i was surrounded by creatives

my friends at the agency were art

directors

copywriters photographers designers

i could finally see what i wanted to be

but i was the opposite of that and it

made me unhappy

you lose your peace when you don’t live

your purpose

this experience helped me evolve my idea

of success

you see success is not about getting a

good job

success is about choosing a profession

you love

that aligns with your passion and your

purpose

so now that i could see it i had to

figure out how to become it

so i spent all of my free time that

summer

meeting with the creative directors in

the agency to learn about their journey

one common thing that kept popping up

was portfolio school

so after researching a few different

programs i picked up the phone

and i called my mom and i told her three

things

i said i’m enrolling in the creative

circus

i’m taking out a student loan and i’m

turning down my full-time offer in new

york

her response shocked me my mom said

you’ve always been creative i don’t know

why it took you this long to figure it

out

and at that moment it hit me this entire

time

i’ve been chasing what i thought was my

parents idea of success

when they just wanted me to do what i

love

so i started over and focused on

becoming an art director

to say i was scared is an understatement

the voice in my head started asking what

if you’re a terrible art director

what if you don’t get another job offer

what if

you fail but instead of leaning into the

fear

i chose faith and i thought about all of

the inspiring black women who came

before me

who were not afraid to start over

ava duvernay left her role in pr

to start over and become a film director

she didn’t pick up a camera until the

age of 32.

elaine welteroth who also got her first

internship through mape

left her role as editor-in-chief of teen

vogue

to start over and now she’s a new york

times best-selling author

and my mother left everything

in jamaica to start over and come to

this country

she got her first job at the clinique

makeup counter in macy’s

to provide a better life for her kids

thanks to my mom’s courage to start over

i now have the opportunity to work with

clinique’s

global creative team developing work

that challenges beauty stereotypes

this helped me evolve my idea of failure

failure isn’t negative failure

leads to growth over time

and if there’s one thing i learned from

my time in portfolio school

it’s that failure breeds innovation

us art directors would stay up all night

working on hundreds of concepts making

sure every letter on our logos were

kerned to perfection

would quickly wash our face to make it

look like we slept the night before

and drag ourselves and our work into

school for teachers and peers to pick

apart

and tell us to start over

for 10 weeks we would constantly fail

and evolve the work until we had

something great

you see when you fail

you desperately try to find a new

solution

but the moment you stop

reinventing the wheel when you stop

learning when you stop questioning

when you stop evolving you’re dead

and although i was running off of fumes

i

loved what i was doing i felt energized

and i felt

purposeful in the work i was creating

and that

child that loved to create was alive

again

in the final semester of portfolio

school

i was scrolling on the timeline when i

came across a post

in the mape facebook group about an

internship

at facebook’s creative shop

the idea of transitioning out of

advertising

into tech made me a little bit

uncomfortable

which is how i knew it was an

opportunity for growth

after a few rounds of interviews i

landed the internship

a few of my teachers try to talk me out

of taking it by chance by saying it

would change the trajectory of my career

but i had a bigger vision so i started

over

and pivoted into creative strategy

people always ask me what’s a day in the

life of a creative strategist

at facebook and instagram and i tell

them every single day is different

the company the products the brands i

partner with

are constantly evolving

but what remains constant is the love

i have for building with our tools that

give people the power to connect

the energy i get from developing people

first ideas to help brands solve

problems

and the purpose i find in evolving the

next generation of leaders

by mentoring mape interns and hosting

educational workshops

for black and latinx entrepreneurs

through facebook’s elevate program

when i look back at the art i used to

create when i was young

i noticed one thing is missing

black people growing up

as a young black girl in america i did

not feel beautiful

black children often do not see

themselves represented in the media

which can lead to self-esteem issues

so i have evolved my purpose in this

industry

to create more positive images of black

people in the media while creating more

space

for black creatives to shine

i partner with black owned beauty brands

who are disrupting the industry

i elevate black artists to scale their

art through facebook instagram and

beyond

and i share my story on social media

and platforms like this so that children

of immigrant parents

can see that creativity is important

it is essential and it can lead to

success

you have to see it to be it and now

they could see me

before i go i want to share a secret

with you

the secret to your next step

is evolution and sometimes

evolution comes from failing

and starting over are you ready to

evolve

thank you

you