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