00:00
Hola. I'm Claudia Romo Edelman and I'm Cynthia Clio Milner.
00:03
And this is a podcast,
00:04
a La Latina, the playbook to succeed being your authentic self
00:08
today, an incredible guest,
00:09
Nancy Reyes Ceo of BBDO,
00:12
the Americas. And here are the key three takeaways.
00:16
Number one, the importance of taking advantage of the programs made
00:20
to assist Latinos. She is literally the poster child of affirmative
00:25
how she used her Latini that to stand out as an account
00:28
manager in her firm.
00:29
She sees Latinas as excellent at debating who can't utilize her ease
00:35
to speak with confidence and passion to win more and more.
00:39
And number three, she built a case for Latinas seeking a
00:42
career in advertising because remember,
00:44
creativity and originality cannot be replaced by A I all of that
00:49
and more here at A La Latina Cynthia.
01:00
Tell me more about money.
01:01
What is your favorite product?
01:02
The product that I love the most.
01:04
First was our credit builder loan.
01:06
When I moved to the U SI realized that a good credit
01:09
score impacts so many aspects of our life.
01:12
If you have a high credit score,
01:14
you can get lower interest rates on loans and credit cards,
01:17
better insurance rates and better chances of getting a loan.
01:20
Can you imagine that more than half of our members raise their
01:23
credit score by up to 26 seven points in 60 days?
01:26
Wow. Ok, so I'm learning something new here and I
01:29
should be checking on my credit score myself.
01:31
Everybody should and it's super easy.
01:33
So for anyone out there needing to improve their credit score or
01:36
even know your credit score come to Money Lion.
01:39
That's amazing. How do you access the credit builder loan two
01:43
ways, either go to Money lion.com/membership or download the Money Lion
01:48
Thank you. I'm in it today.
01:51
The incredible Nancy Reyes.
01:52
Nancy is the CEO of BBDO Americas.
01:56
She's the board chair of the Creative Ladder and non for profit
02:00
offering vital career development training and resources at no cost to
02:04
creative talents from underrepresented backgrounds.
02:07
She was a founding member of time.
02:10
So, and a color legend in 2021 Nancy was recently appointed
02:15
to the Fast Company Impact Council Board.
02:17
She's a director of the Ad Council,
02:20
the Ad Club of New York,
02:21
Rare Disease Renegades and prep for prep.
02:24
Incredible to have you here.
02:25
Thank you so much for being with us here at A La
02:28
Latina. Thank you for having me,
02:29
ladies, Nancy. We want to start by getting to know
02:33
you better. What's your background?
02:34
What made you be who you are and what you do today
02:37
Yeah. So I grew up here in New York City
02:42
in Long Island City,
02:43
which is not what it used to be.
02:45
It was definitely more projects,
02:48
warehouses. My mother was from El Salvador.
02:51
My father was from Puerto Rico.
02:53
She cleaned houses, he drove a taxi.
02:55
So life was, you know,
02:56
super, super difficult.
02:59
We struggled very much.
03:01
very poor. But education was,
03:03
you know, first the first priority.
03:06
and we, my sister and I did everything we could
03:09
to just work super hard,
03:10
study a lot and keep advancing a little,
03:13
you know, to get to where we are today.
03:15
So the, the big thing that shaped my life and I
03:17
think my sister's life was when we were in the fifth grade
03:20
there was a program called Prep for prep and prep for
03:24
prep helps inner city kids of color.
03:26
Get into private schools in New York City.
03:28
You go through two schools at the same time,
03:30
your regular school and then an extra school on Wednesdays and Saturdays
03:34
and summer school to catch up to the private school kids and
03:37
then you go into private school.
03:38
So we went to private school for middle school,
03:40
high school and then eventually college.
03:42
So it was really prep for prep was the thing that made
03:45
you know, my life possible.
03:47
Your sister, both me and my sister and you were like
03:49
excellent students or how did you get it?
03:51
We were really good students at the time,
03:53
the teachers would nominate the best students and prep for prep would
03:56
come around to the different schools and the different boroughs in the
03:59
in the under privileged super poor places in New York City and
04:03
say who are your best students?
04:04
Because we have a chance to bring them up into private schools
04:07
and the private schools wanted more kids of color.
04:09
How did it feel to be the poor kid in the private
04:13
school? That was the hardest thing for sure.
04:17
For all that, I loved prep for prep,
04:19
what it didn't do at the time and I it is doing
04:22
it now is prepare me to go into that and then prepare
04:26
the students to accept me because I was the only one taking
04:29
a subway for an hour and a half every day.
04:32
I didn't have a country house.
04:34
I didn't, I couldn't go away on summer vacation.
04:38
you know, put my head down,
04:39
do my work and then come home and make the food and
04:42
do the ironing, do the chores,
04:44
you know, help my parents with the money.
04:46
So that part I wasn't prepared for that.
04:48
And I think while I got a great education,
04:51
I think from a sociological perspective that was super hard.
04:54
And you work now on prep for prep,
04:57
you have a role there.
04:58
Yes, I'm on the board of directors for prep for prep
05:01
And as part of my last advertising agency job,
05:04
we help them with the marketing that they do because now it's
05:08
changed so much. The way kids find out about programs is
05:11
not through parents and not through teachers,
05:12
but they themselves want to figure out where they go.
05:15
So we have to change the marketing,
05:17
the platform, the way we,
05:18
the way we push the program at the time,
05:20
the program was about work.
05:21
Super, super, super hard,
05:22
which is a great message when you're a kid of an immigrant
05:25
the harder you work,
05:26
the more you succeed today,
05:28
different message we are in so many instances,
05:31
the first ones in our family that have a chance like that
05:35
that is able to get an education graduate from college,
05:40
get into corporate America.
05:41
But we don't come with a manual of navigation and neither does
05:45
the rest of the world to accept us.
05:47
So that piece of the navigation seem to be in a
05:52
number of cases, the blockage that a lot of people find
05:56
also really hard for the soul in order to not only to
06:00
propel it forward. How did you do it?
06:03
It's such a good question.
06:04
And I think I only understand how I did it now.
06:09
and I think this part is like,
06:10
you know, it's a little embarrassing Mera Mucho,
06:13
you know, to be the reality is that when I was
06:17
younger the way to survive was to assimilate,
06:20
right? That was the message you become less of yourself in
06:24
the more white the whiter you are,
06:26
the less they notice you.
06:28
That was the way to survive.
06:29
So I do think over the years,
06:32
I feel like I shed more and more of my Latina self
06:36
I left it behind to become this person that I am
06:38
now. And that was the way to survive and it was
06:42
fine. It was fine until there were moments where it really
06:47
Like when I went to high school,
06:48
I was surrounded by a bunch of kids.
06:51
even though I knew economically socially I didn't.
06:55
And I remember, you know,
06:56
kids saying, can you do the Rosie Perez do the Rosie
06:59
Perez do that, you know,
07:00
do that accent and I would do it.
07:03
I would do it because they would laugh.
07:06
They would get, you know,
07:08
ah, she's one ba ba ba,
07:10
do it again. And I was part of it.
07:11
And that is, that's the truth.
07:13
I let myself, I just as if I wasn't worth anything
07:17
I became something I'm not.
07:21
I basically provoked all of the laughter and conversation and the biases
07:26
and, and that is how social groups do work.
07:28
Everybody is like, somehow assigned to have a role,
07:32
the chubby kid that is funny.
07:35
And this one that is,
07:36
that and I think that we never speak about,
07:39
like, how easy it is when you play this stereotype to
07:42
just, like, for being accepted.
07:45
That's right. And what a hard thing it is to do
07:48
It's really, it's really hard and I think if you fast
07:51
forward to today when everything is about bring your whole self to
07:55
work that question from what self,
07:58
the one I left 40 years ago,
08:00
the new one, I mean,
08:02
I'm still trying to get in touch with who that person is
08:04
But every day that goes by,
08:06
I actually feel like it's coming back and I feel more Latina
08:09
than I ever have even if there was a period of time
08:12
So. And it is interesting for us to see how this
08:15
will be a new time because it's no longer that we are
08:21
the first generation. We were the first generation,
08:23
but our kids are not gonna be the first generation are gonna
08:28
it's almost like it's done,
08:30
it's over, that piece is done.
08:32
And the data is so fascinating about like what you just went
08:36
through. If you're like over 45 the likelihood is that you
08:40
experience is similar to you that you had to make a choice
08:45
between being a SIM you know,
08:46
like a simulation and your parents would probably encourage that like,
08:49
no, no Spanish Mijo only English and that you would try
08:53
to do that and there's such a turn around.
08:56
Not only because the numbers,
08:57
but also because we're no longer the first ones.
09:00
we're getting the playbooks in places like here.
09:03
And so you see a rise of language from five years ago
09:06
to now, The usage of Spanish went from 63% to
09:10
76%. allowing for people that didn't know Spanish because they
09:15
didn't have it to go back.
09:17
There's a retro Latini that there's a reclaiming of our identity,
09:21
including our language. And so more people are just going back
09:24
to that piece of the self and say like,
09:26
wait, I wanna go back to understanding my roots,
09:29
going back to the countries where my family came from,
09:31
the food that we ate and the culture that we had.
09:34
So I am really excited about like,
09:36
what is that going to be for society?
09:39
And what is that gonna make for us as mothers as well
09:42
What kind of messages are we gonna be sending our daughters
09:46
I love that. Interestingly,
09:47
my daughter recently, she's 14 and we haven't really raised
09:51
her in a super Latina,
09:53
you know, household.
09:55
mom, I want a quinceanera.
09:57
I want to experience,
09:58
I want this, we deserve,
10:01
you deserve to have this experience and having her sort of encourage
10:04
me to kind of continue to push to be like,
10:06
yes, let's get in touch with this.
10:10
that gave me chills.
10:11
I got super emotional.
10:12
It was like mi look,
10:13
you know, because it's however,
10:15
it's gonna become mainstream to have quinceanera even if you're not Latino
10:19
OK. Last question about the background and you
10:22
and then we can go into your professional life,
10:24
but we couldn't find a lot of information about you on the
10:26
internet. Was that intentional?
10:29
I am not, I'm not big on the social internet.
10:34
I think I don't put a lot of stuff out there,
10:36
you know, for a good reason,
10:37
probably more to protect,
10:38
you know, protect me and my family.
10:42
I don't like to do that kind of stuff.
10:44
But I think we were also,
10:46
you know, probably a lot from the upbringing just like put
10:49
your head down and do the work.
10:51
I've always been that kind of a person which I think has
10:53
been part of what's made me successful,
10:55
but also part of what keeps a low profile,
11:02
and I do an excellent job and it can't be refuted.
11:06
I'm not the bombastic celebratory.
11:09
I'm all over the place kind of person,
11:11
but it is an irrefutable success if you know what I mean
11:14
But that has been my comfort.
11:16
The reason why we ask this is because when we started the
11:19
podcast, we couldn't find a lot of Latinas that could be
11:23
role models because you guys don't speak in public and don't say
11:28
I'm Latina. I killed it being myself.
11:32
So we're trying to bring more women like you and we,
11:36
we encourage you to find ways to put yourself out there.
11:39
So the next generation sees you because you're freaking killing it.
11:42
They should know that the presi the CEO of BBDO Americas,
11:47
he's a Latina. Yeah,
11:48
I love that you're doing that and you're right.
11:50
But I think it comes from the same thing we were talking
11:52
about the humility of just don't be,
11:56
don't get noticed. You know,
11:58
I feel like I've spent a lot of time studying this whole
12:01
like, you know what it's like to be the kid
12:03
of an immigrant where you're just worried that you're going to get
12:07
You have to just stay on under the radar.
12:11
You know, even if it's not fully that,
12:13
that is I think what people feel.
12:15
And so the more you sort of suppress yourself and your success
12:19
the easier you'll get through again.
12:21
We're changing things and I'm feeling more and more and more.
12:24
But I think that's a reality of the,
12:25
it does make a big difference.
12:27
Now you make me realize you're sharp.
12:32
It took you like 20 episodes to say,
12:35
but philanthropy was the same,
12:38
like it was elegant to be anonymous in your donations before
12:42
and not to say anything and,
12:44
and to give just like quietly and we I am from
12:49
you have to say it so that more people see that you
12:52
are. And so Bill Gates with Baron Buffett,
12:54
started this giving pledge,
12:56
which was saying I'll give 50% of my fortune.
12:59
And they invited all the other people that wanted to be like
13:02
them to say it out loud and that generated trillions of dollars
13:07
giving to charities. I am begging all Latinas to start actually
13:11
saying it because it's gonna bring,
13:13
it's gonna, it's gonna bring that ripple effect.
13:16
OK. Now, let's talk about work.
13:19
You have worked in Omnicom for over eight years in the umbrella
13:24
What do you think has been your superpower that made people
13:28
pick you for very important roles to like actually,
13:32
can you talk about Omnicom and how you can move from one
13:36
company to another if I total up all the years at Omnicom
13:39
It's probably 20 by the way,
13:41
because I started to really understand the power of advertising when I
13:45
moved into Omnicom. So I started my career in New York
13:48
and then I moved to San Francisco to a place called Good
13:51
Be Silver Student Partners,
13:52
which was in a little creative agency in San Francisco,
13:56
And that's when I started to see.
13:57
Wow, advertising is about big ideas.
14:00
It's about imagination. It's about possibility applied to like the
14:05
biggest, most interesting problems.
14:07
And I had a wonderful career there.
14:09
And I have to say this is a great example to me
14:11
of the, of that company.
14:12
And Omnicom, I wanted to move back to,
14:15
to New York because I was pregnant with my second and my
14:20
my husband's family was here.
14:21
And so I took another job because goodbye did not exist in
14:24
New York and good be and Omnicom said,
14:28
wait a minute. Why didn't you tell us?
14:30
We're gonna open an office for you.
14:32
So they opened an office for me.
14:34
They said, you know,
14:35
you can work four days a week,
14:38
you know, you can be there for your kids.
14:40
And I did that and it was like,
14:42
this is where it reinforced that the way I worked,
14:45
which was like, I'm just gonna learn.
14:47
I'm gonna be super curious.
14:48
I'm gonna put my head down and do my very best work
14:51
I was getting validation that I was being seen,
14:54
you know, and it was working and I,
14:56
and I got this amazing operation.
14:57
Did you leave? And then they told you or you were
15:00
going to leave and you negotiated like it wasn't.
15:03
So I didn't even have to negotiate.
15:05
But I said, I'm so sorry.
15:06
This is the best company of my life.
15:08
I love it. But I took this other job because,
15:13
they dump it. They came back with something I could not
15:16
say no to. That was amazing.
15:18
So I want just tell our audience because I've experienced this with
15:22
many people in my teams.
15:23
Never quit a job without talking to your manager because many times
15:28
you're quitting a job because of something like that.
15:30
I don't like what I'm doing.
15:31
I want to do something else.
15:32
Talk to your manager.
15:33
They may have another place for you if you're good.
15:36
And we rarely have those conversations.
15:39
We just leave and then we learn,
15:41
oh, there was a conversation to be had.
15:43
And I think in my experience,
15:45
younger generations are getting the message.
15:47
You can actually have that conversation.
15:48
You don't have to quit because something is not working.
15:51
You can be honest and then have a long career and move
15:54
internally. Yeah, exactly.
15:55
Exactly. So I did that for a few years and then
15:58
I actually left because it didn't work out and I wanted to
16:00
go client side. So I went to the client side and
16:04
then I ended up coming back a year later,
16:06
the client side like a very short time,
16:08
very short time. Not quite a year.
16:11
I ran wireless marketing for Verizon.
16:13
It was a new era for Verizon.
16:16
was coming in as a new chief marketing officer,
16:19
you know, wonderful sort of force passionate,
16:22
wanted to change a lot of things he brought in a lot
16:24
a lot of great talent.
16:25
I was lucky enough to be in that,
16:27
in that spot. He brought you in,
16:30
To be honest, I did love it.
16:32
I loved it very much.
16:34
It was hard, it was different,
16:36
it was different, you know,
16:39
operation driven company, you have to just respect just how wonderful
16:44
the operation of it is how intelligent the people are.
16:48
It just wasn't my cultural,
16:51
my soul was a little bit not connected to the work,
16:54
but I love the people and I love the experience and I
16:56
loved being on the other side because I felt like I understood
17:00
something. I didn't totally understand being on the agency side.
17:03
I thought I was the best with clients,
17:05
but you go on the other side,
17:06
like I, I didn't even know half the story.
17:09
You've been in the advertising industry for what you said about 20
17:13
years. What has been the biggest transformation?
17:16
How have you experienced it changing in the last 10 years?
17:20
I think I, when I think about this,
17:22
I think about it less.
17:24
Like what is the biggest transformation for me and just what is
17:27
the continuous thing that we can't seem to get out of?
17:31
So I, I'm gonna answer it a little bit differently,
17:33
which is that you know,
17:35
there's always big data,
17:36
there's always web three point meta,
17:37
there's always a thing,
17:38
there's always a thing what I,
17:40
I wish we could just get out of.
17:43
And it is like my mission in life is there is such
17:45
a terrible insecurity about being in the advertising industry.
17:49
There is a constant advertising is dead.
17:52
Zal, here comes a I it's over,
17:55
here comes web through,
17:56
it's over, you know,
17:57
advertising is dead. They don't know how to do it.
18:00
and people in the industry leaders in the industry of advertising agencies
18:05
love to say that because we are a very dramatic people.
18:08
We are very insecure people and it's just part of our healthy
18:11
paranoia. I guess if I could say like that,
18:14
that, that may be big thing for me over the past
18:18
10 years. It's just a constant,
18:19
it's getting worse. It's,
18:20
it's getting worse and worse and worse.
18:22
that is the tipping point we're in where either we believe or
18:25
we don't. But this business is not for the people who
18:27
don't believe it's never gonna survive.
18:29
And what is the business about?
18:33
you were talking about problem solving seems pretty natural for Hispanics.
18:38
Oh, absolutely. I mean,
18:39
we've never seen a problem we can't solve.
18:41
I mean, this is like this,
18:42
there's not a hustle,
18:43
you know, a hustle culture,
18:45
like hours out there on the planet.
18:47
as long as there's a problem to solve.
18:49
As long as there's an almost an impossible challenge,
18:52
the more impossible it is,
18:53
the more we're equipped to solve it honestly as the Latino population
18:57
And I understand that creativity is a result of crisis in
19:01
many instances. So when we look at our communities,
19:04
we have been exposed to so much that probably our brain is
19:08
is, is prone to be creative and resourceful.
19:11
So why don't we see more people like you running the agencies
19:16
It's a good question.
19:17
I don't know how many people like us know about this industry
19:20
I wanna say that was probably a big obstacle for me
19:23
I, when I was in college,
19:25
it was a specific track.
19:27
You could be in a banker.
19:29
This was a long time ago.
19:30
You could be a banker,
19:31
you could be a consultant,
19:33
There was no path to creative services.
19:36
It was actually prep for prep that came back into my life
19:39
and said there's an advertising agency that wants to get more diverse
19:42
Can you come in and you know,
19:45
see and meet with them?
19:47
this was a funny story for me.
19:49
I go there and I'm one of 10 people of color.
19:54
It was it, it spoke to me and I'm one
19:57
of 10 people of color and somebody is explaining advertising to
20:01
all of us because none of us have ever done it before
20:03
And they said you could be a writer and this is
20:06
You could be an art director,
20:07
you could be in media.
20:08
You could be an account management.
20:09
Which one would you like to be in?
20:12
I wrote for the paper in college and I went to Harvard
20:14
I wrote for a good paper at a good college.
20:17
I would like to be a writer.
20:18
And he said that's ok.
20:20
You can be an account person and the door closed,
20:23
that's it says Cro La Puerta because I didn't have a book
20:26
I didn't have creative experience.
20:28
I didn't have, I didn't do all this other stuff that
20:30
I had no idea was even a requirement in this business.
20:33
That's why I do the creative ladder work because,
20:36
it is about educating people on this industry.
20:38
But I think my number one thing is in this industry.
20:41
I'm not sure how many of us know about it and how
20:43
much the message is from the parents that the creative services industry
20:47
is an industry that you should,
20:49
that you should invest your time in.
20:50
That is good for who you are because we hear a lot
20:56
there's always going to be a job and you can a I
20:58
is not going to replace you.
21:00
But creativity is the least replaceable thing,
21:03
right? Is the industry like open arms for Latinos,
21:10
like, and, and particularly Latinas,
21:12
I think that look Mad men and the imagery of Madison and
21:19
like seeing you here sitting down,
21:22
you know, like it's like,
21:23
OK, so it's possible but probably not without the bruise.
21:27
I don't, I don't think we're anywhere near where we need
21:29
to be in advertising.
21:31
there's not enough of us in it to continue to rise.
21:34
So we need more people inside the industry.
21:36
And then I think the second thing we need,
21:38
which is maybe the bigger work is like,
21:39
how do we get the rest of the workforce ready for what
21:43
diverse ideas really means for what diverse work styles really means.
21:47
When you say you want a Latina at the top,
21:49
what does that come with and how do you not make me
21:51
compromise what it comes with in order to achieve whatever it is
21:54
that you want to achieve that,
21:55
that work, that work is the hard work and how much
21:58
of your Latini that do you insert in the client in the
22:02
like I'm looking at,
22:04
I don't even know who your clients are.
22:05
So I hope that I'm not offended,
22:06
but the number one beer in the country is Latino beer and
22:10
that's not because we drink it all.
22:11
It is because I think that the Latino values are transcending and
22:15
I, I don't know how much of that Latinidad is,
22:17
is, is part of what you're.
22:19
I think, I think it's there.
22:21
I think one, I will say there's a lot more clients
22:23
that are also of color,
22:25
whether they're Latino or whether there are,
22:26
you know, people of color.
22:28
I am seeing more diversification on the corporate side of marketing honestly
22:32
than I am on the advertising agency side of marketing.
22:35
The the wonderful thing about that is that then those those wonderful
22:38
leaders are in the in control and ability to demand diversification at
22:42
the top of agencies.
22:45
I think stuff is changing and I think we now have a
22:49
responsibility, those of us that are in here to you to
22:51
your point to, you know,
22:52
be loud and proud about it.
22:53
But I I do see some bits of it moving in the
22:56
right direction. So you went to Harvard College,
22:59
I went from prep for prep to a private school in New
23:02
York City. And then I went to another private school in
23:05
New York City high school.
23:06
a place called Trinity on the Upper West side.
23:09
Yeah, the number one school in the city and I went
23:12
there as a result of prep for prep now also because II
23:15
I always play around with this too much because I earned it
23:21
But obviously, you know,
23:22
I got a lot of help and guidance this program is magic
23:25
OK. This program is,
23:26
is wonderful magic. So go going through that school,
23:29
I was now introduced to a whole pipeline of opportunities I never
23:33
had before. So through the help of Trinity and prep for
23:35
prep, I was introduced to a bunch of Ivy League schools
23:38
and I got an opportunity to go to Harvard.
23:39
By the way, my sister went to Harvard before me.
23:43
she opened that door for me.
23:45
I got to experience it.
23:47
I, I graduated from Harvard in 97.
23:49
I was very surprised.
23:50
I didn't go to Harvard College.
23:52
I went to Harvard Business School.
23:54
And before I went there,
23:55
I expected to see mostly wealthy like white people and it is
24:01
very diverse. I think it's a,
24:04
what's your perspective? Is it the school making an effort or
24:07
it's also that people from under represented backgrounds just work so much
24:12
harder. I think it's both.
24:14
but I don't think we should minimize how hard people from underrepresented
24:18
backgrounds work. I think we all know they have to work
24:20
we have to work so much harder than everybody else does
24:24
I do think when I got to Harvard,
24:26
I felt like, you know,
24:27
if I was one person at my high school that didn't fit
24:31
in because of my socio-economic background or what I look like at
24:34
Harvard, I was one of many who probably had the same
24:37
experience. So all of a sudden you have an instant comunidad
24:39
you know that I didn't have before and then that comunidad
24:42
grows and it grows and it grows and it grows.
24:44
And so I do think that's what happening in some universities.
24:47
It starts. It's what's happening in some industries,
24:50
in some companies is you can find more of yourself out there
24:55
than you did when you were younger.
24:56
You know what I mean?
24:57
And we should give it to those programs like prep for prep
25:01
And I hope that with the changes,
25:03
political changes, the opportunities are not taken away and that we're
25:07
gonna continue seeing opportunities and bridges that allow people like you
25:12
come to the opportunity to take it and excel with it.
25:14
I mean, if this is not the best ad and if
25:17
you're not the best ad for prep for prep,
25:19
I don't know how to make a good ad or for opportunity
25:23
right? For affirmative action and to many other,
25:25
many other programs that allow for those programs to it.
25:30
I am a product of an affirmative action era and I know
25:33
there's a lot of controversy around that,
25:35
but I think, you know,
25:36
I can confidently argue that I deserved every opportunity I received.
25:41
it was, I just came up in a system that was
25:43
not meant for helping people that were not from a good background
25:46
or had enough money,
25:48
can you talk to us about your career within Omnicom?
25:50
You went, you went back after Verizon and had more years
25:54
of going from one agency to the other within the Yes.
25:58
So after Verizon, I went to a company called TB W
26:00
A shy at day in New York,
26:03
which is another Omnicom agency.
26:05
And in that company,
26:07
I worked for 7.5 years and again,
26:09
rose quite steadily from managing director to president to see the account
26:13
side, not on the creative side,
26:14
on the account side,
26:15
always on the account side.
26:16
So I was, I was brought up in account management and
26:19
then eventually, you know,
26:20
spanned into, spanned into a leadership role.
26:22
What makes a great account person in an agency?
26:25
Yes, I'm glad you asked this because I feel super passionate
26:28
about you. She's like,
26:31
she's going straight for the straight for the juicy questions.
26:34
She prepared for this.
26:36
I'm going off script and asking all the juicy questions,
26:39
all the juicy questions.
26:40
So remember I told you the story of the,
26:42
of the person who said to me that's OK.
26:44
You can just be an account person when he said you can
26:47
just be an account person.
26:48
He made me feel like account people were nothing.
26:51
And so because that door closed,
26:55
like super fiery mad.
26:58
I am going to be the best account person you have ever
27:01
seen so that we can redefine what account management is.
27:06
it was a little fire burning up inside of me.
27:08
And I, I know for sure that that is what pushed
27:11
me forward and a great account person to me understands the business
27:15
of the brands that we're working on what obstacles exist between where
27:20
we are today and where the business of that brand has to
27:22
go and how creativity can be applied to that,
27:26
always managing the risk and the bravery that we're asking our clients
27:29
to take on behalf of an idea with a safety net that
27:33
That is a great account person.
27:35
And then there's all sorts of important,
27:37
critical operational things of how do I put together a team,
27:40
how do I get everybody corralled around a problem?
27:43
How do motivation, how to keep relationships going,
27:45
et cetera? But to me,
27:47
it is we have a goal that is from here to there
27:50
and it is my job to move us steadily there.
27:52
Always pushing bravery, but with a little bit of safety net
27:55
So you feel good about the brave decisions that you're making
27:57
And so within agencies are the account managers,
28:00
the ones that are like taking A I and bringing it to
28:03
clients and managing that or is that like the evangelists or others
28:07
How is, how is that affecting your industrial A I
28:11
I think, I think it's impossible for everyone not to be
28:15
touching a I, and talking about A I,
28:17
so I do think A I is more widespread than account people
28:19
but I think account people for sure are sitting here saying
28:21
there is going to be an impact to the business.
28:23
I think honestly, with a,
28:24
I, I heard this wonderful quote from one of,
28:27
one of the people in our Colombian office who I love,
28:29
he's a great innovation guy.
28:32
I don't think A I is going to replace humans,
28:34
but it will replace humans who don't embrace A I.
28:37
And that's, that's really what we're talking about here is it's
28:39
a wonderful technology, it has its goods,
28:41
it has its bads and we have to embrace it and use
28:46
as a way to continue to push forward on creativity.
28:48
So I, I think there are some things that it will
28:50
replace, that are mundane that we can,
28:52
we can commoditize and I'm actually excited about the parts that
28:56
we can commoditize because it gives more brain space to the things
28:59
that we can't commoditize to your point.
29:01
You know, creativity,
29:03
originality, you know,
29:04
that's, that's never going to be so from an incredible account
29:07
manager to the CEO and the C suit.
29:09
How did that happen?
29:10
And I know that you're involved in the circle of women and
29:13
other tools to prepare women.
29:14
How was your experience to get today?
29:20
I think, I think the,
29:23
I know, I keep saying it over and over again.
29:27
you've like given me an extra boost on it.
29:31
there's a couple of things that happened.
29:33
One is I realized that I'm good at transformation.
29:36
I'm good at changing.
29:37
I'm good at the hard stuff.
29:39
I think I'm, I think I was built for that.
29:42
I think I was born into that.
29:44
And I think if there isn't a problem for me to solve
29:47
that feels impossible.
29:49
I don't feel comfortable because that's,
29:51
I mean, that is what we do is like with what
29:53
resources in what way,
29:54
with what imagination are we going to get from here to there
29:56
So I do think I've been put,
29:58
I've been put in those positions and I have capitalized on those
30:03
I think that's a big part of it.
30:04
Not to mention the fact that I work at a company that
30:06
is continuously rewarding that and the benefit of Omnicom.
30:09
And you asked this before is you can move around to a
30:11
bunch of different companies.
30:13
There is they want you to grow,
30:14
they want you to succeed.
30:15
And when they see great talent,
30:17
it's about opening doors,
30:19
you know, to that talent to have more opportunities.
30:21
So I, I do feel blessed by my own sort of
30:23
upbringing and passion around it,
30:24
but also the company that I happen to work for and I
30:27
assume that you have,
30:28
you know, like I can see how many people wanted to
30:32
and sponsor you or maybe advocate for you and,
30:35
and, and, and see you succeed.
30:37
Yeah, I have felt that,
30:38
you know, I have to say I have felt a lot
30:40
of hands on my back in the very best way,
30:42
in the very best way possible.
30:43
And I, I got this incredible opportunity last year at this
30:48
at this time, I graduated from Harvard Business School executive management
30:51
program. It was a five month super rigorous program that was
30:55
like a business school simulation.
30:56
I never had a chance to go business school.
30:59
But John Renn from Omnicom sent me to this program because he
31:02
wanted me to just have this incredible experience and it was validating
31:07
not just of my own personal thing,
31:09
but I was one of 180 leaders like same kind of level
31:13
from around the world across the industries.
31:15
And what that did for me was,
31:17
it made me realize that I was probably the only one in
31:20
there from a creative background and how important that discipline and that
31:25
thinking is needed even in industries that are not necessarily creative,
31:30
you know, that you wouldn't consider creative,
31:32
whether it's manufacturing or technology or,
31:35
or health care, they all have creativity in them.
31:37
So I got this amazing opportunity.
31:39
I learned a ton and then after that,
31:42
He gave me this opportunity to come to,
31:44
to be the CEO of DVD L of the Americas.
31:47
Adela Zepeda who told us that in her career,
31:50
she's always made time like 10 or 20% of her time to
31:53
learn and to educate herself.
31:55
And I went through leadership training recently too.
31:59
And I was just so thankful that I was able to
32:03
remove myself from the day to day and just spend time reflecting
32:07
the like, how was your experience going to H BS?
32:11
And it was a lot like that.
32:12
I think the, the reason that it worked as a program
32:15
is because I was there for six weeks on campus straight.
32:20
three weeks, 23 week windows.
32:23
So I started here and I did some,
32:25
some online classes and then I went there for three weeks and
32:28
lived with, I lived with a living group.
32:31
I mean, I was immersed in it.
32:33
I went to class Monday through Saturday and II,
32:38
I loved college like crazy.
32:40
I could do that all day every day.
32:42
So I was in my element and then we had the experience
32:45
of every night, we would go back together as seven or
32:48
eight of us and talk about the cases and prepare all of
32:51
that stuff that I'd never gone through in business school.
32:53
So I did that for six weeks.
32:55
Right, those two different periods of time,
32:59
the relationships and the,
33:01
you know, we were all around the same age,
33:04
around the same point in our career going through around the same
33:08
kinds of opportunities and problems.
33:10
Is this right? For me,
33:11
what's my next step?
33:13
how do I do the professional and the personal,
33:16
like literally, it was just an incredibly connected community.
33:20
In fact, we're planning a reunion in July.
33:24
And did you see yourself as a CEO before that?
33:27
Because a lot of the guests that we have had have experiences
33:30
mostly academic where they are confronted to a new image of themselves
33:35
that they haven't had,
33:36
which is like, I can be a Ceo Latina CEO and
33:40
that then becomes something that you can start sort of like manifesting
33:46
before I went to it,
33:47
I was the CEO of the New York office for TB W
33:50
I had gotten to be the CEO there.
33:52
I think what I didn't,
33:53
what I wasn't yet ready to declare was a bigger role than
33:57
just that. And maybe just a larger opinion about the state
34:01
of advertising and the need for creativity and the tension that exists
34:05
between legacy and new and new thinking.
34:08
And I, I felt more and more like,
34:10
OK, I, I get what I'm supposed to do.
34:12
I understand my calling.
34:13
I see where this is going.
34:14
So I, I do think that's what it did for me
34:17
In my experience on the client side,
34:19
there's two type of account people,
34:21
project managers, they basically just project,
34:25
manage the creative work and make sure that things are delivered on
34:28
time. And the good account people are really the strategic partners
34:33
of the client and many times the client is wrong,
34:38
like you bring a creative idea and the client maybe it's too
34:42
much risk and they don't wanna lose their job or they don't
34:45
want to get a slap in the hand.
34:47
So they, they decline,
34:48
the creative or creative teams will always come up with the craziest
34:52
things and clients will always kill the ideas.
34:54
So I think it's the job of the a good account person
34:58
helps the client feel comfortable with taking risk.
35:01
Now bringing it back to a Latina woman being a Latina woman
35:05
How do you use your Latinidad to push back on a
35:09
client when you think the client is making the wrong call?
35:12
And you don't wanna just take another and be like,
35:15
OK, let's not do that.
35:16
Let's just make the boring a how do you lean into your
35:19
Latina? I think a Latina is a debater by,
35:24
there is not, there is not anything that can't be debated
35:27
and, and I think that in engaging client in that debate
35:31
where you're asking questions that provoke another question that provoke a response
35:35
and then it goes back and forth and back and forth and
35:37
back and forth. And before you know,
35:38
it, the two of you have cracked it honestly.
35:41
I think that is very Latina to just be like,
35:44
no, no, it's all debatable.
35:45
It's all up for question,
35:46
you know. But then I think the other thing that I
35:49
have always felt worked is when you believe something as a Latina
35:53
when you believe something.
35:55
Oh yeah, look out there is no way you're going to
35:59
convince me otherwise. And to argue with that kind of confidence
36:04
and you know, and just pointed and authority,
36:08
not disrespectful, not bullying,
36:10
but like passion, confidence,
36:13
you cannot penetrate the argument because it is so well thought because
36:16
I believe it that I think is very Latina.
36:20
So the debate and just the true belief that burns inside,
36:24
it's just you can't,
36:25
it's hard to argue with that.
36:26
It's, it's also magnetic,
36:28
who doesn't want people around them that have that belief and then
36:31
who doesn't want to have it themselves?
36:32
You know, and I think that that's where we can talk
36:36
about the flipping the script for a second.
36:39
Because I, we hear again and again how these cultural
36:43
nuances, these pieces of us that make us who we are
36:47
are detected but not determined as positive assets within corporations
36:53
They are seen as negative assets as you have an accent
36:57
Therefore, you're you know,
36:59
like you're lesser of a person as opposed to you're bilingual.
37:03
So you just have to flip it so that the person can
37:05
get empowered with their accent as opposed to hide their accent.
37:08
And I think that the same happens with this fire that you
37:12
were talking about this,
37:13
this determination that, you know,
37:15
like people do understand that we are a fiery but they don't
37:19
see that as determination,
37:21
passion, commitment. And then like,
37:23
how do you talk to us about flipping the script?
37:25
And how has that been in your career?
37:28
How have you seen it?
37:30
What all the things that we need to flip the script?
37:32
So more, more Latinas can be successful.
37:35
I understood. I think the fire thing is a big one
37:37
for me. I've tried to own it a little bit more
37:40
to be like I'm coming in hot.
37:43
And when, when usually the negative side of coming in hot
37:47
Everybody hide, she's coming in hot,
37:49
you know, like they hide under their desk,
37:51
they close the door like I'm not gonna see her today.
37:53
I, I think that the,
37:54
the difference between that and the No,
37:57
no. She's coming in with a belief with a passion with
38:01
a, with a force with a,
38:03
with a direction with a way to go.
38:05
That's how you flip that.
38:06
And I think sometimes most times when companies are going through change
38:11
when they're going through uncertainty,
38:12
when they're worried about it.
38:13
The number one thing they want is somebody who believes some who
38:17
just is a for who pushes,
38:19
this is how we're gonna do it.
38:21
And then everybody follows you.
38:22
And then because also they trust you because you've been building relationships
38:26
because that's what we do.
38:28
you know, when you believe like that,
38:30
the other thing, which is very Latina,
38:32
which sometimes is not good,
38:33
but you flip it is you don't take shit.
38:36
I'm not gonna take it,
38:37
I'm not gonna take it.
38:38
This is the place we're going.
38:41
That's it. You know,
38:42
I think actually that is a great thing because we don't need
38:45
we don't need any extra stuff we can't handle or shouldn't
38:48
have to handle today.
38:49
So being the CEO or work life violence,
38:52
talk about that, I'll tell you a story that I think
38:55
was the flipping point of how I manage it.
38:58
OK? So I remember I said they opened up an office
39:03
And the hard part about that is it was a brand
39:06
new office. I had to keep it open all the time
39:07
I was working in New York like crazy.
39:09
I was working in San Francisco like crazy and it was a
39:13
Meanwhile, my husband was home with the kids.
39:15
Fast forward to my husband,
39:17
didn't feel well one day,
39:19
it got worse and worse and worse and worse and
39:21
worse. And I had a pitch.
39:22
I had a super big pitch and the office was brand new
39:25
And if I didn't win this pitch,
39:26
oh my God. The people that were employed it was so
39:28
much stress. He had to get rushed to the hospital.
39:31
Ok. He had to go into surgery.
39:32
They thought he had appendicitis or whatever it was something advanced,
39:35
ok? And he was gonna go into surgery and he said
39:38
wait, wait for the surgery.
39:40
Wait, I need my wife to come here.
39:42
I need to tell her that I love her,
39:43
but she has a pitch.
39:44
So just give her a few minutes.
39:48
I didn't even know he had done that.
39:49
Ok. But sure enough,
39:50
I go through the pitch,
39:51
I get, we lost the pitch.
39:54
I can't get there fast enough.
39:55
He goes in, he has this,
39:57
he ends up having appendix cancer and it is a major disruption
40:01
of our life. You know,
40:03
we we had to move to Pittsburgh for him to get special
40:05
treatment. He's fine now,
40:06
but he's dealing with the aftermath of the,
40:08
of the cancer and the barbaric surgery.
40:11
That for me was like what is happening right now?
40:14
What is happening? I am wearing this so much right that
40:20
I am making him feel like he has to put off his
40:22
own life because he's worried if he dies,
40:25
he doesn't tell his wife he loves her.
40:29
I wanna cry. This is,
40:31
I, I feel like I have tried to come to terms
40:33
with this so many times so that it's a terrible story,
40:38
but I share it because it's maybe a gift for somebody of
40:41
like, don't go through that please,
40:42
because I shouldn't have needed that for La Clari of like it
40:46
doesn't matter. So when I'm home,
40:49
I'm home, when I'm working,
40:51
I'm working. But I'm my,
40:52
my family, whatever,
40:54
whatever they need, whatever they want.
40:56
I don't care about anything else but them,
41:00
you know, and I think that today the vulnerability of a
41:03
leader to be able to share that kind of story,
41:05
right? And then to say my people,
41:07
my employees, my people that I,
41:08
that I come to serve every day,
41:09
it's not that I don't care about you.
41:10
I just have these three people that I care about so much
41:14
but that, that personal,
41:16
whatever this have it all.
41:18
you just have to do the best you can,
41:20
but always, always have an eye on the thing that's most
41:23
important, which is come on La Familia always has to be
41:25
that and it's like sometimes like you went for six weeks to
41:29
They didn't go with you.
41:30
So you didn't come with me.
41:31
Yeah, I know when they came to visit,
41:33
but we talked about it as a family.
41:35
I mean, I talked to my,
41:36
my husband and my kids about this new job.
41:38
It's gonna be a little intense.
41:39
Mommy's gonna have to travel.
41:41
How are we gonna navigate?
41:42
It was a family decision.
41:44
You know, it's a family decision.
41:45
Thank you so much for sharing that.
41:47
I think it is really important that we start sharing all the
41:50
pieces where we are trying our best.
41:54
It is not that we have it all.
41:56
We have a tool kit that we're trying to use as much
41:59
as and as good as we can and where parents have their
42:02
tool kit that maybe was even more reduced than ours.
42:04
And hopefully our kids will get it even more.
42:08
But the more we share it,
42:09
the, the less guilty we're gonna be and the faster we're
42:11
gonna get to that place.
42:13
And maybe this is a good time to ask you,
42:14
what advice would you give your younger self?
42:18
I think now knowing what I know now what my strengths are
42:21
I would say to my younger self.
42:26
Now, I honestly would,
42:28
you know, because it's such a gift,
42:30
you know, it's such a wonderful thing.
42:32
And I know it has been a big part of why I'm
42:34
successful and I, and I wish I just wasn't ashamed of
42:38
it, but that's the reality of where we were at the
42:42
you have to hide that in order to succeed.
42:44
And I think actually,
42:46
actually it might have been possible to succeed with it.
42:49
You know, if we just maybe believed in it a little
42:51
more. Well, the next generation,
42:54
did you have to dial down a lot?
43:00
that's the sort of assimilation thing of,
43:05
The, the whiter you are the more articulate you are.
43:09
There, there is a reason I'm this articulate,
43:11
you know, and that is because I noticed how my parents
43:15
were treated when they had broken English,
43:16
they couldn't speak well,
43:18
Spanish was my first language.
43:20
They, I learned English on Sesame Street.
43:21
They would put me in front of the TV.
43:23
And I remember being like,
43:24
no, no, my English is gonna be perfect but there
43:26
were a certain group of people that could speak like that.
43:29
And so the more I leaned into that,
43:31
the further and further I away,
43:33
I went from my Latina.
43:36
it's a, it's a terrible admission,
43:38
but I just wanna be real about what it was,
43:42
you know, over time I think I,
43:43
I realized at some point,
43:45
you know, the wonderful and beautiful thing about being a Latina
43:48
is you can't suppress that thing forever.
43:50
It's gonna come out.
43:51
And I remember being in a big corporate on the 53rd floor
43:55
of a big, a wonderful client.
43:57
I mean, this client was amazing.
43:59
I loved this client.
44:00
It was a room and I never noticed it before,
44:03
but it was a room of all,
44:05
you know, white men in their fifties and I was fighting
44:09
for an idea or whatever it was and the whole thing came
44:12
blah, blah. And I was,
44:13
and I'm like, oh my God,
44:14
I feel so Latina right now,
44:18
yeah, yeah, I'm here.
44:19
So I that's the thing about it is like,
44:21
no matter how much you try to hide it,
44:24
it's gonna come out.
44:25
So, in 10 years from now when we are sitting down
44:27
again, having a new podcast,
44:29
we're gonna ask you like,
44:31
so what did you do the last 10 years that you're so
44:35
I mean, aside from just,
44:37
you know, having the,
44:37
the happiest, most wonderful family on the planet because honestly,
44:40
that is like, that is to me,
44:42
the, the thing I would love to think that the passion
44:46
and excitement of what it means to be.
44:48
Latina has been applied to creativity and imagination and advertising and you
44:52
will feel and see us all around.
44:54
That would be an amazing way to end my career.
44:56
I love that. Which other Latina should we bring to the
44:59
podcast? Maybe from the industry that you think is someone to
45:03
I have three of them.
45:05
You know, just in case you need a lot of Latinas
45:09
a woman named Alex Cuevas who works and she actually works at
45:12
BBDO. She's a talent person from BBDO and she is
45:16
so smart and so gifted.
45:18
and so strategic and she's,
45:20
you know, she's a force in the talent in the talent
45:22
industry. And the reason I picked t on people is because
45:25
good Latina talent can find more good Latina talent.
45:28
So in that same vein,
45:29
Monica Torres, Monica Torres is a another talent person who's
45:34
been in this industry for a really long time,
45:36
super connected to a lot of wonderful people and can give
45:40
a lot of passion to a passion to advertising.
45:42
And one of my favorite Omnicom people is Roe Karos who
45:46
runs a lot of our marketing programs inside Omnicom actually.
45:51
And she's incredible and also just a modern thinker,
45:55
a social media activist and just an incredible human all around.
46:00
we have to keep going,
46:00
then we're going to give her an entire season of Omnicom and
46:03
so many and so many wonderful Latinas in your company.
46:07
This was just exceptional.
46:09
I have to say I learned so much.
46:11
I was moved all throughout.
46:12
Thank you so much for your wisdom and your vulnerability as well
46:16
thank you. This was great.
46:18
I'm so glad that we met.
46:19
I know I treated you like I knew you from before,
46:21
but now I feel like I know you from before.
46:23
So thank you. Thank you for making us all feel comfortable
46:26
and thank you so very much because with conversations like this
46:30
with openness like this,
46:31
I hope that young Latinas can lead and succeeded.
Series