November 23, 2023 • 39 mins
Aaron and God-is discuss how embracing your uniqueness can become a catalyst for success. They emphasize the importance of being your authentic self in the workplace, exploring practical insights for individuals navigating the advertising industry.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to season two of the Future Legends
of Advertising podcast on iHeart, featuring the hottest up and
coming stars in advertising as well as the biggest legends
in the game.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
In this series, we explore the future of the advertising
industry through never before heard conversations between those who created
it and those who are shaping its future.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
We're your hosts, Hailey Romer and Ross Martin.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Now let's meet the legends. Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm so excited to introduce today's episode, which features two
complete and total rock stars, Goddess Rivera and Aaron Walton.
And first I'm gonna bring out Goddess, but before I
do a word or two about this woman who is
really having a moment, but I think she's already had
(01:03):
several moments in her career. She is about to be
inducted into the twenty twenty three American Advertising Federation's Hall
of Achievement. She spent four years in marketing at The
Artist formerly known as Twitter, where she drove strategy and
worked at a high level with community leaders, content partners, influencers,
(01:23):
creators brands. Before that, she was the Director of Inclusion
and Cultural Resonance at VMLY and R which is a
role that she created. She's done that before. Actually, she's
created roles before. In twenty twenty two, she became Disney's
first VP of Inclusive Marketing. I think she created that
(01:45):
role too, and most recently now she's the Chief Content
Officer for Essence Venture. The accolades for Goddess are many
twenty eighteen ad age women to watch, and they were
right also featured in adweek campaign Marie Claire Forbes, did
you say the drum BET's most innovative and influential business
(02:09):
executives fortune forty under forty. I could go on and on,
but then we wouldn't get to hear from her. So
let me bring on to the show. Welcome to the podcast,
Goddess Rivera.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Oh my, Gus Ross like, thank you so much for
having me. I felt like I was having a moment
with that. You don't hear the rundown too often. I
get to remind just.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So you earned it. Here's the thing, like you're about
to actually it's about to happen. You're about to get
inducted into the Hall of Achievement. There's only a couple
hundred people over many, many years, thirty one years that
have been in this It's a huge honor. How are
you feeling about this af Hall of Achievement Award?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
You know, I it's so interesting because my dad used
to always tell me, make sure you take a minute
and just stop and think about what you've done. And
I will tell you that I hadn't taken that minute
until I had the opportunity to be a part of
this process. And I'm very grateful to you all for
(03:09):
allowing us to really take a second and take stock
in what we've been trying to accomplish and the things
that we have accomplished.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
So I am.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Completely just in reverence, and I am so grateful and honored.
I think that I had a chance to look back
and say, hey, not all of them, because I still
got a lot to do, but a few of the
things that I set out to do I was able
to accomplish. And I don't think that I would have
actually taken a moment and stopped and even said that
(03:39):
to myself if it wasn't for the incredible recognition of
our amazing community. So I'm so grateful and honored to
be a part of this very awesome, very dope cruise.
So I'm also ready to party. If you know, Lisea, I.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Am too, and thank god this year it's finally a
dinner and a nighttime event. Sole Candy that. Yeah, the
class that you're in is the most diverse class in
the history of the Hall of Achievement. Do you know
any of the other inductees? What do you think about
the class?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
This, I feel like this is the class, y'all like that.
I know there's some great classes, but I feel so
proud of this class. I do so. I remember meeting Morgan.
She was already doing her thing, founder of Blavity, and
I met her when I was nominated in twenty seventeen
for an add Color Change Agent Award, and it's so
(04:33):
amazing that we just had a second to be like,
hey girl, I see you, you know, And then you know,
through the years we have been, you know, always cheering
each other on, and it's so amazing to be in
this class. She's grown her family now. You know, there's
just so many great things happening to people, both in
our work and our personal lives, and we're able to
be on this path. And also I'm sister company to
(04:53):
mister Travis, so you know, talk about Rachel Lou Dennis
calls himself a proud papa. He's got two companies with
two you know, a of all of achievement hon a reason.
It's just amazing. I'm so proud to see what Black
is doing. And Travis is just a rock star, and
you know, there's I think there's just something to again
(05:15):
going back, you know, ten years, going back fifteen years,
when I used to say, I'm going to show people
why people in the community that I come from matter,
People who look like me can do great advertising work,
and you know, so many times it wasn't always easy.
And so I think now to see a class like
this in the Hall of Achievement, I just hope that
(05:38):
we really represent for the communities that we're coming from
and to be so diverse. I know that there's a
lot of folks who are proud.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Of us, no kidding. And so when we think about
this podcast Future Legends of Advertising, we paired you up
with Aaron Walton, and I know nobody could see your
face right now, but it's it's like a.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Mind blown mind.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Because of my gosh, So what like, what did you
think because you've never met him, right that you don't
really know each other.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
No, we never really got a chance to connect. I mean,
the first thing that went over in Maya was Legend, Legend,
Legen legend, and you saw, you know, I sent on
for some questions like let's look about that moment. You know,
to me, I wanted, you know what I started by
work in the industry. I want to just do great
work that was culturally relevant. But in doing that, I
(06:28):
knew that there was groundbreaking things to happen. And to me,
Aaron just set the bar with that type of work.
You know, I remember just thinking with some of the
work that he didn't like, Oh, he completely changed the
way you think about paid media.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
He completely changed the way you think about integrated campaigns
with something that was so cool that people didn't even
probably realize was marketing, right, it was just part of
the storytelling and so and on top of being having
the courage to have your and go out on your
own and have your own you know, a just see
a namesake and have it be so successful.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
I just was so honored to even be able to
have a conversation.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Well before we bring him out, let's talk about the
recent Hall of Fame inductee. Aaron Walton. I mean, we're
You're only at your halfway mark if you're in the
Hall of Achievement, so you have quite.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
A ways to go.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
But I think, Goddess, I do think you're going to
get there. I do looking at your trajectory right now.
So Aaron is the co founder and CEO of the
full service independent agency Walton Isaacson. Magic Johnson was one
of the co founders and early investors. It's sort of
a very long list of accolades for Walton Isaacson as
(07:43):
an agency that I think we all look up I
look up to. I note one in particular, which was
the Black Panther partnership between Lexus and Marvel Studios, which
I still regard as one of the best I've seen
in decades. But also so much work, iconic work with McDonald's,
American Airlines, Bristol Myers, squib PNC Bank, Amazon, It goes
(08:07):
on and on. I think Aaron began his career just
a few years ago at PepsiCo, where he worked on
I Believe Pepsi and Mountain Dew. He served on the
boards of many organizations, but two of the most impressive
to me Human Rights Campaign and Glad the four A's
named him one of the one hundred people who make
(08:28):
Advertising Great. That's true. He's a two time recipient of
the Ebbity magazine Power one hundred list. And I think
I'll never forget I had the honor, distinct honor of
voting for Aaron's class of the Advertising Hall of Fame.
I'll never forget the first page of his recommendation. Somebody
(08:48):
called him an angelic trouble maker, and I love that
so much. So please welcome, yeah, please welcome to the podcast.
Aaron Walton.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Oh my gosh, introduction. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
and goddess, let me tell you something. I have been
following you and thinking myself, this woman is transforming our
industry in a way that I wish when I'm starting
out I could have done. So you are just paving
(09:22):
the way for so many people that things you have
done are just mind blowing. So thank you for what
you're doing for the industry. Congratulations on the Hall of Achievement.
That's pretty damn awesome. I mean, that's really, really, really amazing.
So and by the way, Bross, I just want to
correct I was on the board for GLAD, but I'm
not on the board anymore. But I love the work
(09:42):
that they're doing.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So did they kick you off the board?
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Oh what happened? Why aren't you the parent off the board?
Speaker 5 (09:50):
You turn off after a while, and you know, I'm
on six boards of Like, there's only so much time
in the day in the end of the year that
you can do what you want to do?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Can I ask you?
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Erin?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I gotta ask you two things. One, you gave a
really powerful speech when you were inducted into the Hall
of Fame, and I wonder if you could talk about
people can look it up online. I wonder if you
could talk about really how that moment felt to you
when you won last year, and then maybe offer Goddess
some advice when she gets up there, because these are
(10:23):
very personal awards. I know you are leaders who are
super collaborative. I know you are, but these awards are
individual awards. So Aaron, what was that like? And what
would you say to Goddess?
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Here's what I will tell you. And it still feels
very surreal to me. You know, the only thing I
ever wanted to do was be a part of this industry,
and I mentioned that in a speech, and I suffer
a little bit quite frankly, from the imposter syndrome. So
it was kind of a little odd for me to
(10:56):
be there, although I am so appreciative of being recognized
to be a part of that incredible class. And by
the way, that was the most diverse class of honorees
that had been inducted as well. And it was also
really really amazing because I've worked with most of those folks, right,
So I worked with Antonio Lucio, I worked with Lewis Carr.
(11:16):
John Wren had bought my first company, So I felt
this kinship with the other inductees that was real similar
to what you were saying in terms of, you know,
knowing some of the other folks. My advice was what
would be to just be as vulnerable and as honest
as you can because people genuinely want to hear the truth.
(11:38):
They want to hear what it was that you know,
you went through. Why it is that you're there, Well, well,
no idea there because we can see the accomplishments that
you've made. But I think what resonated with the audience was,
you know, my just being honest about what the journey
was like and why it was so important, and you know,
(12:01):
I was one of the first openly gay inductees. And
you know, when I think about it, when I started
in this industry, this is my first job PEPSI was
in nineteen eighty three. It was a different world, right,
I wasn't out. Some friends knew, but I wasn't really
out at work, and I, you know, finally at one
(12:22):
point just said this is who I am and this
is what I'm going to do. And I think people
really appreciated that. So the other great thing for me was,
you know, just seeing my parents in the audience. And
I'm sixty two years old and I'm still very concerned
about making sure that they were proud and that they
got acknowledged, and I wanted to do that in a speech.
(12:45):
And I just watched my mom and dad sitting there
with their iPhones like videotaping me. And then at the
end of the night, I was laughing. I said to
one of my friends who was there, was like, watch
my dad. And you know, they had the programs with
all these beautiful ads, you know, clients have taken out,
and I was like, my dad looks like he's busting tables.
(13:06):
He was going around to each of the table to
pick up the programs that were left so that he
could send them out to his friends, and I just thought,
oh my god, what are you going to do with it? No,
I got people that need to see this. I got
people to do so it was It was lovely, it
was great. But yeah, this is going to be.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
A moment for you.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Just let that son come in and bathe all of
you in a way that you deserve and take it in.
It's a lot, you know, it can be a little overwhelming,
but you deserve it. I mean, there's a reason you
were there, and you're going to inspire even more people,
which is part of the responsibility. I looked at this
(13:46):
as the beginning of what I'm supposed to be doing right,
not the end of my career, and so for me
it was like, Okay, I've accomplished it, but I say hi,
I mean the truth is, that's why it's a little
difficult to me, because gets there by themselves. I mean exactly,
we have these incredible team members, and I always feel
a little bit guilty because I get the credit for
(14:08):
this amazing work that say people are part of. But
it's I looked at it and said, Okay, what is
this supposed to do for me. It's not about how
I lived my life. It's about what I'm supposed to
do with this responsibility in the future. How am I
(14:29):
supposed to provide opportunities for other people who look like
me that didn't have an opportunity in this industry to
stand up here and receive one of these awards, because
they're there. They just need to be recognized and need
to be given to the path, which I know is
part of what you've always been about. Right when I
look at what you've done and how you've opened the
(14:50):
door for diverse thinking, diverse you know, careers for people,
it's great.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I just evelough you know I have this. I'm an
honoree and I'll be accepting it this week. But hearing
you even say when you open the call, Aaron, what
I've been doing is blowing you away. It's just it's
so amazing for me to hear that from a legend
like you, like you said, who started your career and
(15:18):
couldn't even be your full self right in the workplace,
and that you know, as I sat down to sort
of write my remarks, you know, for accepting this award,
it was what has always been my motivation, what has
always been the corerstone of what I'm trying to do.
And I've been really fortunate to do this in advertising,
(15:39):
to do it on the platform side and now the
media side and the client side. But I think that
is why this moment just feels so surreal. I think
is the best way to describe it, right, because I
think for me, there's a little bit of I wanted.
I've been trying to show there's a little bit out.
You hear me say this all the time. Everybody knows
I'm from the Bronx, Right, I rep that so hard,
(16:01):
And you know, the point of it is that it's
this counted out burrow right, counted out people, even though
they created a global phenomena called hip hop and so
many other so many other amazing gems come from people
who are often not thought of. And I've been trying
to prove and showcase that there is value in everyone,
and there is value and people who are often less
(16:23):
counter and that has been my bedrock in every decision
I've made, every role that I've created in different ways
to do it through storytelling, your advertising, the media, through investment,
through inclusion and diversity and building diversity. But that has
been just my sort of bedrock and shining star, the
one that keeps me going when those really, really, really
hard days. So I'm just so grateful to hear you
(16:46):
recognize that. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
You know, Ross, you talked about angelic troublemaker. That is
a I love that phrase that Bear Rusted coined. And
for those of you don't aren't familiar with there's a
new movie coming out.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
So yes, there is Rude.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
I can't wait. You will soon know about band Rusten.
But for those listening and don't know, Baard Rusten was
probably one of the strongest advisors to doctor Martin Luther
King Junior. It was Bayard who came up with the
idea for the march in Washington, which is where doctor
King gave his I Have a Dream speech. And Bayard
(17:21):
was a black gay civil rights leader, and he was
out during a time when it was very difficult. You know,
this is back in the verities and forties when he
was going.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Up and.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
What he talked about, and he was, by the way,
also the person who introduced doctor King to Gandhi and
the ways of passive resistence, and so he was really
ahead of his time. And what he talked about was
the requirements for every community to have a group of
angelic troublemakers, where you know, it's been kind of coined
(17:57):
now as getting into good trouble, but it really was
about how do we move people to think differently and
do it in a way that may be uncomfortable for
some respectful to the communities that we are representing, but
know that it is got to be uncomfortable, and we
(18:20):
have to be angelic in our approach to do it
because that's how we're going to win. He also, at
the end of his life, talked about the next great
civil rights opportunity or the biggest challenge he said, was
going to be around LGBTQ plus. And so I've always
admired him and modeled how I moved the world based
on and his philosophy.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
The two of you have really, in your careers addressed
so many of the challenges in our industry head on
and in your own ways, and you've done it in
the context of both creativity and partnership and business like.
So you're not just out there doing good in the
world and moving the industry forward, you're actually you're both
driving business and have for a long time, But I
(19:03):
want to ask you a question that I don't think
you get that much, which is what's going well in
our industry? Like when you look at like what's happening,
what are you excited about? What are you proud of?
Or you're like, yeah, I love being because you said
Aaron earlier, like you always wanted to be in this
industry for both of you at different phases of your career,
(19:24):
Like what's going great for the industry.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Here's what I think that I'm optimistic about. I look
at people like Goddess. I look at some of the
younger people that are coming into our industry, and they
won't accept they can't understand why we are more inclusive.
I had this conversation with a CMO in time, and
(19:48):
we were talking about expanding the communication to be much
more diverse and looking at these other segments, and the
CMO said, oh, you know, millennials are colored.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Block and I looked at him.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I said, okay, well, first of all, one is being
blind a good thing. Actually, millennials are color comfortable, color confident.
They can't understand anyone who doesn't understand that. And so
I'm optimistic about the next generation of people coming in
(20:23):
and their expectations about how brands and business should be
moving forward and being responsible not only to the consumers
that we serve, but also to the staff and the
team members that are part of the organizations that we
are working in. So I do think that's that's something
(20:44):
to spark some interest in some positive discussion around because
at some point they're going to be in positions where
they're controlling budgets and they're going to see the world
the way that I think God us an eye the world,
which is a more inclusive organization that doesn't just look
(21:06):
different but also gives the responsibility and the authority to
make decisions that impact consumers in a way that is
making the pie bigger and not smaller.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
I love that. I think you're absolutely right. There's a
level of I always say to like gen Z, like, look,
we you know, folks were chiseling at the door, We
were trying to kick the door, and now like y'all
are just running through it.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Also, I think we're at the point where a lot
of the sort of systems that were set up for
years and years are showing that they're not fool proof.
That there were big misses that people were left out,
that we weren't getting the best work that we could get,
and so now there's there's a way and reason to
rebuild them. I think when I think about my what's
(21:56):
going right right now? And for me this has always
been really interesting. It's the fact that the people who
we are serving, whether it's folks that we're trying to hire,
it's consumers who are speaking to that they have a
way to speak to us. I think I always talk
about the one way street, right, even the printing person
(22:17):
one way, and you know the radio is well, and
then you know the TV was the way. But then
we got to this moment where now all people can
tell us what it's like to be in their shoes,
what their experience living is like, what they do and
don't like. And I get it. It's a lot of
people talking out there working, you know. Now for any
brand people, I think a lot of brands and businesses
(22:40):
sometimes get overwhelmed and scared of the idea that so
many people have a voice. When I think it's fantastic.
I think it's the best thing about right now that
we can sift through it and we can listen to it,
and we can learn from it, and we can make
ourselves better and we can fix what was broken because
(23:01):
now we can hear so many more people's voices, and
that's in many different ways through storytelling, the media, like
an essence, through platforms like you know, formerly known as Twitter,
or like even like a TikTok. And there's absolutely a
lot of you know, balancing that has to go with that.
There's ways to evolve how we critically think and what
we take in is information. There's a lot of that.
(23:23):
But I still feel so positive that many people who
have something to say aren't waiting to be chosen to
be on a pedestal or to be chosen to be
the one who gets to speak to others. We are
forced to listen to them, and I think that's the
best thing that's happening now. So the more I think
we embrace the beauty of that and not the fear
(23:43):
of it because it looks like something may go wrong,
well yeah, I mean the entire world as a voice now,
so let's listen to what went wrong. Let's do it that.
That to me is invigorating and I've been able to
build my work and career. I always listen first any
role internally, externally consumers anything, so that that's really important
(24:04):
to me. I think that's important RecA right.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Now, you know, and I think you know in your
new role at Essence, which is amazing. Congratulations and that
and congratulations Essence forgetting Notus. That's a big win for
you too.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
But I think you know, one of the.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Great things about the festival, to your point, is it
gives brands an opportunity to touch consumers face to face, unfiltered.
That consumer that goes down there will tell you exactly
how they feel good or bad. And it really does
provide another data point that is so critical if we
(24:40):
want to evolve the brands and to make sure that
we're serving the customer in the right way. And so
it's great. I love what you said about that kind
of feedback that loop.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I think there's just a couple of things. There's not
a lot of people who've been able to have the
type of career that you had in you know, the
intersections that you are in those ways. And one of
the things that I have always been fighting for in
my career is something that I think you articulate really well.
I'm a black American woman and they see us, and
(25:14):
they ll see your role or your agency say, oh
you serve you know only black audiences, you know only
black things. You know for me, only black woman things, right,
And now, I sure do love being a black woman.
I'm at a susventures. It's amazing, right, But you know,
we are able to through this identity speak to so
(25:35):
many and so I just would love to hear from
your point of view, how did you get people and
businesses and clients and brands in the industry to take
you seriously as being a top marketer who could speak
to several different audiences, different verticals with the cornerstone of
understanding that this is who I am, right, you know,
I am in this body, and then making sure that
(25:58):
they were able to see that you could apply what
you do across audience. Is it also not to exclude
black audiences from things like gen market.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Yeah, that is such a great question, and I agree
with you. It's kind of the common denominator for a
lot of us who are diverse and want to work
not just within the community, but beyond the segments that
we love and celebrate and believe or important. I'll tell
(26:29):
you when I was at PEPSI and I was working
on the Mountain Dew brands and on the Pepsi brand.
I was lucky because I had some mentors that really
saw the value that I could bring beyond my blackness,
right beyond. Certainly that was part of it, and that
influenced how I moved through the world. But they were
(26:50):
very clear about making sure that I had an experience
to go beyond just the segment work that they were doing,
and that was at the nascent, you know, efforts for
them doing segmented work, and I wanted that broad opportunity
and have always fought for those kind of opportunities because
(27:12):
I knew that, yes, there were moments that I needed
to lean into that because that culture, that group was
driving the conversation, they were driving, the trends they were driving,
you know how the broader consumer group was looking at
(27:34):
the world, looking at that brand, and we needed to
get acknowledged for that and get the budgets to support that,
which is always the part that I'm always kind of
pushing for. Because the demographic shift in the US is
changing so that the multiculture consumer is going to be
the majority consumer. Actually it is now, so we need
(27:55):
to start acknowledging that but it's always been a focus.
What I tell folks now is I'm about culture, and
culture is not just about ethnicity, right, There's all types
of cultural things that move brands and move the way
people think about brands, move the way people think about themselves,
and there's an intersectionality that crosses that we have to
(28:18):
celebrate all of it. I'm a gay black man, you know.
I lean into all of those elements of who I
am to move through my life, and why not stand
up as a brand and celebrate those moments. Sometimes I
lean into the LGBTQ plus community because of what it
(28:41):
is that which one of the reasons I love HRC
for what they're doing and how they're trying to make
sure that all of that community is respected and celebrated
and honored and included in the great work and the
great laws that support all of us. So I guess
part of what I've always done has been very very
(29:03):
clear about this is part of whoiam. This isn't all Troyum.
This is part of who I am, and I make
sure that I'm unapologetic about it now. I make sure
that people understand who I am. The second that I
started doing that. My work started getting better. I started
feeling better about myself. The types of people that were
(29:26):
attracted to me and wanted to work for me understood
that they could come in and be their authentic self
and own that. There's this great German philosopher from the
eighteen hundreds. His name was Hegel, and she came up
with something called the dialectic method as a way to
explain how innovation and change happens. And the idea was
(29:50):
every idea has an equal and opposite idea, and when
the two ideas collide, they create a new one that
consists of the best of the two. Look at that
from a cultural lens. I look at when I bring
these amazing cultures together, something even bigger is going to
happen as a result. And I help clients understand that
(30:13):
that's not a bad thing. This is about making the
pie bigger. It's about making a pie more relevant to
a broader group. And when you start to beat that
drum a lot, the good cmos, the folks who are
not afraid to be bold to step outside of the box,
start to get it and start to understand this is
(30:35):
the future not only for the consumers, but for the
staff that I want to attract, and if I want
to win, if I want to grow my business, then
I better make sure that I'm doing that.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Aaron, I really appreciate that. I got to tell you
in season two that has been this question actually that
God has asked has been recurring. The idea that if
you are part of or you run a minority owned,
minority led agency, then you're going to get the black
(31:06):
or the Hispanic RFP. You're not getting the general market RFP,
and there is anger in these communities around that. But
I think the way you just answered the question was
so hopeful and optimistic and authentic and real, and I
hope that a lot of people hear that. So I
think you can have a great impact on others. Goddess,
(31:29):
you are, as we joked earlier, like people say that
the Hall of Achievement award induction is like the halfway
mark of your career, which I don't know how many
years you want to go doing this. You've done a lot,
you can keep going. But I guess, I guess the
question for you is like you know, talking to Aaron
and seeing what he's achieved in his Hall of Fame career,
(31:51):
looking around you at all the stuff you want to
do next. What are your goals for the let's call
it the back nine, the back half of that career.
What do you what are you looking forward to next?
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Oh my goodness, I love that question, you know. I
think I love the when we opened. One of the
things I'm most proud of in my career is that
I got to create several roles that never existed that
I'm proud of because it feels like a new path.
(32:24):
I remember joking with my friends of at VML Y
and R and I was saying, I like broke the
time clock right because I was you know, I was
sort of halfway still on client side and working across
and then I was also a doing to work on
the HR side. So I was always say I'm billable
and not un billable, and we couldn't figure out like
how so if you're an agency first that you get
(32:46):
like how how interesting that could be? But we did
figure it out. But now literally there's a way to
you know, do your time as a billable and not
bilable employee were there actually just wasn't for right. So
even just that small that's a small piece, but it
was a role that because I fought really hard when
I said I wanted to think about inclusive audiences, and
(33:07):
I did want to work on how we staffed, how
we brought diverse folks in the agency. But I didn't
want to be taken away from the work because I
wanted to make sure that I was still informing and
using what I understood about the folks who were coming
in and what I undertood about the communities was informing
the work that went out the door. So even something
small like that is a progression into a different way
(33:29):
to move. So when I think about the next era
of my career, it is how am I continuing to
create and grow? You know, I wrote the title Global
Director of Culture and Community at my kitchen table in
twenty eighteen, you know, when when Jack Dorsey and Leslie
Berlin and Nola Weinstein said, hey, we want you to
come to Twitter and figure this out for us, I
(33:49):
wrote that. Now, to see that title across you know,
other platforms, it is mind blowing to me. So to me,
it's how am I creating a ripple and then expanding that.
And so I think also, and I love the last
question that we spoke about is, you know, people not
(34:11):
being sort of put into a box and showcasing that
as diverse people in this industry, we can do so
much more. I think also about the fact that, and
you know this, Aaron, it feels like the interest in
us ebbs and flows right sometimes and I think you'll
hear that too. You get a lot of interest and
(34:33):
people are apologizing and digging in hard, and then all
of a sudden they're scared. And that's to this, and
that's to that. We don't want to be too to this,
And I think I'm going to be honest. For me,
I want to see a consistent path. You know, my
life is not a fad, it's not a trend. To
(34:55):
be in this body and to do this type of
work where people who are in like mine and in
other communities that have been marginalized in different ways. And
so I would love to be a part of keeping
the consistent heartbeat into inclusivity across the board. And so
I think this sort of peak and valley, I want
(35:17):
to see that go away. I hope that by the
time I'm in the Hall of Fame, in the time
I'm doing my retirement party, that my daughter who's twelve now,
she wants to follow in my footsteps. It's a constant
drum beat for her. And I think you get there
by putting pedal to the metal when everybody else is
pulling back. When you keep pushing and flooring it and
(35:40):
saying nope, we're not going to stop. This can't be
a thing that goes away or gets quieter or isn't
as scary or uncomfortable. That's when I know that I
need to make sure that I'm still going. So that
is why I'm challenging myself and I think about my
role now and the way that I'm able to tell stories.
Just thinking about the story is that effect black community,
(36:02):
black women and other diverse communities under all of the
amazing brands at Essence Ventures like an Afro Punk like
Bedi Khan and of course Essence, I know that I
have to go deeper as a storyteller and deeper into
what communities are doing instead of shying away. Because there's
a lot of shying away happening right now on Ara,
y'all can't see in the air and it's just nodding
(36:23):
with me.
Speaker 5 (36:24):
Let me tell you something. I am so glad you
said it, you know, after the let's be real after
the George Floyd murder, everyone you know, woke up and
started paying attention. And my fear was that to your point,
it had been flobbed right. They would pay attention for
a little while, and then they would start to back off,
(36:47):
and you hear things like, well, we don't want to,
you know, celebrate the differences. It's it's dividing us. And
I say, differences don't divide us, Disrespect divides us, and say,
we need to be celebrating these differences and honoring them,
and you need to be consistent with it, because the
(37:08):
worst thing you can do is kind of jump on
the bandwagon or you know, do it for a little
while and they say, okay, we tried, and then back off.
Consumers can smell that, staff can smell it, and it
is not pleasant. And so the reckoning will come when,
(37:31):
you know, folks start to hold these brands and these
companies accountable for what they said their commitment was going
to be and what it actually turned out to be.
And so this is not a one and done sort
of thing. And I agree with you. You know, I'm
so tired of is a gay man every election feeling
(37:51):
like I have to here we go again, someone's going
to try and take my rights away. And I know
this is beyond what we're talking about for brands, but
there's a real struggle in that and a real challenge
in going through your life with that in the back
of your head all the time.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
So, well, you two are shining lights in this industry,
not just for people who look like you, but even
for me. Like I'm looking at you, guys, and I
find what you're saying on this episode and how you've
lived your careers to be a real driving force for
somebody like me. So I appreciate you coming on this show,
and I need you to know that there's a lot
(38:32):
of people that look up to the two of you
who are going to listen to this and think that
they can do it, and they're going to learn from
what you said today. So I'm grateful to you God
as Rivera, Aaron Walton, Hall of Fame, Hall of Achievement.
I mean, it doesn't get any better than this. So
thank you both for joining us on Future Legends of Advertising.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
Thank you for having me, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Well, that doesn't this episode of the Future Legends of
Advertising podcast on Ihearten.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
I'm Ross Martin and I'm Hailey Romer and thank you
for listening. We'll be back with another episode before you
know it. And for more information on the American Advertising Federation,
go to AAF dot org.
Hello, and welcome to season two of the Future Legends
of Advertising podcast on iHeart, featuring the hottest up and
coming stars in advertising as well as the biggest legends
in the game.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
In this series, we explore the future of the advertising
industry through never before heard conversations between those who created
it and those who are shaping its future.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
We're your hosts, Hailey Romer and Ross Martin.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Now let's meet the legends. Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm so excited to introduce today's episode, which features two
complete and total rock stars, Goddess Rivera and Aaron Walton.
And first I'm gonna bring out Goddess, but before I
do a word or two about this woman who is
really having a moment, but I think she's already had
(01:03):
several moments in her career. She is about to be
inducted into the twenty twenty three American Advertising Federation's Hall
of Achievement. She spent four years in marketing at The
Artist formerly known as Twitter, where she drove strategy and
worked at a high level with community leaders, content partners, influencers,
(01:23):
creators brands. Before that, she was the Director of Inclusion
and Cultural Resonance at VMLY and R which is a
role that she created. She's done that before. Actually, she's
created roles before. In twenty twenty two, she became Disney's
first VP of Inclusive Marketing. I think she created that
(01:45):
role too, and most recently now she's the Chief Content
Officer for Essence Venture. The accolades for Goddess are many
twenty eighteen ad age women to watch, and they were
right also featured in adweek campaign Marie Claire Forbes, did
you say the drum BET's most innovative and influential business
(02:09):
executives fortune forty under forty. I could go on and on,
but then we wouldn't get to hear from her. So
let me bring on to the show. Welcome to the podcast,
Goddess Rivera.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Oh my, Gus Ross like, thank you so much for
having me. I felt like I was having a moment
with that. You don't hear the rundown too often. I
get to remind just.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So you earned it. Here's the thing, like you're about
to actually it's about to happen. You're about to get
inducted into the Hall of Achievement. There's only a couple
hundred people over many, many years, thirty one years that
have been in this It's a huge honor. How are
you feeling about this af Hall of Achievement Award?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
You know, I it's so interesting because my dad used
to always tell me, make sure you take a minute
and just stop and think about what you've done. And
I will tell you that I hadn't taken that minute
until I had the opportunity to be a part of
this process. And I'm very grateful to you all for
(03:09):
allowing us to really take a second and take stock
in what we've been trying to accomplish and the things
that we have accomplished.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
So I am.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Completely just in reverence, and I am so grateful and honored.
I think that I had a chance to look back
and say, hey, not all of them, because I still
got a lot to do, but a few of the
things that I set out to do I was able
to accomplish. And I don't think that I would have
actually taken a moment and stopped and even said that
(03:39):
to myself if it wasn't for the incredible recognition of
our amazing community. So I'm so grateful and honored to
be a part of this very awesome, very dope cruise.
So I'm also ready to party. If you know, Lisea, I.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Am too, and thank god this year it's finally a
dinner and a nighttime event. Sole Candy that. Yeah, the
class that you're in is the most diverse class in
the history of the Hall of Achievement. Do you know
any of the other inductees? What do you think about
the class?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
This, I feel like this is the class, y'all like that.
I know there's some great classes, but I feel so
proud of this class. I do so. I remember meeting Morgan.
She was already doing her thing, founder of Blavity, and
I met her when I was nominated in twenty seventeen
for an add Color Change Agent Award, and it's so
(04:33):
amazing that we just had a second to be like,
hey girl, I see you, you know, And then you know,
through the years we have been, you know, always cheering
each other on, and it's so amazing to be in
this class. She's grown her family now. You know, there's
just so many great things happening to people, both in
our work and our personal lives, and we're able to
be on this path. And also I'm sister company to
(04:53):
mister Travis, so you know, talk about Rachel Lou Dennis
calls himself a proud papa. He's got two companies with
two you know, a of all of achievement hon a reason.
It's just amazing. I'm so proud to see what Black
is doing. And Travis is just a rock star, and
you know, there's I think there's just something to again
(05:15):
going back, you know, ten years, going back fifteen years,
when I used to say, I'm going to show people
why people in the community that I come from matter,
People who look like me can do great advertising work,
and you know, so many times it wasn't always easy.
And so I think now to see a class like
this in the Hall of Achievement, I just hope that
(05:38):
we really represent for the communities that we're coming from
and to be so diverse. I know that there's a
lot of folks who are proud.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Of us, no kidding. And so when we think about
this podcast Future Legends of Advertising, we paired you up
with Aaron Walton, and I know nobody could see your
face right now, but it's it's like a.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Mind blown mind.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Because of my gosh, So what like, what did you
think because you've never met him, right that you don't
really know each other.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
No, we never really got a chance to connect. I mean,
the first thing that went over in Maya was Legend, Legend,
Legen legend, and you saw, you know, I sent on
for some questions like let's look about that moment. You know,
to me, I wanted, you know what I started by
work in the industry. I want to just do great
work that was culturally relevant. But in doing that, I
(06:28):
knew that there was groundbreaking things to happen. And to me,
Aaron just set the bar with that type of work.
You know, I remember just thinking with some of the
work that he didn't like, Oh, he completely changed the
way you think about paid media.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
He completely changed the way you think about integrated campaigns
with something that was so cool that people didn't even
probably realize was marketing, right, it was just part of
the storytelling and so and on top of being having
the courage to have your and go out on your
own and have your own you know, a just see
a namesake and have it be so successful.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
I just was so honored to even be able to
have a conversation.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Well before we bring him out, let's talk about the
recent Hall of Fame inductee. Aaron Walton. I mean, we're
You're only at your halfway mark if you're in the
Hall of Achievement, so you have quite.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
A ways to go.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
But I think, Goddess, I do think you're going to
get there. I do looking at your trajectory right now.
So Aaron is the co founder and CEO of the
full service independent agency Walton Isaacson. Magic Johnson was one
of the co founders and early investors. It's sort of
a very long list of accolades for Walton Isaacson as
(07:43):
an agency that I think we all look up I
look up to. I note one in particular, which was
the Black Panther partnership between Lexus and Marvel Studios, which
I still regard as one of the best I've seen
in decades. But also so much work, iconic work with McDonald's,
American Airlines, Bristol Myers, squib PNC Bank, Amazon, It goes
(08:07):
on and on. I think Aaron began his career just
a few years ago at PepsiCo, where he worked on
I Believe Pepsi and Mountain Dew. He served on the
boards of many organizations, but two of the most impressive
to me Human Rights Campaign and Glad the four A's
named him one of the one hundred people who make
(08:28):
Advertising Great. That's true. He's a two time recipient of
the Ebbity magazine Power one hundred list. And I think
I'll never forget I had the honor, distinct honor of
voting for Aaron's class of the Advertising Hall of Fame.
I'll never forget the first page of his recommendation. Somebody
(08:48):
called him an angelic trouble maker, and I love that
so much. So please welcome, yeah, please welcome to the podcast.
Aaron Walton.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Oh my gosh, introduction. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
and goddess, let me tell you something. I have been
following you and thinking myself, this woman is transforming our
industry in a way that I wish when I'm starting
out I could have done. So you are just paving
(09:22):
the way for so many people that things you have
done are just mind blowing. So thank you for what
you're doing for the industry. Congratulations on the Hall of Achievement.
That's pretty damn awesome. I mean, that's really, really, really amazing.
So and by the way, Bross, I just want to
correct I was on the board for GLAD, but I'm
not on the board anymore. But I love the work
(09:42):
that they're doing.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So did they kick you off the board?
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Oh what happened? Why aren't you the parent off the board?
Speaker 5 (09:50):
You turn off after a while, and you know, I'm
on six boards of Like, there's only so much time
in the day in the end of the year that
you can do what you want to do?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Can I ask you?
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Erin?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I gotta ask you two things. One, you gave a
really powerful speech when you were inducted into the Hall
of Fame, and I wonder if you could talk about
people can look it up online. I wonder if you
could talk about really how that moment felt to you
when you won last year, and then maybe offer Goddess
some advice when she gets up there, because these are
(10:23):
very personal awards. I know you are leaders who are
super collaborative. I know you are, but these awards are
individual awards. So Aaron, what was that like? And what
would you say to Goddess?
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Here's what I will tell you. And it still feels
very surreal to me. You know, the only thing I
ever wanted to do was be a part of this industry,
and I mentioned that in a speech, and I suffer
a little bit quite frankly, from the imposter syndrome. So
it was kind of a little odd for me to
(10:56):
be there, although I am so appreciative of being recognized
to be a part of that incredible class. And by
the way, that was the most diverse class of honorees
that had been inducted as well. And it was also
really really amazing because I've worked with most of those folks, right,
So I worked with Antonio Lucio, I worked with Lewis Carr.
(11:16):
John Wren had bought my first company, So I felt
this kinship with the other inductees that was real similar
to what you were saying in terms of, you know,
knowing some of the other folks. My advice was what
would be to just be as vulnerable and as honest
as you can because people genuinely want to hear the truth.
(11:38):
They want to hear what it was that you know,
you went through. Why it is that you're there, Well, well,
no idea there because we can see the accomplishments that
you've made. But I think what resonated with the audience was,
you know, my just being honest about what the journey
was like and why it was so important, and you know,
(12:01):
I was one of the first openly gay inductees. And
you know, when I think about it, when I started
in this industry, this is my first job PEPSI was
in nineteen eighty three. It was a different world, right,
I wasn't out. Some friends knew, but I wasn't really
out at work, and I, you know, finally at one
(12:22):
point just said this is who I am and this
is what I'm going to do. And I think people
really appreciated that. So the other great thing for me was,
you know, just seeing my parents in the audience. And
I'm sixty two years old and I'm still very concerned
about making sure that they were proud and that they
got acknowledged, and I wanted to do that in a speech.
(12:45):
And I just watched my mom and dad sitting there
with their iPhones like videotaping me. And then at the
end of the night, I was laughing. I said to
one of my friends who was there, was like, watch
my dad. And you know, they had the programs with
all these beautiful ads, you know, clients have taken out,
and I was like, my dad looks like he's busting tables.
(13:06):
He was going around to each of the table to
pick up the programs that were left so that he
could send them out to his friends, and I just thought,
oh my god, what are you going to do with it? No,
I got people that need to see this. I got
people to do so it was It was lovely, it
was great. But yeah, this is going to be.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
A moment for you.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Just let that son come in and bathe all of
you in a way that you deserve and take it in.
It's a lot, you know, it can be a little overwhelming,
but you deserve it. I mean, there's a reason you
were there, and you're going to inspire even more people,
which is part of the responsibility. I looked at this
(13:46):
as the beginning of what I'm supposed to be doing right,
not the end of my career, and so for me
it was like, Okay, I've accomplished it, but I say hi,
I mean the truth is, that's why it's a little
difficult to me, because gets there by themselves. I mean exactly,
we have these incredible team members, and I always feel
a little bit guilty because I get the credit for
(14:08):
this amazing work that say people are part of. But
it's I looked at it and said, Okay, what is
this supposed to do for me. It's not about how
I lived my life. It's about what I'm supposed to
do with this responsibility in the future. How am I
(14:29):
supposed to provide opportunities for other people who look like
me that didn't have an opportunity in this industry to
stand up here and receive one of these awards, because
they're there. They just need to be recognized and need
to be given to the path, which I know is
part of what you've always been about. Right when I
look at what you've done and how you've opened the
(14:50):
door for diverse thinking, diverse you know, careers for people,
it's great.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I just evelough you know I have this. I'm an
honoree and I'll be accepting it this week. But hearing
you even say when you open the call, Aaron, what
I've been doing is blowing you away. It's just it's
so amazing for me to hear that from a legend
like you, like you said, who started your career and
(15:18):
couldn't even be your full self right in the workplace,
and that you know, as I sat down to sort
of write my remarks, you know, for accepting this award,
it was what has always been my motivation, what has
always been the corerstone of what I'm trying to do.
And I've been really fortunate to do this in advertising,
(15:39):
to do it on the platform side and now the
media side and the client side. But I think that
is why this moment just feels so surreal. I think
is the best way to describe it, right, because I
think for me, there's a little bit of I wanted.
I've been trying to show there's a little bit out.
You hear me say this all the time. Everybody knows
I'm from the Bronx, Right, I rep that so hard,
(16:01):
And you know, the point of it is that it's
this counted out burrow right, counted out people, even though
they created a global phenomena called hip hop and so
many other so many other amazing gems come from people
who are often not thought of. And I've been trying
to prove and showcase that there is value in everyone,
and there is value and people who are often less
(16:23):
counter and that has been my bedrock in every decision
I've made, every role that I've created in different ways
to do it through storytelling, your advertising, the media, through investment,
through inclusion and diversity and building diversity. But that has
been just my sort of bedrock and shining star, the
one that keeps me going when those really, really, really
hard days. So I'm just so grateful to hear you
(16:46):
recognize that. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
You know, Ross, you talked about angelic troublemaker. That is
a I love that phrase that Bear Rusted coined. And
for those of you don't aren't familiar with there's a
new movie coming out.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
So yes, there is Rude.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
I can't wait. You will soon know about band Rusten.
But for those listening and don't know, Baard Rusten was
probably one of the strongest advisors to doctor Martin Luther
King Junior. It was Bayard who came up with the
idea for the march in Washington, which is where doctor
King gave his I Have a Dream speech. And Bayard
(17:21):
was a black gay civil rights leader, and he was
out during a time when it was very difficult. You know,
this is back in the verities and forties when he
was going.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Up and.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
What he talked about, and he was, by the way,
also the person who introduced doctor King to Gandhi and
the ways of passive resistence, and so he was really
ahead of his time. And what he talked about was
the requirements for every community to have a group of
angelic troublemakers, where you know, it's been kind of coined
(17:57):
now as getting into good trouble, but it really was
about how do we move people to think differently and
do it in a way that may be uncomfortable for
some respectful to the communities that we are representing, but
know that it is got to be uncomfortable, and we
(18:20):
have to be angelic in our approach to do it
because that's how we're going to win. He also, at
the end of his life, talked about the next great
civil rights opportunity or the biggest challenge he said, was
going to be around LGBTQ plus. And so I've always
admired him and modeled how I moved the world based
on and his philosophy.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
The two of you have really, in your careers addressed
so many of the challenges in our industry head on
and in your own ways, and you've done it in
the context of both creativity and partnership and business like.
So you're not just out there doing good in the
world and moving the industry forward, you're actually you're both
driving business and have for a long time, But I
(19:03):
want to ask you a question that I don't think
you get that much, which is what's going well in
our industry? Like when you look at like what's happening,
what are you excited about? What are you proud of?
Or you're like, yeah, I love being because you said
Aaron earlier, like you always wanted to be in this
industry for both of you at different phases of your career,
(19:24):
Like what's going great for the industry.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Here's what I think that I'm optimistic about. I look
at people like Goddess. I look at some of the
younger people that are coming into our industry, and they
won't accept they can't understand why we are more inclusive.
I had this conversation with a CMO in time, and
(19:48):
we were talking about expanding the communication to be much
more diverse and looking at these other segments, and the
CMO said, oh, you know, millennials are colored.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Block and I looked at him.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I said, okay, well, first of all, one is being
blind a good thing. Actually, millennials are color comfortable, color confident.
They can't understand anyone who doesn't understand that. And so
I'm optimistic about the next generation of people coming in
(20:23):
and their expectations about how brands and business should be
moving forward and being responsible not only to the consumers
that we serve, but also to the staff and the
team members that are part of the organizations that we
are working in. So I do think that's that's something
(20:44):
to spark some interest in some positive discussion around because
at some point they're going to be in positions where
they're controlling budgets and they're going to see the world
the way that I think God us an eye the world,
which is a more inclusive organization that doesn't just look
(21:06):
different but also gives the responsibility and the authority to
make decisions that impact consumers in a way that is
making the pie bigger and not smaller.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
I love that. I think you're absolutely right. There's a
level of I always say to like gen Z, like, look,
we you know, folks were chiseling at the door, We
were trying to kick the door, and now like y'all
are just running through it.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Also, I think we're at the point where a lot
of the sort of systems that were set up for
years and years are showing that they're not fool proof.
That there were big misses that people were left out,
that we weren't getting the best work that we could get,
and so now there's there's a way and reason to
rebuild them. I think when I think about my what's
(21:56):
going right right now? And for me this has always
been really interesting. It's the fact that the people who
we are serving, whether it's folks that we're trying to hire,
it's consumers who are speaking to that they have a
way to speak to us. I think I always talk
about the one way street, right, even the printing person
(22:17):
one way, and you know the radio is well, and
then you know the TV was the way. But then
we got to this moment where now all people can
tell us what it's like to be in their shoes,
what their experience living is like, what they do and
don't like. And I get it. It's a lot of
people talking out there working, you know. Now for any
brand people, I think a lot of brands and businesses
(22:40):
sometimes get overwhelmed and scared of the idea that so
many people have a voice. When I think it's fantastic.
I think it's the best thing about right now that
we can sift through it and we can listen to it,
and we can learn from it, and we can make
ourselves better and we can fix what was broken because
(23:01):
now we can hear so many more people's voices, and
that's in many different ways through storytelling, the media, like
an essence, through platforms like you know, formerly known as Twitter,
or like even like a TikTok. And there's absolutely a
lot of you know, balancing that has to go with that.
There's ways to evolve how we critically think and what
we take in is information. There's a lot of that.
(23:23):
But I still feel so positive that many people who
have something to say aren't waiting to be chosen to
be on a pedestal or to be chosen to be
the one who gets to speak to others. We are
forced to listen to them, and I think that's the
best thing that's happening now. So the more I think
we embrace the beauty of that and not the fear
(23:43):
of it because it looks like something may go wrong,
well yeah, I mean the entire world as a voice now,
so let's listen to what went wrong. Let's do it that.
That to me is invigorating and I've been able to
build my work and career. I always listen first any
role internally, externally consumers anything, so that that's really important
(24:04):
to me. I think that's important RecA right.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Now, you know, and I think you know in your
new role at Essence, which is amazing. Congratulations and that
and congratulations Essence forgetting Notus. That's a big win for
you too.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
But I think you know, one of the.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Great things about the festival, to your point, is it
gives brands an opportunity to touch consumers face to face, unfiltered.
That consumer that goes down there will tell you exactly
how they feel good or bad. And it really does
provide another data point that is so critical if we
(24:40):
want to evolve the brands and to make sure that
we're serving the customer in the right way. And so
it's great. I love what you said about that kind
of feedback that loop.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I think there's just a couple of things. There's not
a lot of people who've been able to have the
type of career that you had in you know, the
intersections that you are in those ways. And one of
the things that I have always been fighting for in
my career is something that I think you articulate really well.
I'm a black American woman and they see us, and
(25:14):
they ll see your role or your agency say, oh
you serve you know only black audiences, you know only
black things. You know for me, only black woman things, right,
And now, I sure do love being a black woman.
I'm at a susventures. It's amazing, right, But you know,
we are able to through this identity speak to so
(25:35):
many and so I just would love to hear from
your point of view, how did you get people and
businesses and clients and brands in the industry to take
you seriously as being a top marketer who could speak
to several different audiences, different verticals with the cornerstone of
understanding that this is who I am, right, you know,
I am in this body, and then making sure that
(25:58):
they were able to see that you could apply what
you do across audience. Is it also not to exclude
black audiences from things like gen market.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Yeah, that is such a great question, and I agree
with you. It's kind of the common denominator for a
lot of us who are diverse and want to work
not just within the community, but beyond the segments that
we love and celebrate and believe or important. I'll tell
(26:29):
you when I was at PEPSI and I was working
on the Mountain Dew brands and on the Pepsi brand.
I was lucky because I had some mentors that really
saw the value that I could bring beyond my blackness,
right beyond. Certainly that was part of it, and that
influenced how I moved through the world. But they were
(26:50):
very clear about making sure that I had an experience
to go beyond just the segment work that they were doing,
and that was at the nascent, you know, efforts for
them doing segmented work, and I wanted that broad opportunity
and have always fought for those kind of opportunities because
(27:12):
I knew that, yes, there were moments that I needed
to lean into that because that culture, that group was
driving the conversation, they were driving, the trends they were driving,
you know how the broader consumer group was looking at
(27:34):
the world, looking at that brand, and we needed to
get acknowledged for that and get the budgets to support that,
which is always the part that I'm always kind of
pushing for. Because the demographic shift in the US is
changing so that the multiculture consumer is going to be
the majority consumer. Actually it is now, so we need
(27:55):
to start acknowledging that but it's always been a focus.
What I tell folks now is I'm about culture, and
culture is not just about ethnicity, right, There's all types
of cultural things that move brands and move the way
people think about brands, move the way people think about themselves,
and there's an intersectionality that crosses that we have to
(28:18):
celebrate all of it. I'm a gay black man, you know.
I lean into all of those elements of who I
am to move through my life, and why not stand
up as a brand and celebrate those moments. Sometimes I
lean into the LGBTQ plus community because of what it
(28:41):
is that which one of the reasons I love HRC
for what they're doing and how they're trying to make
sure that all of that community is respected and celebrated
and honored and included in the great work and the
great laws that support all of us. So I guess
part of what I've always done has been very very
(29:03):
clear about this is part of whoiam. This isn't all Troyum.
This is part of who I am, and I make
sure that I'm unapologetic about it now. I make sure
that people understand who I am. The second that I
started doing that. My work started getting better. I started
feeling better about myself. The types of people that were
(29:26):
attracted to me and wanted to work for me understood
that they could come in and be their authentic self
and own that. There's this great German philosopher from the
eighteen hundreds. His name was Hegel, and she came up
with something called the dialectic method as a way to
explain how innovation and change happens. And the idea was
(29:50):
every idea has an equal and opposite idea, and when
the two ideas collide, they create a new one that
consists of the best of the two. Look at that
from a cultural lens. I look at when I bring
these amazing cultures together, something even bigger is going to
happen as a result. And I help clients understand that
(30:13):
that's not a bad thing. This is about making the
pie bigger. It's about making a pie more relevant to
a broader group. And when you start to beat that
drum a lot, the good cmos, the folks who are
not afraid to be bold to step outside of the box,
start to get it and start to understand this is
(30:35):
the future not only for the consumers, but for the
staff that I want to attract, and if I want
to win, if I want to grow my business, then
I better make sure that I'm doing that.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Aaron, I really appreciate that. I got to tell you
in season two that has been this question actually that
God has asked has been recurring. The idea that if
you are part of or you run a minority owned,
minority led agency, then you're going to get the black
(31:06):
or the Hispanic RFP. You're not getting the general market RFP,
and there is anger in these communities around that. But
I think the way you just answered the question was
so hopeful and optimistic and authentic and real, and I
hope that a lot of people hear that. So I
think you can have a great impact on others. Goddess,
(31:29):
you are, as we joked earlier, like people say that
the Hall of Achievement award induction is like the halfway
mark of your career, which I don't know how many
years you want to go doing this. You've done a lot,
you can keep going. But I guess, I guess the
question for you is like you know, talking to Aaron
and seeing what he's achieved in his Hall of Fame career,
(31:51):
looking around you at all the stuff you want to
do next. What are your goals for the let's call
it the back nine, the back half of that career.
What do you what are you looking forward to next?
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Oh my goodness, I love that question, you know. I
think I love the when we opened. One of the
things I'm most proud of in my career is that
I got to create several roles that never existed that
I'm proud of because it feels like a new path.
(32:24):
I remember joking with my friends of at VML Y
and R and I was saying, I like broke the
time clock right because I was you know, I was
sort of halfway still on client side and working across
and then I was also a doing to work on
the HR side. So I was always say I'm billable
and not un billable, and we couldn't figure out like
how so if you're an agency first that you get
(32:46):
like how how interesting that could be? But we did
figure it out. But now literally there's a way to
you know, do your time as a billable and not
bilable employee were there actually just wasn't for right. So
even just that small that's a small piece, but it
was a role that because I fought really hard when
I said I wanted to think about inclusive audiences, and
(33:07):
I did want to work on how we staffed, how
we brought diverse folks in the agency. But I didn't
want to be taken away from the work because I
wanted to make sure that I was still informing and
using what I understood about the folks who were coming
in and what I undertood about the communities was informing
the work that went out the door. So even something
small like that is a progression into a different way
(33:29):
to move. So when I think about the next era
of my career, it is how am I continuing to
create and grow? You know, I wrote the title Global
Director of Culture and Community at my kitchen table in
twenty eighteen, you know, when when Jack Dorsey and Leslie
Berlin and Nola Weinstein said, hey, we want you to
come to Twitter and figure this out for us, I
(33:49):
wrote that. Now, to see that title across you know,
other platforms, it is mind blowing to me. So to me,
it's how am I creating a ripple and then expanding that.
And so I think also, and I love the last
question that we spoke about is, you know, people not
(34:11):
being sort of put into a box and showcasing that
as diverse people in this industry, we can do so
much more. I think also about the fact that, and
you know this, Aaron, it feels like the interest in
us ebbs and flows right sometimes and I think you'll
hear that too. You get a lot of interest and
(34:33):
people are apologizing and digging in hard, and then all
of a sudden they're scared. And that's to this, and
that's to that. We don't want to be too to this,
And I think I'm going to be honest. For me,
I want to see a consistent path. You know, my
life is not a fad, it's not a trend. To
(34:55):
be in this body and to do this type of
work where people who are in like mine and in
other communities that have been marginalized in different ways. And
so I would love to be a part of keeping
the consistent heartbeat into inclusivity across the board. And so
I think this sort of peak and valley, I want
(35:17):
to see that go away. I hope that by the
time I'm in the Hall of Fame, in the time
I'm doing my retirement party, that my daughter who's twelve now,
she wants to follow in my footsteps. It's a constant
drum beat for her. And I think you get there
by putting pedal to the metal when everybody else is
pulling back. When you keep pushing and flooring it and
(35:40):
saying nope, we're not going to stop. This can't be
a thing that goes away or gets quieter or isn't
as scary or uncomfortable. That's when I know that I
need to make sure that I'm still going. So that
is why I'm challenging myself and I think about my
role now and the way that I'm able to tell stories.
Just thinking about the story is that effect black community,
(36:02):
black women and other diverse communities under all of the
amazing brands at Essence Ventures like an Afro Punk like
Bedi Khan and of course Essence, I know that I
have to go deeper as a storyteller and deeper into
what communities are doing instead of shying away. Because there's
a lot of shying away happening right now on Ara,
y'all can't see in the air and it's just nodding
(36:23):
with me.
Speaker 5 (36:24):
Let me tell you something. I am so glad you
said it, you know, after the let's be real after
the George Floyd murder, everyone you know, woke up and
started paying attention. And my fear was that to your point,
it had been flobbed right. They would pay attention for
a little while, and then they would start to back off,
(36:47):
and you hear things like, well, we don't want to,
you know, celebrate the differences. It's it's dividing us. And
I say, differences don't divide us, Disrespect divides us, and say,
we need to be celebrating these differences and honoring them,
and you need to be consistent with it, because the
(37:08):
worst thing you can do is kind of jump on
the bandwagon or you know, do it for a little
while and they say, okay, we tried, and then back off.
Consumers can smell that, staff can smell it, and it
is not pleasant. And so the reckoning will come when,
(37:31):
you know, folks start to hold these brands and these
companies accountable for what they said their commitment was going
to be and what it actually turned out to be.
And so this is not a one and done sort
of thing. And I agree with you. You know, I'm
so tired of is a gay man every election feeling
(37:51):
like I have to here we go again, someone's going
to try and take my rights away. And I know
this is beyond what we're talking about for brands, but
there's a real struggle in that and a real challenge
in going through your life with that in the back
of your head all the time.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
So, well, you two are shining lights in this industry,
not just for people who look like you, but even
for me. Like I'm looking at you, guys, and I
find what you're saying on this episode and how you've
lived your careers to be a real driving force for
somebody like me. So I appreciate you coming on this show,
and I need you to know that there's a lot
(38:32):
of people that look up to the two of you
who are going to listen to this and think that
they can do it, and they're going to learn from
what you said today. So I'm grateful to you God
as Rivera, Aaron Walton, Hall of Fame, Hall of Achievement.
I mean, it doesn't get any better than this. So
thank you both for joining us on Future Legends of Advertising.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
Thank you for having me, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Well, that doesn't this episode of the Future Legends of
Advertising podcast on Ihearten.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
I'm Ross Martin and I'm Hailey Romer and thank you
for listening. We'll be back with another episode before you
know it. And for more information on the American Advertising Federation,
go to AAF dot org.
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