November 23, 2022 • 25 mins
Daisy Expósito-Ulla and Angela Guzman open up about their unique roles in the advertising industry as female Latina leaders, the challenges they have faced in pushing representation in all aspects of the advertising industry and the business value of investing in diversity.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
I always said that when I got into this business,
I got into this business because I was a storyteller.
But along the way, I also found that there was
a purpose, that I had a purpose in my life
and that I don't know how else to call it,
but I was an activist. I became an activist in
an industry. I mean, I don't know how else to
call that. And fast forward forty years later, I'm still
(00:32):
an activist. I'm still making a case for the value
of this consumer. This is where I find tremendous value
in what I do and helping to promote businesses like Daisies,
because without our voice being in that room, without understanding
all of the richness of our culture, it's hard to
(00:54):
connect with those consumers authentically, to really be able to
measure and gauge what that return on investment is so
that we can continue to make our business case, because
we are a solid business case and we are here
to stay for sure. Hello and welcome to the Future
(01:16):
Legends of Advertising podcast featuring newly inducted members of the
American Advertising Federation's Hall of Achievement and those in the
Hall of Fame. In this series, will compare notes gain
insights and explore the future of the advertising industry who
never before heard conversations between those who are shaping it.
You'll meet industry icons like Bozoma St John, Daisy, Expositailla,
(01:38):
Deborah Wall, and future ones, including leaders from the most
impactful brands, agencies, and media platforms in the world. We're
your host, Hailey Rohmer and Ross Martin. Now let's meet
the legends. Let me introduce Daisy for our seas by
the un on net once but it was that you
were already like you in the Hall of Fame swirl
(02:02):
and I was one of the randos that voted for you,
so like, well, thank you, no problems, uh. And I'm
Ross and that's Haley and this we are this year's
chairs for the Advertising Hall of Achievement and I also
serve on the board of the a F And this
is really a moment for us that's very special because
we're bringing together, like the living legends, the icons of
(02:23):
people we really look up to, with the next generation
coming up right behind you, who never would have gotten
even do any of this in most cases without people
like you trailblazing for all of us. So let me
introduce Daisy So, Haley, I don't know if you realize,
but we have an incredible show today. I'm sure you're
very prepared for it. You may know that I'm about
(02:46):
to introduce Daisy Exposito Juya, who is currently the very
legendary chair and CEO of Desksito Partners. Some people call
them d X or DEX, but I would never be
able to. I'm gonna have to condense this introduction by
a lot because this is a living legend, and when
(03:09):
we decided to do this podcast together, we said we're
only doing this if we can get the best of
the best, and so far, so good. If this is
our only episode, I think we're good. I know this
Ross And the reason why you're the one who gets
to introduced Daisy is because this is a true test
of how well you can actually condense down the amount
of achievements one has had, like Daisy into just a
(03:32):
couple of seconds here. So let's see you do it
all right. So, a few years ago I had the
honor of being in the group the Council of Judges
that voted for the Advertising Hall of Fame, and Daisy
was inducted along with some other legends. Keno from a
Max Best comstock from ge Arthur Solzberger from the New
York Times. But she was the one that captured the
(03:55):
heart and the soul of the room. This is the person,
Daisy who quote the most important Madison Avenue success story
written by a woman not born in the United States.
Daisy came to America in nineteen sixty four. She was
born in Cuba, and she took the entire industry by
(04:15):
storm basically when she got here. She's also the former
chair and CEO of the Bravo Group inside of the
w p P, which because of her and a few
other people, have turned into the largest US Hispanic agency
of all time. She's a visionary, creative leader. She's worked
with A T and T, Craft, Bank of America, Sears, Uniuly, Reviser,
(04:39):
many many, many more. Please welcome to our show, Daisy
Exposito uya. Thank you Ross for that introduction, and you're
just a price because forty plus years in an industry
isn't easy to sell much. But thank you for inviting
me today. To both of you, we are thrilled. Have
(05:00):
you well done? Ross? I could not have done it
any better, and I am equally excited to introduce Angela
Guzman because if anyone were to follow directly in Daisy's footsteps,
I would put all my money on Angela as being
the person to be able to do it. One of
the reasons we loved Angela as being part of this
(05:21):
year's h o A inductee class is because she brings
something completely different from every other candidate. Angela is currently
the senior vice president and Head of Supplier Diversity at DENS,
where she's responsible for developing partnerships that promote the use
of businesses owned by women, bipop, LGBTQ, persons with disabilities, veterans,
(05:42):
and small businesses. In other words, Guzman is in charge
of making sure we are bringing as many voices and
parties to the table as part of our supply system
in this industry as possible. Not only has Angela been
doing it for den DO over the past couple of years,
but before that, she was doing the same thing NBCU
and she's even been tapped by multiple agencies outside of
(06:04):
the industry because of her incredible work, including being tapped
for the board of New York and New Jersey's Minority
Supplier Diversity Council, which is pretty incredible. So here we
are today with Angela. Welcome and thank you so much
for what you're doing for the industry and helping us
to bring more people to the table and really think
about firsity and inclusion in new and unexpected ways. Welcome Angela,
(06:28):
Thank you so much. I am truly thrilled to be
here just to elevate the conversation of supplier diversity and
the importance of investing in diverse businesses. So it is
a privilege and an honor, and then also just an
honor to be here with you today, Daisy, because I'm excited.
I'm very honored to be with you and Jolan too,
to see that the torch will continue. You're in a
(06:49):
privileged position to do that and to continue to elevate
the discussion and diversity in America and in our industry.
Angela is just a couple of weeks away from being
inducted into the American Advertising Federations Hall of Achievement. And
as you know, the a F is the unifying force
(07:11):
for advertising. This is the organization that is bringing our
whole industry together and also really setting a new standard
for modern advertising, not just what it is and what
it looks like, but how it's done and who gets
to do it, And so she's about to have this
very big personal moment where the whole industry is going
to celebrate her work mid career. Could you talk about
(07:34):
the moment you had a couple of years ago when
you were inducted Daisy into the Advertising Hall of Fame.
It was just a real moment for me because I
never imagined that I would be receiving and be inducted
into the Hall of Fame. But it was very rewarding
because I saw how an entire industry on the work
(07:56):
that I had been doing for almost forty years, was
being recognized. I was a proponent of multicultural marketing for
all of my entire career, and to see that the
industry had evolved, that the industry was recognizing the contributions
(08:17):
of multicultural marketing and what I had contributed was very rewarded.
It was also great to see my ninety five year
old mother sitting there and seeing me receive this award.
Amazing Angela. When you hear Daisy talk about that, Obviously,
looking back on her career and the impact that she
(08:39):
had in her career, I'm curious what sort of a
motion that evokes for you. So I feel a great
sense of pride when I listened to Daisy share her story.
I'm proud for Latin as I'm proud for women business owners,
but I'm also proud for our industry and recognizing the
importance of diverse voices and multicultural voices. So a little
(09:03):
bit about my career. Um. While I have not always
been specific to advertising, I have had the joy of
working in the advertising space. So a long period of
time I worked at NBC Universal and one of the
unique lenses that I had is when I started in
diversity and inclusion and supplier diversity. I came with a
finance background, so I had the sort of understanding of
(09:27):
where dollars were being spent and in a supplier diversity space,
traditionally you hear them talk about procurement, and when I
stepped into the world of supplier diversity, I immediately recognized
that there was a gap in the spending with diverse
businesses around that media marketing advertising space. And so very
early on, as I stepped into the world of supplier diversity,
(09:50):
I took it on as my mission to shed a
light to increase visibility. So that we could start taking
our efforts into that media marketing world. And so that's
really been the past decade of my career, is trying
to shed a light on the media and advertising industry,
the unique nature of the industry, and how this is
(10:13):
not necessarily a procurement approach, but there are certainly similarities.
And when it comes to investing in the communities, this
is by far one of the areas that I think
we could make a tremendous impact because it's that untapped
area of opportunity. And so when I listen to Daisy
story and having representation in an industry that often does
(10:36):
not recognize the voices of diverse business owners and or
the importance of the work that I do, it's very gratifying.
I feel a tremendous amount of pride because I think
she has really created a pathway and blazed a path
for us to have these conversations and quite frankly, for
someone like myself to even be considered for this position
(10:58):
and privilege. So I'm very nerd and I'm proud so
easy and Angela both when you look at hispanics and
culture and in business, how much has changed, and then
also how much hasn't changed at all. I would say
that things have changed. The level of awareness has it
(11:22):
certainly increased. I mean, the data says that Hispanics are
the largest growth segment among the multicultural community. We know
that multicultural is the new mainstream. So you would think
that based on the headlines, we no longer have to
(11:43):
sell the Hispanic opportunity. And nothing could be further from
the truth. Right, there's still a major disparity between the
value of this consumer segment and the investment that Corporate
(12:03):
America has against it. So I always said that when
I got into this business, I got into this business
because I was a storyteller. I was a creative person
of producer, and you know, advertising is about a short
former of storytelling, and I felt it was important to
tell our stories. But along the way, I also found
(12:25):
that there was a purpose, that I had a purpose
in my life and that I don't know how else
to call it, but I was an activist. I became
an activist in an industry. I mean, I don't know
how else to call that. And fast forward forty years later,
I'm still an activist. I'm still making a case for
(12:46):
the value of this consumer It really hasn't changed that much,
but I do see that there's a higher level of awareness.
And I don't know, Angel if you can shed some
light on this from your perspective, you know, but but
from my perspective, I'm still going at it with regards
(13:09):
to just how I think how far we've come along
as a Latino community. What I will say is that
I am often the only in a lot of the
spaces that I'm in, whether it's in a supplier diversity space,
whether it's in an executive leadership space, and so well,
I do, in fact believe that you know, we have
created pathways and that there are opportunities for us. The
(13:33):
A lot of the barriers that stood in the way
before I really took on my career path have been
cleared in many ways, they're not completely gone, and to
Daisy's point, there's still a lot of work that needs
to be done. I think you know with me well
on first generation. But I am English speaking, so I
grew up in the United States and so we did
(13:53):
not really speak Spanish in my home. I am predominantly
English speaking, and it's interesting to me because us What
I find is that from the marketing perspective, oftentimes we
are approached as a monolith unless you are working with
an actual Latino owned agency who understands the nuances of
our culture. And so this is where I find tremendous
(14:15):
value in what I do and helping to promote businesses
like Daisies, because without our voice being in that room,
without understanding all of the richness of our culture, it's
hard to connect with those consumers authentically to really be
able to measure and engauge what that return on investment
is so that we can continue to make our business case,
(14:38):
because we are a solid business case and we are
here to stay for sure. You know, there's a misguided
perception too that because you're born in the US and
raised in the US and may not speak the language,
that you are um not Hispanic, and that couldn't be
(14:58):
further from the truth. You know, Nielsen, if you UH,
the A and a S Alliance for Inclusive Marketing, all
of them have data that says that now more than ever,
the culture is a very important part of identity among
young people. And so there's still a lot of work
(15:22):
to be done and clients still need to be educated
on this. I am sure that tons and tons of
women and young people stop you on a daily basis
and ask you for advice, and they want to know
what it is you've either done to have gotten where
you are, or what you would encourage them to do
(15:45):
to continue to carry the torch and make inroads or
continue to deepen the pathways that you've already started to create.
What is it that you most often get asked and
how do you respond? Well, my advice is usually be authentic,
you know, be yourself, be proud of who you are.
I've said this consistently. Don't let if you're in a corporation,
(16:09):
don't let the corporations swallow you, because that can happen.
You know, Angela was just talking about being the only
woman or the only latina in her room. Imagine thirty
years ago, Angela, where there weren't too many women period.
So oftentimes I was the only woman and the only latina.
(16:32):
And so my advice if I were to give angel out, yes,
and she's doing tremendously well, but it's it's, you know,
the Hamilton's line, don't throw away the shot. When we're
in a position where we can make decisions and influence others,
go for it. Speak loud, and be heard, even if
(16:53):
you're gonna ruffle some feathers, and it's the only way.
It's the only way. And as women, I think we
have evolved. I mean, there was a time when women
I was always vocal, I tried, I was always I
always tried to be vocal and to and to express
my point, but it wasn't always well received. I think
today women are in a better position to express themselves
(17:18):
and to affirm their points of views. I feel validated
when you say have your voice, raise your voice, because
that is the only way I know how to do it.
It's just to speak up. I'm um. I like to
say I'm small in size, but I'm big an impact.
I'm about five football so I'm not a very large person,
(17:40):
but I'm really passionate. And I think that that passion
and that fire makes up for the size difference, because
if there's something that's really important to me, I will certainly,
you know, stand up and have a voice on the matter.
So I feel very validated in hearing you say that.
I'm glad to hear and obviously you're doing very well.
So just think you but going thank you, Angela. I wonder,
(18:04):
I wonder what you think in terms of your impact
for the future, what you're capable of, what you're hoping
you can do from here. So in terms of this,
you know, halftime of the career and what do I
do next? And now it's this has really been a
point of reflection for me in terms of my career.
(18:26):
And I know you had to ask Daisy, you know,
in terms of career advice. But one thing I will
say is when I stepped into this world, I thought
that I was just going to be able to learn
as much as I could, run as fast as I
could on my own, and very quickly I learned that
there are many many obstacles in this work and a
lot of obstacles that have to be removed. And so
(18:47):
it was through that that I built community, and I
had mentors, and I had advocates, and I started to learn.
And so at this stage in my career, I take
the good words of our friend Tiffany Warren. I've rised up.
Now I have to reach act And now it really
is that moment where I reached back and I start
to build pipelines and pathways for those who can continue
(19:09):
this great work and take it even further than where
we are now. And so that's my next is really
not stepping back, but stepping aside and empowering others so
that we can continue to push this forward. Thank you,
Angela for the work that you're doing. I'm going to
say something from yesterday. I was watching Norman lear for
(19:33):
some of you and normally Er, you know, the creator
of all in the Family, and and it was asked
by Ted Couple about this position that are now in
corporations where you know, we have to sort of monitor
and the support for minority owned businesses that we all
(19:58):
do the right thing exce are, etcetera. And and you know,
Norman Leer said that it's a sad state of our
society that we have to create these positions and these
roles to make sure that we're doing what should be
(20:21):
humanely normal, that we should all be accepting, that we
should that should we should embrace the diversity and the
reality of the demographics and of the people that we
live in in our country. And so my question Angela
is I know that at this point this is very
(20:43):
much needed, but I would hope that at some point
we get to a point in our industry where you
can pass the baton to someone else and not necessarily
have to do the same work that you're doing. That
we do become a truth, you know, diverse industry where
(21:07):
we embrace our people are consumers because they reflect who
we are. And so I'm hoping that that that that
can happen at some point. I have a lot of
thoughts around that. So I participated in the Aspen Institute.
They have a Latinos and Society program that I participated in,
(21:28):
and in that program, you know, we all were trying
to hack how do we unlock more dollars for Latino
owned businesses, specifically capital investments, And it all came down
to one simple thing, no matter the industry, no matter
the offering, it was that we need to have a voice,
and the stories that are told about Latinos to the
public have to be positive ones. We have to get
(21:52):
away from this narrative and stereotype that Latino business owners
are all really small, scrappy business owners, or that their immigrants.
There are some real businesses that have grown and scaled
and that compete, and we're not telling those stories. And
so to your point, Daisy, the beauty of being in
this space outside of procurement is that we are finally
(22:14):
bringing this to a space that influences culture and behavior,
and so to be bringing these conversations to this forum.
My hope is exactly your hope, Daisy, that we start
to move hearts and minds and inspire people to give
purpose to their purchase, be mindful of where they're putting
their dollars, start to impact the communities positively, and then
(22:39):
it just becomes to your point, a culture and that
I work myself out of a job, but I also
follow trends, and I know that this work has been
going on for a very long time, and so it's
good to have a plan in place for the successors
to carry forth that good work. If we're not able
to accomplish it within my career lifetime, I would hope
(23:01):
that you will me too. I'm an optimist. I love
me too. We have so much in common. I'd love
to meet you in person and break some bread. We
are going to make that happen, um. So, I know,
I know there's other questions, but I told them so.
I'm so excited to meet her. So I'm the chair
of the New York New Jersey Council where you're certified, Yes,
(23:24):
and I know your business name by way of the council,
but we've never had the pleasure of meeting. So we
will make this. Yes, we have most will make it happen.
I love this Angela. Just while we have you here,
are there any questions you'd like to ask Daisy, Daisy,
it's not necessarily a question, but it is a nod
(23:45):
to you. I think coming to this country, um immigrating
to the country, building a business, having you know, a family,
learning a language, all of those things, it's so admirable
to me. And I think when I talked to in
thiss owners, when I talked to just people in general,
I think that that's the strength. So I'm curious to know.
(24:06):
Would you do you define your story coming to America
and your experience. Do you think that that's part of
what fueled you in your passion? Absolutely, I think that
being a political exile, because that's what we were. I
think that that seeing your parents struggle starting all over again,
(24:27):
I think that that fueled me to succeed. Absolutely, it's
it's and being different in a way was my superpower,
you know. I I leveraged my difference as opposed to
making it a negative. I I leverage what I brought
to the table and uh yeah, absolutely this was awesome.
(24:51):
Thank you both so much for joining us. I feel
like I've learned so much, not only just about the
two of you, but also a reminder of the power
connection and in particular, you know how a F is,
as Ross said, that unifying voice for the industry. I
love that you two haven't met before, and yet it
feels like your kindred spirits. Thank you so much for
(25:13):
making the time to be with us, and I am
confident that everyone will have learned a lot from you
both and will take a lot away from this conversation
a lot of fun. Thank you, Thank you so much. Well,
that does it for this episode of the Future Legends
of Advertising podcast. I'm Ross Martin and I'm Hayley Rohmer,
(25:34):
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 a a F dot org.
I always said that when I got into this business,
I got into this business because I was a storyteller.
But along the way, I also found that there was
a purpose, that I had a purpose in my life
and that I don't know how else to call it,
but I was an activist. I became an activist in
an industry. I mean, I don't know how else to
call that. And fast forward forty years later, I'm still
(00:32):
an activist. I'm still making a case for the value
of this consumer. This is where I find tremendous value
in what I do and helping to promote businesses like Daisies,
because without our voice being in that room, without understanding
all of the richness of our culture, it's hard to
(00:54):
connect with those consumers authentically, to really be able to
measure and gauge what that return on investment is so
that we can continue to make our business case, because
we are a solid business case and we are here
to stay for sure. Hello and welcome to the Future
(01:16):
Legends of Advertising podcast featuring newly inducted members of the
American Advertising Federation's Hall of Achievement and those in the
Hall of Fame. In this series, will compare notes gain
insights and explore the future of the advertising industry who
never before heard conversations between those who are shaping it.
You'll meet industry icons like Bozoma St John, Daisy, Expositailla,
(01:38):
Deborah Wall, and future ones, including leaders from the most
impactful brands, agencies, and media platforms in the world. We're
your host, Hailey Rohmer and Ross Martin. Now let's meet
the legends. Let me introduce Daisy for our seas by
the un on net once but it was that you
were already like you in the Hall of Fame swirl
(02:02):
and I was one of the randos that voted for you,
so like, well, thank you, no problems, uh. And I'm
Ross and that's Haley and this we are this year's
chairs for the Advertising Hall of Achievement and I also
serve on the board of the a F And this
is really a moment for us that's very special because
we're bringing together, like the living legends, the icons of
(02:23):
people we really look up to, with the next generation
coming up right behind you, who never would have gotten
even do any of this in most cases without people
like you trailblazing for all of us. So let me
introduce Daisy So, Haley, I don't know if you realize,
but we have an incredible show today. I'm sure you're
very prepared for it. You may know that I'm about
(02:46):
to introduce Daisy Exposito Juya, who is currently the very
legendary chair and CEO of Desksito Partners. Some people call
them d X or DEX, but I would never be
able to. I'm gonna have to condense this introduction by
a lot because this is a living legend, and when
(03:09):
we decided to do this podcast together, we said we're
only doing this if we can get the best of
the best, and so far, so good. If this is
our only episode, I think we're good. I know this
Ross And the reason why you're the one who gets
to introduced Daisy is because this is a true test
of how well you can actually condense down the amount
of achievements one has had, like Daisy into just a
(03:32):
couple of seconds here. So let's see you do it
all right. So, a few years ago I had the
honor of being in the group the Council of Judges
that voted for the Advertising Hall of Fame, and Daisy
was inducted along with some other legends. Keno from a
Max Best comstock from ge Arthur Solzberger from the New
York Times. But she was the one that captured the
(03:55):
heart and the soul of the room. This is the person,
Daisy who quote the most important Madison Avenue success story
written by a woman not born in the United States.
Daisy came to America in nineteen sixty four. She was
born in Cuba, and she took the entire industry by
(04:15):
storm basically when she got here. She's also the former
chair and CEO of the Bravo Group inside of the
w p P, which because of her and a few
other people, have turned into the largest US Hispanic agency
of all time. She's a visionary, creative leader. She's worked
with A T and T, Craft, Bank of America, Sears, Uniuly, Reviser,
(04:39):
many many, many more. Please welcome to our show, Daisy
Exposito uya. Thank you Ross for that introduction, and you're
just a price because forty plus years in an industry
isn't easy to sell much. But thank you for inviting
me today. To both of you, we are thrilled. Have
(05:00):
you well done? Ross? I could not have done it
any better, and I am equally excited to introduce Angela
Guzman because if anyone were to follow directly in Daisy's footsteps,
I would put all my money on Angela as being
the person to be able to do it. One of
the reasons we loved Angela as being part of this
(05:21):
year's h o A inductee class is because she brings
something completely different from every other candidate. Angela is currently
the senior vice president and Head of Supplier Diversity at DENS,
where she's responsible for developing partnerships that promote the use
of businesses owned by women, bipop, LGBTQ, persons with disabilities, veterans,
(05:42):
and small businesses. In other words, Guzman is in charge
of making sure we are bringing as many voices and
parties to the table as part of our supply system
in this industry as possible. Not only has Angela been
doing it for den DO over the past couple of years,
but before that, she was doing the same thing NBCU
and she's even been tapped by multiple agencies outside of
(06:04):
the industry because of her incredible work, including being tapped
for the board of New York and New Jersey's Minority
Supplier Diversity Council, which is pretty incredible. So here we
are today with Angela. Welcome and thank you so much
for what you're doing for the industry and helping us
to bring more people to the table and really think
about firsity and inclusion in new and unexpected ways. Welcome Angela,
(06:28):
Thank you so much. I am truly thrilled to be
here just to elevate the conversation of supplier diversity and
the importance of investing in diverse businesses. So it is
a privilege and an honor, and then also just an
honor to be here with you today, Daisy, because I'm excited.
I'm very honored to be with you and Jolan too,
to see that the torch will continue. You're in a
(06:49):
privileged position to do that and to continue to elevate
the discussion and diversity in America and in our industry.
Angela is just a couple of weeks away from being
inducted into the American Advertising Federations Hall of Achievement. And
as you know, the a F is the unifying force
(07:11):
for advertising. This is the organization that is bringing our
whole industry together and also really setting a new standard
for modern advertising, not just what it is and what
it looks like, but how it's done and who gets
to do it, And so she's about to have this
very big personal moment where the whole industry is going
to celebrate her work mid career. Could you talk about
(07:34):
the moment you had a couple of years ago when
you were inducted Daisy into the Advertising Hall of Fame.
It was just a real moment for me because I
never imagined that I would be receiving and be inducted
into the Hall of Fame. But it was very rewarding
because I saw how an entire industry on the work
(07:56):
that I had been doing for almost forty years, was
being recognized. I was a proponent of multicultural marketing for
all of my entire career, and to see that the
industry had evolved, that the industry was recognizing the contributions
(08:17):
of multicultural marketing and what I had contributed was very rewarded.
It was also great to see my ninety five year
old mother sitting there and seeing me receive this award.
Amazing Angela. When you hear Daisy talk about that, Obviously,
looking back on her career and the impact that she
(08:39):
had in her career, I'm curious what sort of a
motion that evokes for you. So I feel a great
sense of pride when I listened to Daisy share her story.
I'm proud for Latin as I'm proud for women business owners,
but I'm also proud for our industry and recognizing the
importance of diverse voices and multicultural voices. So a little
(09:03):
bit about my career. Um. While I have not always
been specific to advertising, I have had the joy of
working in the advertising space. So a long period of
time I worked at NBC Universal and one of the
unique lenses that I had is when I started in
diversity and inclusion and supplier diversity. I came with a
finance background, so I had the sort of understanding of
(09:27):
where dollars were being spent and in a supplier diversity space,
traditionally you hear them talk about procurement, and when I
stepped into the world of supplier diversity, I immediately recognized
that there was a gap in the spending with diverse
businesses around that media marketing advertising space. And so very
early on, as I stepped into the world of supplier diversity,
(09:50):
I took it on as my mission to shed a
light to increase visibility. So that we could start taking
our efforts into that media marketing world. And so that's
really been the past decade of my career, is trying
to shed a light on the media and advertising industry,
the unique nature of the industry, and how this is
(10:13):
not necessarily a procurement approach, but there are certainly similarities.
And when it comes to investing in the communities, this
is by far one of the areas that I think
we could make a tremendous impact because it's that untapped
area of opportunity. And so when I listen to Daisy
story and having representation in an industry that often does
(10:36):
not recognize the voices of diverse business owners and or
the importance of the work that I do, it's very gratifying.
I feel a tremendous amount of pride because I think
she has really created a pathway and blazed a path
for us to have these conversations and quite frankly, for
someone like myself to even be considered for this position
(10:58):
and privilege. So I'm very nerd and I'm proud so
easy and Angela both when you look at hispanics and
culture and in business, how much has changed, and then
also how much hasn't changed at all. I would say
that things have changed. The level of awareness has it
(11:22):
certainly increased. I mean, the data says that Hispanics are
the largest growth segment among the multicultural community. We know
that multicultural is the new mainstream. So you would think
that based on the headlines, we no longer have to
(11:43):
sell the Hispanic opportunity. And nothing could be further from
the truth. Right, there's still a major disparity between the
value of this consumer segment and the investment that Corporate
(12:03):
America has against it. So I always said that when
I got into this business, I got into this business
because I was a storyteller. I was a creative person
of producer, and you know, advertising is about a short
former of storytelling, and I felt it was important to
tell our stories. But along the way, I also found
(12:25):
that there was a purpose, that I had a purpose
in my life and that I don't know how else
to call it, but I was an activist. I became
an activist in an industry. I mean, I don't know
how else to call that. And fast forward forty years later,
I'm still an activist. I'm still making a case for
(12:46):
the value of this consumer It really hasn't changed that much,
but I do see that there's a higher level of awareness.
And I don't know, Angel if you can shed some
light on this from your perspective, you know, but but
from my perspective, I'm still going at it with regards
(13:09):
to just how I think how far we've come along
as a Latino community. What I will say is that
I am often the only in a lot of the
spaces that I'm in, whether it's in a supplier diversity space,
whether it's in an executive leadership space, and so well,
I do, in fact believe that you know, we have
created pathways and that there are opportunities for us. The
(13:33):
A lot of the barriers that stood in the way
before I really took on my career path have been
cleared in many ways, they're not completely gone, and to
Daisy's point, there's still a lot of work that needs
to be done. I think you know with me well
on first generation. But I am English speaking, so I
grew up in the United States and so we did
(13:53):
not really speak Spanish in my home. I am predominantly
English speaking, and it's interesting to me because us What
I find is that from the marketing perspective, oftentimes we
are approached as a monolith unless you are working with
an actual Latino owned agency who understands the nuances of
our culture. And so this is where I find tremendous
(14:15):
value in what I do and helping to promote businesses
like Daisies, because without our voice being in that room,
without understanding all of the richness of our culture, it's
hard to connect with those consumers authentically to really be
able to measure and engauge what that return on investment
is so that we can continue to make our business case,
(14:38):
because we are a solid business case and we are
here to stay for sure. You know, there's a misguided
perception too that because you're born in the US and
raised in the US and may not speak the language,
that you are um not Hispanic, and that couldn't be
(14:58):
further from the truth. You know, Nielsen, if you UH,
the A and a S Alliance for Inclusive Marketing, all
of them have data that says that now more than ever,
the culture is a very important part of identity among
young people. And so there's still a lot of work
(15:22):
to be done and clients still need to be educated
on this. I am sure that tons and tons of
women and young people stop you on a daily basis
and ask you for advice, and they want to know
what it is you've either done to have gotten where
you are, or what you would encourage them to do
(15:45):
to continue to carry the torch and make inroads or
continue to deepen the pathways that you've already started to create.
What is it that you most often get asked and
how do you respond? Well, my advice is usually be authentic,
you know, be yourself, be proud of who you are.
I've said this consistently. Don't let if you're in a corporation,
(16:09):
don't let the corporations swallow you, because that can happen.
You know, Angela was just talking about being the only
woman or the only latina in her room. Imagine thirty
years ago, Angela, where there weren't too many women period.
So oftentimes I was the only woman and the only latina.
(16:32):
And so my advice if I were to give angel out, yes,
and she's doing tremendously well, but it's it's, you know,
the Hamilton's line, don't throw away the shot. When we're
in a position where we can make decisions and influence others,
go for it. Speak loud, and be heard, even if
(16:53):
you're gonna ruffle some feathers, and it's the only way.
It's the only way. And as women, I think we
have evolved. I mean, there was a time when women
I was always vocal, I tried, I was always I
always tried to be vocal and to and to express
my point, but it wasn't always well received. I think
today women are in a better position to express themselves
(17:18):
and to affirm their points of views. I feel validated
when you say have your voice, raise your voice, because
that is the only way I know how to do it.
It's just to speak up. I'm um. I like to
say I'm small in size, but I'm big an impact.
I'm about five football so I'm not a very large person,
(17:40):
but I'm really passionate. And I think that that passion
and that fire makes up for the size difference, because
if there's something that's really important to me, I will certainly,
you know, stand up and have a voice on the matter.
So I feel very validated in hearing you say that.
I'm glad to hear and obviously you're doing very well.
So just think you but going thank you, Angela. I wonder,
(18:04):
I wonder what you think in terms of your impact
for the future, what you're capable of, what you're hoping
you can do from here. So in terms of this,
you know, halftime of the career and what do I
do next? And now it's this has really been a
point of reflection for me in terms of my career.
(18:26):
And I know you had to ask Daisy, you know,
in terms of career advice. But one thing I will
say is when I stepped into this world, I thought
that I was just going to be able to learn
as much as I could, run as fast as I
could on my own, and very quickly I learned that
there are many many obstacles in this work and a
lot of obstacles that have to be removed. And so
(18:47):
it was through that that I built community, and I
had mentors, and I had advocates, and I started to learn.
And so at this stage in my career, I take
the good words of our friend Tiffany Warren. I've rised up.
Now I have to reach act And now it really
is that moment where I reached back and I start
to build pipelines and pathways for those who can continue
(19:09):
this great work and take it even further than where
we are now. And so that's my next is really
not stepping back, but stepping aside and empowering others so
that we can continue to push this forward. Thank you,
Angela for the work that you're doing. I'm going to
say something from yesterday. I was watching Norman lear for
(19:33):
some of you and normally Er, you know, the creator
of all in the Family, and and it was asked
by Ted Couple about this position that are now in
corporations where you know, we have to sort of monitor
and the support for minority owned businesses that we all
(19:58):
do the right thing exce are, etcetera. And and you know,
Norman Leer said that it's a sad state of our
society that we have to create these positions and these
roles to make sure that we're doing what should be
(20:21):
humanely normal, that we should all be accepting, that we
should that should we should embrace the diversity and the
reality of the demographics and of the people that we
live in in our country. And so my question Angela
is I know that at this point this is very
(20:43):
much needed, but I would hope that at some point
we get to a point in our industry where you
can pass the baton to someone else and not necessarily
have to do the same work that you're doing. That
we do become a truth, you know, diverse industry where
(21:07):
we embrace our people are consumers because they reflect who
we are. And so I'm hoping that that that that
can happen at some point. I have a lot of
thoughts around that. So I participated in the Aspen Institute.
They have a Latinos and Society program that I participated in,
(21:28):
and in that program, you know, we all were trying
to hack how do we unlock more dollars for Latino
owned businesses, specifically capital investments, And it all came down
to one simple thing, no matter the industry, no matter
the offering, it was that we need to have a voice,
and the stories that are told about Latinos to the
public have to be positive ones. We have to get
(21:52):
away from this narrative and stereotype that Latino business owners
are all really small, scrappy business owners, or that their immigrants.
There are some real businesses that have grown and scaled
and that compete, and we're not telling those stories. And
so to your point, Daisy, the beauty of being in
this space outside of procurement is that we are finally
(22:14):
bringing this to a space that influences culture and behavior,
and so to be bringing these conversations to this forum.
My hope is exactly your hope, Daisy, that we start
to move hearts and minds and inspire people to give
purpose to their purchase, be mindful of where they're putting
their dollars, start to impact the communities positively, and then
(22:39):
it just becomes to your point, a culture and that
I work myself out of a job, but I also
follow trends, and I know that this work has been
going on for a very long time, and so it's
good to have a plan in place for the successors
to carry forth that good work. If we're not able
to accomplish it within my career lifetime, I would hope
(23:01):
that you will me too. I'm an optimist. I love
me too. We have so much in common. I'd love
to meet you in person and break some bread. We
are going to make that happen, um. So, I know,
I know there's other questions, but I told them so.
I'm so excited to meet her. So I'm the chair
of the New York New Jersey Council where you're certified, Yes,
(23:24):
and I know your business name by way of the council,
but we've never had the pleasure of meeting. So we
will make this. Yes, we have most will make it happen.
I love this Angela. Just while we have you here,
are there any questions you'd like to ask Daisy, Daisy,
it's not necessarily a question, but it is a nod
(23:45):
to you. I think coming to this country, um immigrating
to the country, building a business, having you know, a family,
learning a language, all of those things, it's so admirable
to me. And I think when I talked to in
thiss owners, when I talked to just people in general,
I think that that's the strength. So I'm curious to know.
(24:06):
Would you do you define your story coming to America
and your experience. Do you think that that's part of
what fueled you in your passion? Absolutely, I think that
being a political exile, because that's what we were. I
think that that seeing your parents struggle starting all over again,
(24:27):
I think that that fueled me to succeed. Absolutely, it's
it's and being different in a way was my superpower,
you know. I I leveraged my difference as opposed to
making it a negative. I I leverage what I brought
to the table and uh yeah, absolutely this was awesome.
(24:51):
Thank you both so much for joining us. I feel
like I've learned so much, not only just about the
two of you, but also a reminder of the power
connection and in particular, you know how a F is,
as Ross said, that unifying voice for the industry. I
love that you two haven't met before, and yet it
feels like your kindred spirits. Thank you so much for
(25:13):
making the time to be with us, and I am
confident that everyone will have learned a lot from you
both and will take a lot away from this conversation
a lot of fun. Thank you, Thank you so much. Well,
that does it for this episode of the Future Legends
of Advertising podcast. I'm Ross Martin and I'm Hayley Rohmer,
(25:34):
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 a a F dot org.
Hosts And Creators
Ross Martin
Hayley Romer
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