Hasta La Creative!

There’s no shortage of talk these days about the challenges faced by female ad execs when it comes to the challenges of ascending through the ranks in agencies. The 3% Conference, built around the notion of the lack of support for female creative leadership in advertising, is once again upon us. Naturally, that has me thinking about what it means to be a woman in advertising, specifically one who works on the creative side of the building.

The fact that there’s a steady drum-beat of discussion in the media and at conferences about this topic is a good thing; we should find ways to address the challenges women face and overcome them. But truth be told, what isn’t helpful is that a lot of the talk in these circles and on social media too is starting to veer towards being negative all the time. It’s not constructive. So here’s what I’m not going to do in this letter. I’m not going complain that there aren’t enough of us. I’m not going to talk about how you can generate ideas and can contribute just as much as men over the course of your advertising career. That’s obvious.

Instead, I wanted to dispel a few myths. And share a few key — and positive — learnings that I can see quite clearly now. Because I think it’s actually an awesome time for women to be doing this crazy job.

Continue reading at AdAge.com