Rena:

Hello and welcome to the Arena. I’m Rena Lewis, founder and chief strategy advisor at Signature Intentions and host of the arena podcast. In today’s episode, I am beyond honored and thrilled to have as my guest, Hey champion, warrior of inclusion, Ms. Monique Nelson, Monique is the chair and CEO of Uni World group, or UWG the country’s longest standing multicultural marketing agency headquartered in Brooklyn, New York with offices in Detroit, Atlanta, and Miami through her leadership and vision UWG continues, its history of providing the deep insight, knowledge and cultural nuance that keeps its clients connected to the growing and diverse cultures of today’s marketplace. Her list of esteemed agency clients include Ford motor company Colgate Palmolive, the home Depot Johnson and Johnson, L V M H N Amazon as a highly recognized and celebrated industry thought leader. She has led her team and the development of several award winning campaigns, D and I, and cultural fluency consulting and breakthrough creative products that show the wide range of the agencies, insights driven expertise.

Prior to joining UWG Monique spent several years leading up to her role as the global lead executive for entertainment marketing at Motorola. She earned her MBA in international marketing and finance from CALSAC graduate school of business at DePaul university and a bachelor of science degree in human and organizational development from Vanderbilt university today. In addition to being at the helm of UWC, she sits on a number of industry boards, received several distinguished honors and makes the time to give back to charitable organizations that are aligned with her values. Personally, I’ll add that Monique is passionate about all things inclusive. She cares deeply about the profession and is just the type of person you can joyfully lose all track of time speaking with. And as our mutual friend, Leonard Posey likes to say she is as our authentic as they come. So without further ado, hello, Monique. Welcome. And thanks for joining me.

Monique:

Thank you much for having me Rena. It’s really exciting to be here with you today.

Rena:

Well, I’m equally excited, so let’s jump right in and tell me more about the journey that led to your current role as chair and CEO of the longest standing multicultural agency in our country and why you chose marketing as your profession.

Monique:

Oh, wow. I mean, you know what, it’s really, really interesting because I started my journey wanting to be a physician. I decided I better buckle down and you know, take some of those AP courses. And that led me to being a Westinghouse science scholar and doing work and research at Mount Sinai medical center for Alzheimer’s. And I just knew that I was going to be a doctor and I then was fortunate enough to get the posse foundation scholarship, which is a leadership and inclusive scholarship program that at the time was at Vanderbilt university. And, you know, I got there and took my first bio class and I failed. And I mean, like went to the professor for a D like, please I’ve never failed anything in my life. And he said, I must fail you. Like it is for your own good.

So it’s this, you know, it was this crushing moment, of course, you know, coming home, really having had an Epic fail for the first time in my life. And it gave me a moment of clarity and it was really around the fact that, you know what, this may not be it, let’s, you know, switch directions, let’s do something different, let’s explore something different.  You can do other things and not fail so spectacularly. So the weed-out got me and I’m good for that. And I appreciate that. And it took me in a direction to really go much more deeply into business and marketing. And some of the other skills that were, I was very good at statistics. Economics, those things came very, very easily to me and I continue to, to press on, but honestly, by the time I got to my senior year, I thought that I wanted to be in change management, especially having been an organizational development major and, you know, got there and interviewed a couple of places.

And they kind of said, you know what, we’d really love someone to have their PhD or at least their master’s in ODI to come in and be a change management consultant. And I was kind of done with school at that point. I said, you know what, I’m ready to take a break. I want to go and do things in the world. So I went to the career center, I took the assessment test and it’s fit out sales or marketing. And I said, Hey, I’m going to go and interview for sales and marketing jobs. And that’s what I did. I went to every sales and marketing, you know, company that came on campus and lucked into interviewing with international paper. And the funniest part about that moment was in their informational session. They said at a certain point in time, if you work for us, you will have to go to an undesirable location.

So I asked them, well, what does that mean? And they said, well, our paper locations are usually in, you know, locations young people aren’t really thrilled about. And I said, okay, I’m game. Where would that be? And that ended up being in a place called Kokona, Wisconsin. And that was my first job. And I took a sales and marketing role at international paper at a little specialty paper plan and had one of the most amazing experiences in my life and where marketing really came to life. For me as the kind of rookie salesperson, you get the sales list of the things that nobody else really wants to sell. And I ended up being what they called the throwaway girl, right. Everything I sold eventually got thrown away, but I got to tell you, the beauty of starting with a utility really gave me clarity as to how to sell how to be, how to be strategic, and then ultimately how to be really creative.

And that’s when I caught the bug, I quickly fell in love with, with marketing and sales, as a tandem was able to move with international paper to one of their subsidiaries called expert. And I, that moved me to Chicago. And from there, I found myself at a dinner, a ACLU dinner, and seated at the Motorola table with the gentleman that was actually going to begin the global brand strategy group. Prior to that, Motorola was a engineering company. They were absolutely in the space of if we make it, they will come. But in the late nineties, there was a burgeoning, you know, market. And it was the cell phone industry. And it was individuals having cell phones, not just the rich people, it was everybody. And at that point, the leadership knew that they needed to develop this brand strategy. And I was so fortunate to be able to be a part of the beginning of the consumer facing nature of Motorola at the time and was, I’m proud to say that I was there and probably some of the most formative years worked with some amazing people, some of the brightest people on the planet, for sure as we, you know, we’re all in that room when they said at some point, everybody on the planet is going to have one of these.

And I have to tell you, a lot of us were like, I don’t know, it was still like $60 a minute. So what was the concept of being able to articulate? What we see today is pretty wild, but it taught me a great deal. It was an amazing experience to not only, develop a brand, you know, print pretty much from the ground up, but to go through iterations making different choices, you know, some people talk about mistakes. I mean, these were just pivots at one point, Motorola had four sub-brands and then we had to bring the brands back together. And there’s just all sorts of really interesting twists and turns. I was able to see the world working in a global group as I, as I did spend a great deal of time in, you know, parts of the world that were really unique, Seoul, Korea, places in China, like Gwangju and Beijing and Shanghai, some Paolo Brazil got to spend a great deal of time in Milan, Italy, where I was able to meet my true muse for, for advertising much different from my marketing side of the world.

And then come back and really lead what is now kind of the revolution around the fusing of communication and entertainment. And I’m just super proud to say that I was on the rocker team and that was the first time that a phone had music in it. And it was a hundred songs from Apple that were merged into this into this package that is very, very close to what we all use today. Then I decided that it was time to come home and I said, you know what? It’s been a great ride at Motorola and I have had an amazing journey here, but it’s time to pivot. And I moved back to New York city and wanted to hang out with my parents. I’m an only child and wanted to make sure that I had a chance to spend some quality time with them.

And that’s what I did. I came home and worked with Motorola for about a year and then met my next success and interview with Uniworld group in the fall of 2006. And by February of 2007, I joined the company as the head of branded entertainment and integration along with being an account director. And I worked at the agency for about, I guess, about three years and I’m the founder. And I ended up having a conversation about succession and we entered into a deal and I purchased the agency, the majority stake of the agency from the founder, Byron Lewis in May of 2012. And I’ve been the chair and CEO ever since.

Rena:

Wow. What an interesting and fascinating background when he thank you for sharing that with us. And I’m, I’m curious now, did you experience any particular challenges or revelations in transitioning from the client to the agency side of the business?

Monique:

So the first two weeks at union world, I literally called my agency Ogilvy at the time. God bless them. And I apologize. Perfect.

Rena:

I don’t even think I knew what I was asking you guys.

Monique:

And I’m so sorry. This is more than a notion. I had really no clue how many things had to happen within the agency for you to get what you need. And it was, it was unbelievable just in the first two weeks of being at work. It was a remarkable difference from being on the client side than it was being on the agency side.

Rena:

Were there any, are there any skills that served you well and making the transition?

Monique:

Yes. Having been a client I’m absolutely up the game of client service. So I, I knew what I wanted as a client. So I really made sure that my team delivered at the level that that I felt was client worthy. I think those stills continue to be to be an asset for me, you know, being able to be in the client’s shoes and really understand what their really their real needs are because they are multifaceted on the brand side in a way that they may or may not show up on the agency side. Right. There’s so many more stakeholders on the corporate you know, on the brand side that I think a lot of times, if you haven’t experienced that from an agency side, it can feel either bureaucratic or, you know, like stuff’s not happening or, you know, why aren’t they, you know, where’s the money like, there’s, there’s all these pressures that, again, I know coming from the brand side, there’s just a lot more to look through and it may or may not directly impact your budget in a way that you think of that.

Rena:

Interesting. First of all, I love the fact that you apologize to your API to your agency, but when you found yourself on the agency side, I love that. I feel that from having spent the majority of my career on the client side as well. So I totally understand where you’re coming from with that. I also love the fact that you got a lot out of the, the global experience that you were talking about as well. And I’m sure that also served you well in managing global clients. And I think those experiences, I know for me personally, it’s just broadened my horizons and perspectives in ways that are just the measurable. So I appreciate your sharing that with us. So just, let’s just put some context. What does multicultural ,and I know you’ve used the term uni cultural marketing, mean to you?

Monique:

Yeah. So I mean, for some people it’s kind of repellent for others. It’s just a catch all phrase. I mean, it’s been a moniker really given to the space that was just like, if you’re not talking to white people and you know, it can sometimes be seen as exclusionary. And that’s part of the reason that I really liked culture and it’s a play on our brand meaning that, you know, yes, we are individuals, but we’re individuals that are multifaceted and culture matters. But we have to live together. Right? Like, there’s something about this that we have to find the commonality in what we are and what we do every day. But we have to also really respect the uniqueness that we all bring for us, for, you know, cultural, you know, is, you know, really that process that we put our insights through because we want to find the commonality. But then we also want to talk about what that uniqueness is. And we want to celebrate that. And we don’t think that that’s an abstention of any race or ethnicity or creed it’s about what do you culturally resonate with? I know plenty of white people that love black culture and they’re allowed to participate and they should not be allowed to participate. I feel like, you know, allyship is a verb, so there’s room for all, but there’s also room for specificity, individuality, and community. And we believe in celebrating those in every form.

Rena:

And what I hear you saying is it really, really is about the individualities. And so organizations are taking the time to refine their audience personas in a way that’s tailored to reflect relevant cultural practices and unique identities to make sure that you’re offering genuine value through human connections that you make because of them.

Monique:

Yeah, absolutely. And they evolve culture doesn’t stand still. Right. So what we defined, you know, as multicultural 20 years ago, now has a totally different connotation and we have to update that. This moves just as, you know, we were analog and now we’re mostly digital there’s tension around what that means and how it moves. And that’s what we’re here to decide.

Rena:

Wonderful. I love it. Would you say has most inspired you during your career?

Monique:

Yeah, so many, but, you know, I have to say for advertising and my current role, Elena Panizza, who was my boss when I was in Milan, Italy. A hard place to be. Well, first and foremost, she taught me Italian. So, I mean, it’s gone now that I was proficient speaker after you’re leaving her employ it was amazing. She actually came to the States and we worked together again and we continued to stay connected and it’s funny, we just spoke not too long ago. And it had been a long time since we’d spoken. But it’s just really important, I think to keep those kinds of people in your life folks that opened your eyes and had vision that you couldn’t see for yourself.

I’ll always be very appreciative for her for that. I’m just happy that I can continue to call her a mentor, friend, and muse. But Elena was just such a powerful unapologetic, creative force. And I have to say, probably not since my time at LaGuardia had, I really pushed my creative side of my brain. And she really allowed me to dream creatively through an advertising lens. She was so unapologetic about not being formulaic around what the 30 seconds could mean or what the banner ad could be and what it could convey. And she was very good about breaking those boundaries within confines that were still very structured. And I just so appreciate her ability to allow me to use both sides of my brain because I’m very process-oriented right. I come from scientists, which is probably part of the reason I thought I probably wanted to be a doctor, but ultimately I have this very, very strong creative side that allows me to problem solve and I don’t draw well, I don’t do any of those visual things, but I can definitely tell you that it’s going to resonate or not. And when I know what I’m looking for, and I have a good, strong strategy, I can see the creative pulling through or not.

Rena:

Let’s talk about that stress strategy for a second. What do you think are the key components of a great multicultural or inclusive strategic marketing campaign?

Monique:

Any campaign has to have really strong insights. And I don’t think there’s either a multi, a good multicultural one or not. I think you are speaking to the audience that you are intending to or not. It’s all insight driven. It’s all connected to an experience that someone needs to have. And then it has to give you a reason to believe that that brand is going to deliver that for you. Very simple, hard to do.

Rena:

It is it is much more complex than it sounds, but I think you’re spot on, you know treating it, you starting with starting with research, starting with an understanding of who your audience is, are so that you can create those sort of experiential brand stories that appeal both emotionally and rationally. And really connecting clients would treat agencies as I just need this brochure to be done. I just need this television ad to be made, or I just need this direct mail piece to go out. But to your point, and I think you’re, you’re spot on with let’s first have that strategic dialogue in order for me to make a strategic marketing recommendation, we need to have a strategic dialogue. And what are those problems that you’re trying to solve? What are the challenges, what are the unique needs or challenges or opportunities that you’re facing. And that opens up a much broader discussion for you to be much more effective in terms of the recommendation or the solutions that you’re bringing or whatever the, the strategic recommendations that you’re making. It’s more on point and relevant to that specific client. Does that make sense?

Monique:

That’s perfect. That’s exactly it. You, you have articulated it beautifully. That’s exactly. And, again, whether that comes in the form of a brief, or it comes in the form of a strategic conversation, we can’t do anything effectively, especially against audiences that you may or may not have had a relationship with. It’s even more imperative that I understand what you’re trying to do, because now I have to maybe fit into a life of a group of people that don’t even know who you are. They may have a not so great opinion. You know, I often talk about the fact that  we all hate meeting somebody over and over again for communities that maybe you have overlooked or underserved, that’s how they feel. So now, if you’re going to make a concerted effort to speak to them, you know, you may have to come out and apologize,

And, you know, here’s, here’s what I’m here to talk to you about. That’s why we work really hard because we are speaking to audiences that are overlooked and underserved and have often been taken for granted to make sure that we are connecting to more than just the sale. Right. It’s very easy, you know, you know, we can always just sell stuff, but I think we’re looking for a relationship we’re looking for sustainability, we’re looking for longevity. And if that is the case, then we kind of need to continue to engage. Right. Cause if you’d like to get married, I think you, you want a date first, right? There’s a couple of things that we may want to, you know, get on the table before we hitch ourselves. So there’s no difference with that with respect to a brand.

Rena:

You’re absolutely right. I think that that’s such a good point when you’re talking about, you’re trying to create enduring customer relationships for the client to have enduring customer relationships. And also what I think you were alluding to was about the client agency partner relationship. You want to be there for the long-term. You want to have that same type of enduring partnership with them as well. And they recognize that you need to have a broad understanding of the business so that you can best what the business needs or recommend strategically what the business needs. And I love, love, love what you’re saying in terms of really hitting them with the reality of what is going to do you ever have clients that you’ve ever felt like, no, this is not a good match because they may come to you. As I was talking about before with, you know, I just need to check off a box and let’s say the D and I under the D and I umbrella to say, we’ve done this look, we did this great commercial versus look at the reality of, of, of our, of our current state and really work in partner with someone who is going to help me move the needle in meaningful ways, through creating sort of action plans and then, and performance metrics and measurements around how we’re progressing towards that ideal state that, that you’re speaking with them about.

Rena:

So does that come into play as well? Have you ever had a relationship where you, this is not a good match? It doesn’t lead to those enduring qualities that we were talking about?

Monique:

Absolutely. Absolutely. On both sides. Right. You know, there’ve been times when we’ve said, wow, this is probably not the client for us. And, you know, vice versa, right. The client has kind of said, Hey, you know, not really, you know, what, we’re what we’re looking for. We tend to do better over time, right. I just think the more you get to know someone and understand, you know, how they move, what’s important to them, you know, how we can be a strategic partner to you only get better. I we’ve done projects and, you know, done the check the box, but it usually for us those become, you know, some of the things like for our non-for-profits, or, you know, some of, you know, those types of engagements, the pro Bono’s are the only place that we would feel comfortable kind of coming in and saying, Hey, we’ll just do this for you for this moment and keep it moving.

But yeah, when it’s a client that’s not that’s disingenuous or, you know, is really trying to just do it for, you know, face value. You know, that never works out as you can imagine, because we see it in, in two areas, right. Either commitment of their time. And most of the time it’s the commitment with their money. If you’re not really prepared to invest in the resources necessary to do this correctly, we can usually kind of know that upfront. And, you know, a lot of times that comes out in the RFI or the RFP tremendous.

Rena:

Yeah.

Monique:

It was not even a fraction of what it would take to do that for any other project. Right? So at that point, we know that we’re getting the, and I’m doing air quotes, you know, the multicultural rate, just as bad as being a second class citizen. And we just don’t appreciate it. And we move on.

Rena:

I respect that very much.  You got reminded by Cicely Tyson who, unfortunately we lost recently. She would often say in her interviews that there were two things that guided her acceptance or rejection of a role. If, while reading the script, it made her skin tingle. She knew it was something that she’d be, she should be a part of. And she just would wholeheartedly accept and embrace the opportunity. On the other hand, if she said, if it made her stomach churn, she would reject it regardless of financial incentives, external pressures, or whoever, whoever was involved, she would stay true to her purpose. And so it sounds like you use a similar sort of rubric to determine if a potential client is a good fit for your agency to partner with. And, and I love that the difference between the organization who just wants to check a box versus one who understands and appreciates the value and are committed to making that difference, but just needs the help charting the bat. So I really, I really liked that. What’s been the best advice you’ve received.

Monique:

Oh boy, that’s always a good one. I love there’s two, one do something, even if it’s wrong.

Monique:

Cause you can guarantee nothing’s going to happen if you don’t do anything really love that one. And then you know, my mom is just super awesome. This one is enduring. Do it as long as it’s not illegal, immoral or fattening. And now it means, you know, don’t get fat, right? Like

Rena:

Yeah.

Monique:

Moderation and experience as much as you can. It means everything. So those two, for sure. You know, do you have to, and it’s just, yeah, it’s just important to, to, to adventure. I mean, if there’s nothing else from my story that I want people to know, it’s just that I went to some very unusual places, some very, you know, different things in my career and it’s all okay. And it was because the journey is the goal.

Rena:

Yeah, absolutely. That’s where the growth comes from. That’s where the, that’s where the learning comes from. And so I that makes sense. I think that’s very good. It’s very good advice. What is let’s talk about purpose. What is UWG purpose and your role and responsibilities in helping them to achieve it?

Monique:

Okay. Yeah. I mean our, our purpose is to amplify the voices that aren’t amplified. Our, our purpose is to show the world that there is not one way, there are many, many ways and many paths to achieving goals and that inclusion and diversity is the answer to any problem. And that we harness that and we believe that we can always solve a problem if we have many dimensions at the table and that’s critical. So that’s our purpose. You know, our purpose has always been to raise up what has, what has been overlooked and undervalued. And you know, that’s often the case, right? Like we know what happens when you unlock, you know, something for someone that has never seen something, right? Like the, you know, the kid that, you know, sees the movie for the first time you know, that surprise and delight and that ability to look at something with a fresh eye will always give you just such a beautiful answer that you never thought of for what we do every day, right?

Advertising, you see more advertising than you see anything else, but you don’t see enough diverse faces, voices, stories, and experiences. That’s got to change because 90% of the growth, and we’re just talking about the us 90% of the growth over the next 30 years, starting in 2020 is going to come. And this is just rates. I’m just going to talk about race in American and black, Latin X, Spanish, and Asian Americans, 90% of your growth. So at some point in time, if you’re going to do business here, if you’re going to engage here, if you’re going to be about communities here, if you were looking for your dollars here, you are going to be forced to figure out how to work in an inclusive culture. It’s inevitable. So we might want to start learning now and we’re happy to be there.

Rena:

Yeah, I agree. There is powerful minority spending power and businesses brands are just gonna have to realize that they must change their strategies and design messaging that appreciates the value in the cultures of you know, of, of minority populations, which are soon going to be the majority population. I think that’s right on that’s right now. What about speaking today? I love when you call and talk to us a little bit about how you’re leading your team with each other and with clients to lean into that purpose that you just described, and you re during what you referred to as a T R I S I F the pandemic racial injustices and recessive recession that we’re all experiencing or witnessing on some level.

Monique:

I mean, the biggest thing around now is communication. The lack of physical interaction has absolutely made the oral, the written, the zoom, whatever video platform you’re on has made it very, either difficult or for some easier. But the one thing that you have to do is very, very clear in your communication and keep it regular. I’ve just found that I have to do many more touch bases. I host safe spaces for my team to just come and hang out and talk about whatever they want to talk about. We just had a safe space the other week and, you know, we really just kicked it and talking about what are we, you know, what are we watching? Whereas in some of our safe spaces, we’ve had really deep conversations around mental health and making sure that people are going to therapy.

Cause this is really strange. We are so profoundly blessed to be in in an industry and in a business and being able to work remotely, you know, beyond. Right. So everybody’s very grateful. But it also means that you’re confined. So just really trying to take care of people to the best of our ability, if you know and again, it’s a challenge, right? Because there are times when you would have been able to speak to someone, touch them, bring them in. So, you know, it’s a communication game. It’s always been about that. But now that it’s all virtual, I think you have to be much more intentional. And, and look at the triceps as it is. This is a macro issue that is affecting all of us, all of us differently. Yeah, so I mean, at the beginning of the pandemic, I mean, listen, we all thought we were going to be gone for two weeks.

So, my assistant was pregnant and it was starting to make me nervous that she, we didn’t know what this was. She was so coming in and out of the office, people were like, this is real. And I decided to shut that off. So the office down, you know, I guess it was like that Thursday before, I want to say like, whatever that was the 14th or 15th of March or something like that. And I just remember telling her, like, you gotta go, we all have to go, but there’s nothing you can do about. She was just like, oh, okay. She was getting ready to go out on maternity leave. She didn’t want to leave me hanging. We had an interim person coming in for me, so she wanted to get her on and that’s it.

We’re just going to have to do it virtually. So we all went home and thankfully we had done some other things that had put us in a pretty good position to work remotely. So, you know, always kind of wonder why certain things happen. But just know that usually it’s, it’s an order. So it was a pretty seamless departure for everyone, but it was sudden, and once we kind of got into that early, like the second, that third week, I just said, wow, it doesn’t look like we’re going to go anywhere. This is going to prompt me to start to feel really strange. And I know I was feeling odd. So, you know, I just started calling everybody and I called everybody in the agency. Some people, you know, picked up

Some people I talked to for hours. Others, we talked to for moments. But I connected with every single person on my team. And I thought it was really important that they knew that not only were they feeling strange, so it was odd. And I was even kind of like, wow this is real. I’ve got to know that you guys are okay and I need you to understand why we’re, you know, we’re not going back any time soon. There were definitely people on the team that were just like, so when are we going back to work? And, you know, that was in those times when we just couldn’t kick the ball far enough. And you know, but that also meant that we had to, you know, put other things in place and that got us to, like I said, host these regular safe rooms. We still have our town halls and we just continue to try to engage as a team, to, to the best of our ability in these really interesting times. But we all show our vulnerability now. Our kids run in and out of our zoom.

So and colleagues it’s really been a humanizing moment, I think for all of us, because we are all living in this. And you know, to that end the economic piece against our communities in particular, the black and the Brown has been devastating. So, really making sure that economic impact gets transferred to the right places. That we really are supporting our communities. So that started to really drive us and fuel us. And then, you know, lastly with George Floyd, I mean, you know, we’ve been living confined for a while and it was interesting and appropriate that this was the moment that everybody got to see it because you couldn’t ignore it. You couldn’t smell it. It didn’t happen. 

Rena:

And I think that led to a broader awakening and a renewed sense of urgency leaning into a purpose, perhaps in clients leaning into what they may have already already been doing or starting perhaps in new ways with even more speed, empathy and compassion, would you say?

Monique:

Yeah, no, I think, and I give everyone grace, if nothing else, I believe in grace, because at some point we can’t keep punishing you for not doing it. So if you’re going to do it, you get grace now, but let’s do it right.  To your point, there’s, there’s no quick fix here. Let’s, let’s talk about, you know, really talking about this strategically, how long are we going to invest in this? What, what do we want to accomplish? And I think what you have those conversations and you recognize that there’s good and bad at all. Then we’re, we’re all off to a better start around really putting something amazing together. And again, I never talk about replacing, I talk about growing. So it’s adding seats to a table, or it’s going to get a bigger table, this pie rather than I think a feeling of replacement. Right. So I think that’s, that’s key that we were trying to, you know, make one and one equal three.

Rena:

And I love what you said about, it’s a long-term commitment. It’s not that the struggles are, as John Lewis said, it’s not the struggle of a day a week or a month or a year. It’s a struggle of a lifetime and in generations. And so we want to make sure that, you know, when we do see the w what we do come to the end of the tunnel, you know, how will you be remembered personally, and, and for ourselves and for the companies that we are, we represent. So I love what you said about, you know, it’s a long-term commitment. Yeah. It’s a journey. It’s a journey. Yeah.

Monique:

It is a journey and, you know, you think of that differently than you think about it. When it’s a project, your business, you hope is a journey. We all have aspirations, but it’s not to say that we’re going to remain the same. Right. And we’re going to evolve Motorola forward, you know, everyone’s had iterations and the evolution is everywhere. Where do you do? It’s, it’s everywhere each tool, a skill up and continue to learn, because in this game, it’s all about being coachable. Right. We all, we, we, we want the long-term game, which means, you know, I can’t do what I did when I was 20. Right. My workouts. A little different now.

Rena:

Okay.

Monique:

So, you know, think of your business, think of everything that you’re attacking, I think in the same way, right?

Rena:

Yeah. Yeah. And being, and being intentional, about how we want to emerge and how we want to be remembered and, and being intentional about what we do and how we do it and how we are changing and how we’re evolving. I think that’s something else. I think that companies, as we emerge or, you know, that, I think that’s something that will stick around even after the pandemic ends. I think that the companies are just broadening that awareness and that commitment to, to do, to being better and to meaningfully move the needle. What tried and true strategies have you counted on to help clients or potential clients understand the true value of multicultural marketing and D and I

Monique:

The trod interest strategy is that there is a D ROI return on investment, and there is a diversity return on inclusion, and I can prove it. And that’s, it’s really simple, right? Most of the businesses that we work with are in business to make money and everything we do impacts how they make their money. And that’s really important, right? Like how do we make your business better? How do we optimize what you’re doing? How do we make sure that you’re not paying in lawsuits, which you could be paying in training, how we deemphasize the negative and emphasize the positive we want to be in the game of value creation. And that means we want to be involved in what’s valued. And we just talked about it. Value is going to be in new audiences, audiences that you’re not necessarily concentrating on. And this means not only externally your consumer, but internally your employee

Rena:

So important. I think that the, the employer brand that comes under that employer, branding umbrella, you know, talent, acquisition, retention, loyalty, and advocacy, it really is. And taking that look at the same way that the same rigor and focus and discipline that we use to create great customer experiences should be applied to creating great employee experiences as well. And there’s a, there’s a D and an I ROI to both of those things.

Monique:

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, listen, I still live with the, you know, it’s cheaper to keep them in an environment that people want to stay in.

Rena:

Absolutely. And so learning that language of business and putting it in the context of the language of the business, I think also really helps them to have those aha moments 

Monique:

Because the commitment has to come from the top. We all know that when it doesn’t, then it’s a, and when your project lead leaves, so does the project and the budget that came with it. So the commitment has to be where it’s embedded in the business so that it doesn’t get deconstructed. It gets, it gets updated. It gets amended.

Rena:

Yeah, absolutely. And also that, it’s not just a siloed piece of something, you know, that, Oh, they’re over there working on that. It has to be embraced throughout all levels and all functions of the organization. And with a participatory intent, you know, that you are inviting everyone to be a part of this journey that you mentioned, you know, everybody is part of this journey. Everyone contributes to this journey, everyone benefits from this journey and you are, you know, you are an integral part of us moving forward. And I think to the extent and some of the great work that you do really highlights and focuses on focuses on that. So you come from that premise and that belief sort of been one of the favorite campaigns that you’ve worked on or that you’re most proud of.

Monique:

Oh, I mean, you know, my team has just been doing some just fantastic work. I love the D nice F-150 work. It’s just so Epic. And so today it was, you know, in T was just such a transformative figure in this moment that was, you know, pretty awesome. My team also worked on the dove campaign with some of our partner agency, Ogilvy and America, the beautiful and you know, courage is beautiful, which is just, you know, so you know, important to celebrate again, you know, the communities that are, you know, overlooked and oversee and underserved, right. Oh, great. To, to show that in our, our retool, your school campaign, this is in its 12th year with home Depot, you know, supporting HBCU. So just, you know, again, that enduring, you know, level of, of relationship that continues to evolve and become, you know, things that are impactful, not only for the dollar of that consumer, but to show that payback, we’re always super proud of that.

Monique:

You know, we did we did a commercial last year with Ford called built phenomenally. And, you know, the beautiful part about that spot was it was all women of color, not only in front of camera, but behind that, we took young women on set so that they could see that happening in real time, Angela Bassett was our voiceover and they got to go and see her record. So really just making sure that we are impacting every part of our process to the point where our brands and our brand partners will allow us to make this a dream realized. We only know what we see. Right. And exposure is everything. Right. That’s why I love the advice that I was given of, you know, do anything. Cause you’ve got to try it to know whether or not you like it or not. I’ve never experienced it. You don’t even know tragedy. Right? Like there’s, there’s so much out there that we haven’t even discovered yet.

Rena:

Yes. And that sense of curiosity, which leads me to ask to, to my next question, in terms of specific skills, what are, what are the sort of traits that you look for in hiring new talent, or even developing the competencies of the existing talent that you have?

Monique:

I look for people that are agile thinkers they are capable of transferring learnings. It’s really important that you have I like skillsets that are adaptable, right. Because there is no one way to do anything, then there’s always improvement.

Rena:

Yeah. To that point, Monique, I was listening to a chat that you had with Marlon Wayans, who’s building his own entertainment, entertainment, empire. And it was when he said, and you agreed, it’s okay for you to be different for you to do things differently, even for you to make mistakes, but it’s not okay for you not to do your best. And if we both operate on that level of grace and understanding our differences become a powerful way for us to work together, did I get that right? Yeah. I love, love, love that.  So that’s everything, you know, that’s, that’s key, you know, and then you’ve got to love what we do.

Monique:

You can work at any agency if you don’t love the work that we do for the people that we do it for, this is probably not going to be the place for you. So you’ve got to really believe in our purpose and our mission. And then lastly, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s that, that curiosity that, that kind of insatiable thirst for knowledge and broad or narrow that is definitely one thing that we all at UWG have in common. We are voracious in understanding what’s happening in our markets. The things that we’re passionate about, we have people that do all kinds of wacky, other things in their lives, and it’s so important that they continue to feed their there are other, you know, there also egos are there other lives are the other things that they do. And I know as a mother and a wife and a daughter, and, you know, I’m very active and all of those things need to be active in me for me to be the best that I’m, I am at work. So we try our best to, to let people kind of wave, you know, whatever flag they want if it’s going to make them best for our clients and what we do for them every day.

Rena:

Yeah. And speaking of having that insatiable curiosity what are some of the faith, some of your favorite go to resources to keep you informed and Babel ready for the for the multicultural marketing arena?

Monique:

Two little munchkins live with me that keep me so current in terms of how what things are resonating now and what is not the things that they think are cool and are not the music that they are impacting that are impacting them. It’s, it’s really quite interesting. So I have like a really interesting, you know research project that lives within my confines. But outside of that, I still do a lot of traditional reading. I’m still a WSJ rhymes Atlantic economists. I still do a lot of that. And then I am, you know, looking at thought pieces. I do a lot of podcasting, you know, that’s, that’s usually what I’m doing during my workout. And then, you know, novel’s been, of course, you know, getting up to date with a lot of the new work. So everything from the hillbilly Elegy to Isabella Wilkerson, to

Rena:

All sorts of paths. Yeah, absolutely.

Monique:

So, you know, just continuing to read into the best of my ability and it was really forms as I can. And then thankfully I know great people like you and other folks that continue to push and ask questions and keep me, you know, searching for, for answers that, that make sense now, and that can be impactful for later.

Rena:

Terrific. And, and you haven’t mentioned, but they’ve mentioned you other resources that you’ve been lauded in. I mean, the organizations, you’re a part of you know, ad age and ad week, you know, the awards even honored in these places, Monique. So I’m sure I know you’re aware of them. Oh yeah. I mean, our trades would sure. Yes. Yes. The other is a couple of other organizations they add to your list. Colorcomm I think is a great organization for women of color and communications. Yeah. Linkedin, and I know you’re a part of this multicultural marketing experts group led by Lisa was also the president of multicultural resources, which features exactly what the name implies and more, it’s just a plethora of great relevant resources. There’s the diversity action Alliance. Right. that, that also has lots of lots of great things. And you’re also, you also participate in the, in the Ana multicultural marketing and diversity or the a, and A’s Alliance for inclusive and multicultural marketing, right?

Monique:

Yes.

Rena:

Which is also filled with lots of great information and insights and perspectives. So you were just being too modest lady and they’re great learning.

Monique:

Yes. No, they’re all, yes. They all feed the all fetus daily, but yeah, it’s, it’s a lot you’ve got to kind of, you know, stay up on your resources.

Rena:

Yes. So for my last question or request, actually, please tell us about a time when you chose courage over comfort when you risked failure, but showed up anyway.

Monique:

It’s crazy. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never owned an agency before. I’ve never done any of this before. I’m just going to go for it. Why not? Like what, what, what, what good is it if I didn’t try? 

Rena:

It was certainly a courageous move and as, as and I applaud you for it, is it Amanda Gorman? When she recited from her integration poem, the Hill we climb, she said for there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it, if only were brave enough to be it, I would like to thank you, Monique, for being brave enough to be the inclusion champion that you are. And for bravely helping the world see its value through the resonating stories and the consistently brilliant work that you and your UWU G team produce for your clients. This has just been a great discussion that I’ve enjoyed. And I, and I really want to thank you for that for this time.

Monique:

Thank you so much. Rena, this was such an honor. Thanks for having me.

Rena:

Oh, it’s my pleasure. And thank you and to our audience. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you found this episode worthy of your time. If so, feel free to share it with someone who might also benefit from our discussion and please comment like, and, or follow us on our signature intention. Social media channels for alerts on new episodes finally know that you are never alone in the professional challenges and opportunities we’re facing today because you’re always welcome to join me and my proven guests warriors like Monique Nelson right here in the arena.