Less than 0.1% of creative agencies are founded by women. 
That’s an especially crazy stat when you consider that women greatly outnumber men in college design programs. It’s our not-so-covert covert mission to increase that number and the disproportionate percentage of people of color working in the industry at large (just 10%) to help make it safer and more equitable. Cool. How?
1. Nurturing the next generation of fearless leaders in our industry through our Creative Leaders Fellowship Program — a formal mentorship and training program focused on starting and running a creative business with priority given to creatives who identify as BIPOC, queer, transgender, non-binary and/or or women.
2. Spreading the truth about this stuff by sharing the story behind the stats as part of our “Truth” speaking series — a radical talk we give to students and professional groups across the country.
3. Partnering with other industry advocates to create tools like this Resource Guide that help educate our peers in the creative industry on how they can join us in making change.
4. And, on the creative tip, we started a collaborative street-level awareness campaign in 2015 aimed at confronting the creative industry’s condoned culture of misogyny and racism using design, music, art, and other creative expressions.
Ours is truly a field that’s been much slower to progress than most. And that has got to change. Not just for people working in it, but for the millions who consciously and unconsciously absorb its messages everyday.
Read up on these issues
#MeToo Clashes with ‘Bro Culture’ at Ad Agencies
By Tiffany Hsu, New York Times
Stories of Being Black in Advertising: 1969-2020
By Katie Deighton, The Drum
Sexism In Advertising: ‘They Talk About Diversity But They Don’t Want Change’
By Rachel Cooke, The Guardian
Why The Picture Of Diversity On Madison Avenue Is So Murky
By Nathalie Tadena, The Wall Street Journal
We Are The 0.1%: Why The Ad World Needs More Female Founders
By Mira Kaddoura, AdAge
Branding Blackness by Design
By Marshall Shorts, TEDx Talk
Why The Ad Industry’s Diversity Strategy Needs A New Brief
By Rochelle Newman-Carrasco, AdAge
‘I Left And I Shut Up’: Why Women In Advertising Won’t Speak Publicly About Harassment
By Shareen Pathak, Digiday
Women In Advertising Reveal Rampant Sexism And Macho Culture
By Rob Davies, The Guardian