Recognizing and Honoring
Black Culture Beyond the 28 Days

Esther *ET* Franklin develops and drives the strategic vision globally for Spark Foundry and its clients as Chief Strategy & Cultural Fluency Officer. With a career rooted in Chicago for more than 19+ years, E.T. is an integral leader in the city’s advertising community; she was named Advertising Woman of the Year by the Chicago Advertising Federation in 2018. In her current role, she has been instrumental in pioneering Spark’s approach to strategy. Her most recent innovation is an end-to-end product development framework called “HEAT,” which enables teams to collaborate, build robust plans and elevated solutions that can withstand disruption and serve clients to the highest standard.

E.T.’s experience and boundary-breaking viewpoints have served Spark well, enriching successful pitches for major accounts such as, Macy’s, Marriott International, Southwest Airlines, Mattel and more. Her ability to lead, guide and motivate high-level talent is the reason she sets the tone driving the largest function within Spark forward; the Media Planning/Strategy team of 400+.

By encouraging marketers to embrace an ‘inside out’ perspective, Esther ‘E.T.’ Franklin has helped iconic brands – and the advertising industry at large – understand the cultural identities and media consumption habits of local and global audiences. Drawing on extensive industry experience across a range of agencies, audiences, geographies and international markets, Esther offers a unique perspective in any situation. Through her spirit of decisive collaboration, future-focused orientation, and innately creative, curious, open-minded, strategic nature, Esther has led several successful corporate “start-up” initiatives.

As the President and Chief Creative Officer, Ryan Ford leads all creative and marketing campaigns across Cashmere’s diverse set of clients. He focuses on identifying and navigating the evolving dynamics between brands and culture. With over 20 years of industry experience, Ryan has led strategies and campaigns for globally recognized brands including Google, Instagram, Facebook, BMW, Taco Bell, Warner Media, Disney, AppleTV, adidas and more. Ryan continually pushes boundaries to push The Culture forward positively that defines new general market consumers. Under Ryan’s leadership, Cashmere has been recognized as a leading force within the creative industry and a recipient of multiple awards including: 2019 Cannes Lions Creative Award, The Clio Awards, AdColor, A100, named Ad Age’s Multicultural 2019 Agency of the Year and recognized on Ad Age’s 2020 A-List Agencies To Watch list and Ad Age’s 2021 A-List Standout Agencies. Ryan was named one of the 2021 AdWeek 50 and 2020 AdColor x AdWeek Champion.

Prior to Cashmere Agency, Ryan served as Executive Editor at The Source, once dubbed as “hip-hop’s bible.” For nearly a decade, Ryan played a pivotal role in the construction and content of every issue and interviewed hundreds of revered musicians, executives, celebrities and politicians, including Jay Z, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, Diddy, Shaquille O’Neal, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Nas and OutKast to name a few.

Ryan holds a BA in Journalism from University of Iowa and a Masters of Arts in African-American Studies from University of California, Los Angeles. Ryan Ford has lent his voice as a thought leader and culture expert and appeared in a variety of publications, including Fast Company, AdAge, LA Times, Forbes and more. Ryan is currently on the Music Advisory Board of ADCOLOR, the premier organization dedicated to celebrating and promoting professionals of color and diversity in the creative industries and on the Advisory Board Member of The Marcus Graham Project.

A music enthusiast, Ryan enjoys all genres of great music, not just hip-hop. In his downtime, Ryan enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, watching football, playing video games (his favorite being Madden NFL) and nerding out on anything related to Star Wars (specifically the Dark Side). In his prime, Ryan played football for the University of Kansas as an offensive guard and hails from Des Moines, Iowa.

Pilar is a culturally conscious strategist who isn’t afraid to speak from the heart. Her experience working across brand, social, and diversity equity and inclusion strategy enables her to find unique opportunities for companies and creatives to center diverse voices and create socially impactful work that propels the cultural narrative.

Her work extends across a range of major brands like Patron, Coca Cola, P&G Always Global, and Jack Daniels. She’s happiest working in collaborative environments and sharing experiences with people; whether that’s splitting an extra item on the menu at a dinner restaurant or presenting in any board room.

For the past 20 years, Akintayo has built a dynamic career playing at the intersection of technology, creativity and design.  With an engineering background and a passion for the creative arts, Akintayo has made a way for himself to help individuals and organizations solve their technical and creative challenges.

For the past 15 years, he has served as the Music Director, Digital Asset Manager and portrait photographer (www.adewole.com) for ADCOLOR, an organization that focuses on conversation and celebration around diversity, equity and inclusion within the advertising, marketing and media industry. 

Always pushing both technological and creative boundaries, his latest entrepreneurial venture, DRKR PXLS, aims to leverage immersive and experiential technologies for storytelling in animation, film & interactive applications. This includes virtual production which uses real-time 3D rendering gaming engines, such as Unreal Engine .  You can follow his chronicle into this space on his vlog, BecomingDoPE.com and at DRKRPXLS.com.

Montea Robinson is a producer, film educator, arts manager and alumna of Ghetto Film School who hails from New York City. She took over the reins as CEO in 2022, after serving as the Managing Director (2018-2020) and later Executive Director (2020-2021) of GFS LA.

During her time as Executive Director, Montea ensured the continuation and maintained the quality of Fellows and Roster programming despite COVID 19 disruptions, safely produced the Los Angeles Thesis shoot while most of Hollywood productions were still shuttered, served as a key voice in the development of GFS’ 5 year Strategic Plan, and led the production of Fellows’ original short films with partners like Dolby, Netflix, Sony, and more.

With a BFA in Experimental Film from the SUNY Purchase School of Film and Media studies, Montea began her career as a broadcast and post production producer in commercial advertising. Dedicated to serving young people with a passion for the arts, she is thrilled to continue her work through Ghetto Film School.

Charles “Ceej” Johnson is an Engineer and multidisciplinary, mixed digital media artist from Baltimore city. He’s taken his background and Computer Science and new found passion in Motion Design to create multidimensional experiences.

With the use of motion and Augmented Reality, he creates artwork and experiences that empathize with his upbringing and life experiences. He currently leads Interactive Design at TIDAL and is the Founder of Mobile First Design Agency, Vega Studio.

Antonio “Tronic” McDonald is the Executive Producer/live-action director of KUAMP Inc. Envisioning an exceptional corporation adept at bestowing stimulating and thought- provoking images, he promptly embarked on a daunting task: raising society’s existing expectation of urban mediocrity in the media to an unsurpassable reign of metropolitan distinction.

Antonio has been a director/producer/writer in the creative/marketing/production world for over 20 years. Employed by MTV Networks from 2001 – 2008, Antonio began his career as a Director/Producer/Writer/Editor in the world-renowned On-Air Promotions Department.

Accolades to his portfolio include: numerous award -winning image campaigns for MTV, MTV2, Virgin Mobile, Lipton Iced Tea Brisk (PepsiCo.), Sprite, Nike Basketball, Sean John Fragrances, Adidas and Champs Sports co-branding efforts, MTV Video Music Awards host spots (featuring Diddy), Paramount studio campaign trailers. Several original, premium IP, digital episodic series for Vevo.com – “Stylized,” “Travelism,” “24 in 7”, “Fly By,” and “Represent.” BET Networks original V.O.D content (featuring the Hip Hop Awards), a documentary for Heineken International, and a Characters Welcome spot for USA Network, sponsored by Yum! Brands. A popular directorial undertaking includes: a four part branded – entertainment series for Procter & Gamble’s Pantene and BET networks.

Digitally, Tronic spearheaded NBRHD.com a truly 360-degree lifestyle network that was the destination for 14 to 30 something metropolitan teens and adults. The NBRHD Network, housed the perfect balance of web culture where original premium content, influencer talent, and blog culture live together in tandem offering all of the content the audience needs for a one stop surf experience.

Antonio has worked on numerous episodic web series, branded content, music videos, short films and commercial shoots. A highlight in his, portfolio, is his co-production contribution to the creative team of Kanye West’s music video “Through the Wire,” winner of the 2004 Source Awards. Tronic has recently directed and executive produced a national, celebrity-driven, social awareness campaign for F- Cancer around colon cancer.

He has served as Executive Producer for Byron Allen’s “TheGrio” where he restructured their video department and subsequently nominated for a Webby. Most recently, he directed and led creative on a campaign for HP; As well as Moms of Black Boys United, that featured Tyler Gordon, a teen prodigy painter. Both pieces won Telly awards. Antonio has an unequivocal and profound knowledge of the highly profitable demographic: consumers ranging from the ages of 18 to 34.

An award-winning Creative Director, Courtney leads creative direction at Droga5 for iconic brands including Amazon Music, Hennessy, The Africa Center, Chase Sapphire and others. She is also the proud Founder and CEO of the Museum of Nail Art (a.k.a The MoNA), set to open late 2023.

Formerly Creative Director of PAPER Magazine, it was there she led original ideas and disruptive thinking for brands like Nike, Samsung, American Express, GAP, Target, Hulu, HBO, VH1, BET, AMC, Sorel, Uniqlo and more; while working with celebrities including Zendaya, Issa Rae, Lena Waithe, Taraji P. Henson, Tiffany Haddish, Laverne Cox, Michaela Coel, Janelle Monáe, Megan Thee Stallion, Zendaya, Colin Kaepernick and others. A cultural conduit, she also spearheaded the editorial PAPER.

Courtney was recently named an inaugural ADCOLOR Leader and inducted as a ‘Culture Shifter’ in the 2022 Creative Class, an annual recognition of groundbreaking Black thought leaders and entrepreneurs by The Creative Collective NYC. Minted by Campaign US as a 2022 Female Frontier Award recipient for ‘Conquering Creativity’ and 2021’s ‘Creative of The Year’ by ADCOLOR and The One Club, she also was named a 2021 Trailblazer alongside Dr. Bernice King, Deborah Cox and others at the 6th annual Black Women in Media Awards.

Throughout her career, Courtney’s work has been nominated by ADCOLOR, shortlisted by the ADC Annual Awards, and honored by The Webbys and The Brandies; while racking up numerous awards, including a Gold ADDY, a Gold Davey and multiple Telly, Shorty and Muse Creative Awards. In 2019, she was named one of the ‘Top 150 Dope Women Doing Dope Things’ by The Well and inducted as a ‘Woman Worth Watching’ Honoree in 2021 by nonprofit, Black Girls 4 Gratitude. A proud Black in Corporate mentor and Black Girls Code creative marketing volunteer, she is also a TEDx moderator, lauded speaker and sought-after panelist.

Courtney has been featured by outlets, including AdWeek, Ad Age, Muse by Clio, PopSugar, Bustle, Refinery29, XONecole and more. Her creative thinking has also been acknowledged, praised and sought after by none other than the one and only, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.

Courtney graduated from Howard University with a Master of Arts in Mass Communication & Media Studies and a Professional Certificate in Entrepreneurship. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the American Marketing Association, National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), Alliance for Women in Media and serves on the Board of KINFOLK, Droga5’s affinity group for Black employees.

Courtney credits her early beginnings watching her uncle direct music videos for the Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, Master P & No Limit Records and others with igniting her passion for storytelling and birthing her creative intuitions. Always using her professional journey as a tool for pushing culture forward, Courtney is passionate about being an advocate for underrepresented creatives of color and female creatives. She continues to make it her life mission to being a change agent for diversity across creative industries while creating things that move people.

Karla Gray-Mayers joined BBDO in 2007 and currently serves as EVP, Director, Supplier Diversity for BBDO North America. She is responsible for the creation and management of the BBDO Supplier Diversity program, focusing on developing partnerships with diverse suppliers in support of all BBDO NA offices. Managing BBDO’s client relationships with respect to working with diverse business partners is a key component of her role.

As part of the Omnicom OPEN Leadership Team Supplier Diversity Task Force, Karla partners with other Omnicom agencies to develop and execute the holding company’s OPEN 2.0 Supplier Diversity strategic plan. With over 18 years of experience in Supplier Diversity, she has participated on numerous boards and committees thus developing long- standing relationships organizations such as AAF, ADCOLOR, NMSDC, WBENC and Free the Work.

In 2009, Karla was recognized with an ADCOLOR Change Agent award. She is a native New Yorker and attended St. John’s University where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.

Andraéa LaVant is a nationally and internationally sought-after disability inclusion expert. She is widely recognized for spearheading a global disability justice movement as impact producer for Netflix’s 2021 Oscar-nominated film, Crip Camp, executive produced by President Barack and Mrs. Michelle Obama.

Andraéa is also founder and president of LaVant Consulting, Inc. (LCI), a social impact communications firm that offers cutting-edge corporate development and content marketing for brands and nonprofits. Prior to establishing LCI, she worked over a decade in non-profit and private sector organizations managing national initiatives to increase and support engagement of disabled people in mainstream programs. She has been featured on Good Morning America, NBC, Essence.com, the Root, Paper Magazine, and even the Oscars red carpet!

Ultimately, Andraéa is committed to working toward a future where ALL people, particularly disabled people of color, are seen and valued in culture and society at-large.