“The road into this industry is one with many tolls that only the most privileged can pay.”
— Oriel Davis-Lyons, LinkedIn, July 2020

That LinkedIn post spurred a conversation between Oriel and The One Club’s Bob Isherwood. Just a few months later, the result was The ONE School, an industry-changing initiative to specifically address the Black creative talent pipeline issue.

A CD at Spotify, Oriel has a decade of experience at top agencies, and over 100 major awards for work that often uses a non-traditional approach to highlight social issues. He intentionally uses his privilege as a way to foster diversity in the creative industry, speaking regularly on topics like approaching gun violence as a behavioral change issue and writing about racial discomfort in Adweek.

The One Club has long been an industry leader in championing diversity, providing actionable initiatives to help solve the complex problem. Examples include:

• Creative Boot Camps and mentorship programs for diverse students and young creatives.
• Where Are All The Black People, a tentpole diversity conference and career fair now in its 11th year, sparked by an emotional discussion between Board members Jimmy Smith and Jeff Goodby about the severe lack of diversity in advertising.
• Paid Internship Pledge, to hold agencies accountable for providing paid opportunities for aspiring creatives from disadvantaged backgrounds who need an income to help pay for college or life expenses.
• The One Show Fusion Pencil and ADC Annual Awards Fusion Cube, the industry’s first global awards to recognize DEI in both the content of the work and the teams that make it.

Identifying the cost of portfolio school as a primary barrier to entry, Oriel and The One Club came together to launch The ONE School in September 2020 as a free online portfolio school for a new generation of Black creatives.

Under the tagline “Unapologetically Black and Creatively Excellent”, the program goes beyond simply teaching how to put a book together. It keeps the student’s authentic voice in their books, guides them on how to navigate the industry while Black, and provides connections with other Black creatives and allies who understand where they are coming from and whose lead they can follow. And standards for creative excellence are high: ONE School is only helping students and the industry if portfolios are stellar.

Results are impressive:

• An 80% hire rate, with the 30 inaugural graduates from NY and LA landing jobs at top-tier agencies.
• Expansion to Atlanta and Chicago in 2021, with 60 new graduates entering the industry this August.
• Graduates return to support the school and its new students.

Oriel and The One Club are now building upon this strong foundation, cementing program sustainability to bring creatively excellent Black graduates to the industry for years to come.

The color of creative departments can’t change if the talent isn’t there. The ONE School delivers that talent, not as a manifesto but as a tangible, industry-changing program.