Little Black Book / Ad Astra: Shannon Washington Is Speaking Creative Languages
It’s around halfway through my conversation with Shannon Washington, GOTHAM’s global chief creative officer, that I’m reminded of ‘Cloud Atlas’. David Mitchell’s 2004 literary classic charts the lives of six people separated by oceans, cultures, and thousands of years. It’s an exploration of what parts of humanity are capable of transcending those barriers – in other words, of what makes us fundamentally human in spite of how different our lives and challenges might be.
An appreciation of all things truly human is something that Shannon has built up over the course of a career that’s seen her hold senior positions at R/GA, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Deutsch, Droga5 and more before heading up the creative team at GOTHAM. It’s given her an instinctive, reflexive understanding of human behaviour and emotion on a global, cross-cultural scale that she’s been putting into practice on behalf of brands including Google, Nike, and more recently Maybelline through GOTHAM in New York. Along the way she’s picked up Cannes Lions, Webbys, Clios, AICP Awards, with many others besides. And it all started, she tells LBB, with bad behaviour.
“Oh, I was a very bad kid,” Shannon confesses. “I always talked when no one asked me anything. I remember my disciplinary record well – I was often in trouble for talking out of turn.”
Read the rest here.
NY Festivals 2025 / Creativity From the Other Side with David Sable
It’s not often you get a chance to sit down with David Sable, but when you do prepare for anything. A lot of fun and GOOD talk with the New York Festivals team here!
R/GA Wins TurboTax!
Giving myself and my team some flowers for winning the 2nd largest pitch for 2023 for IPG and R/GA, which NO ONE believed we could do. But we did. And that was enough!
2023 Cannes Lions / Mobile Jury (Madame) President
Probably the closest I will ever come to the White House, but it’s a better view with even better company. A true honor and damn good time leading this jury for one of (IMO) the best emerging categories in the show.
2023 AdAge CCO of the Year? Me? STAHP IT.
Pinch me! Cos I still don’t believe it. Thank you to everyone in the jury room who voted in my favor. Read all about it here.
Fast Company / Most Creative People 2022
[Illustration: Nhung Le]
This ad creative steers brands through difficult conversations about race and social justice.
(According to Fast Company - I’m also really good at running at 400+ person company, reducing attrition, boosting creative craft, winning awards, pushing clients and 3,450 other things but hey, I’m good at culture too!)
Shannon Washington has become a go-to creative mind for corporate brands that want to weave no-nonsense, inclusive messaging into their campaigns. Washington, who was promoted last year to lead creative in the New York office of the digitally savvy ad agency R/GA, has since won awards for a Sephora campaign that declares “Black Beauty is Beauty,” and her work on Uber’s “Vaccinate the Block,” a Spike Lee-directed ad that offered free rides to vaccine sites for people in underserved neighborhoods. (R/GA reportedly generated $400 million in revenue in 2021.)
Underlying all of Washington’s work is her desire to distill complicated conversations about race and gender and commerce into tangible, memorable insights. For Sephora, for example, she and her team homed in on the revelation that when users search on Google for the phrase “Black beauty,” the top result is frequently a picture of a horse—a fact that never failed to provoke a reaction once she called it to anyone’s attention.
Doing this kind of work is difficult, says Washington, who joined R/GA in 2020 after stints at Deutsch and Droga5. “Uber came to us wanting to do one thing, and we just had to push them in a different direction,” she notes. “Same thing with Sephora.”
Black Madison Avenue / 7 (Ok, 9) Is Not Enough
Everyone knows that there are under 5 holding companies that make up close to 80% of the advertising content shown around the world. But did you know that (at the time of filming) in the US, those holding companies employ under 10 Black Executive Creative Directors? That means we make up less than 1% of creative leadership.
Just in time for the 2022 New York Festivals season, I got together with 6 of them to talk about this, our journeys, and how we are holding the door open for more.
Pancakes, People and Advertising: The New Recipe
“A new recipe means tough conversations, tougher choices, raw introspection and redefining not only what we know to be true but to be right. It means evolving how we operate and creating a space to listen and engage all levels of people. ”
I love to cook. But when I took up baking, I learned a hard lesson about what it means to be a creative leader in this day and age. This is a short essay based on a presentation given at the 2019 One Club Creative Leaders Retreat.
Read the full piece here.
November 2018 | 3 Percent Conference | Creativity At Scale Talk
In early 2018 I had a realization: in my career, I had never a panel featuring creative directors that were all women of color. So I reached out to Kat Gordon of the 3 Percent Conference and soon after found myself alongside Candace Queen, Della Mathew, and Tracie Roberson to give a glimpse into what it takes to build and lead teams at large agencies and larger client expectations. Watch below!
September 2018 | ADCOLOR | One Club + ADCOLOR Creative Award
Just being in the presence of ADCOLOR’s board and supporters is a blessing, so words still can’t describe how honored I was to receive the 2018 Creative Award from ADCOLOR and the One Club alongside the legendary A.J. Hassan of RGA. A wonderful evening!
March 2018 | Refinery 29 | The Failure Project
"Your failure determines your future." In early 2018, I sat down with Refinery 29 to talk all things failure, including getting fired from my first job, failing at medical school and all the others fails that created the life I have today. Read/watch the full editorial here.
Also, I didn't think Kadeem Hardison was that cute. I'd risk it all for Dwayne Johnson tho.
Jan 2018 | The Drum | Creative Director's Choice
Always nice to take a break from talking about my work and celebrate that of others. Anomaly, you stole my heart, timely as my family and I just overcame a huge citizenship hurdle. Read and watch the full story here.
Oct 2017 | AP News | The Power of Diverse Ad Teams
Very cool to be featured with my Droga5 / CoverGirl team in this look at the power of diverse ad teams in our industry. Read the full story here.
2016 | Live @ Cannes With AdForum
"The world won't wait."
A fun interview about the unicorn life, live from Cannes at the Girls Lounge with AdForum. Watch the full interview here.
Oct 2015 | 3Percent Conference
Guess what the benefit to diversity is? DIVERSITY! I was very very honored to be included in this panel at 2015's 3 Percent Conference and am looking forward to attending in 2016!
See the full recap here.
Oct 2015 | #WFC2015 / Women's Freedom Conference
This was fun. I joined some good friends in the Black and Brown girl creative world to discuss the importance of design and tech within our communities and how they are shaping diversity within our industries. Which eventually became one big homegirl love fest. Still, so much fun!!
Dec 2014 | Lady Boss (Launch Event) | "The 5 Things I Know To Be True"
In December of 2014, I was asked (and psyched) to deliver a quick keynote at the launch of Lady Boss, a new initiative for women in creative industries that are looking to take their careers to the next level. I wrote it at 5am the day of the event and realized that there was no way I could fit everything I wanted to deliver in 5 minutes. So while the lucky ladies who were in attendance (a packed house of fly girls!) got to see me deliver this in person, I published my talk with a little more context. This was a great experience. I met a ton of young, creative women and have continued to collaborate with them beyond the event. Read the full talk here.
Dec 2014 | Refinery 29 | "8 Badass Bosses & How They Made It"
Another Refinery piece! Super appreciative of all of the love. Style is a HUGE part of my every day as with most creatives. Here I talk about my own personal style at work, and dish advice on how to "show up" and remain your true self in the process. Read the full interview and get into the Steven Brahms spread by clicking here.
Oct 2014 | Triple Consciousness Panel @ The Brooklyn Museum | Body Rock
Recently, I was invited to speak at the Brooklyn Museum for the first of three discussions that focused on feminism and contemporary culture entitled 'Triple Consciousness.' It was a great discussion, watch above!