It’s not uncommon to run into a few familiar faces at industry events. But when marketing veteran Reonna Johnson moved from New York to L.A. and noticed only small groups of fellow Black professionals at networking events on both coasts, she knew something had to fundamentally change. So she reached out to fellow Black creatives and established a safe space to talk candidly about their experiences in advertising. Word spread quickly, and now the Black collective Three’s A Crowd is 150 members strong. “From our meetings, I started to really see an acknowledgement that we didn’t own ourselves,” Johnson says. “So I pressed people about what they wanted to own. We want to have a voice, to have an influence.” Concluding that the only way to directly influence major decisions in marketing is through access to real leadership positions, Three’s A Crowd created the In For 13 pledge, which asks agencies to commit 13% of their leadership positions to Black creatives within three years. To date, creative agencies including 72andSunny, RPA, Made Music Studio and Johnson’s own agency, Deutsch LA, have signed the pledge. “I’m seeing more people realize that it’s deeper than just butts in seats,” Johnson says. “It’s also about retention and really operationalizing [these efforts].” —Shannon Miller
