5 Lessons From My HBCU Experience That Prepared Me to Run an Agency

In retrospect, there are certain core principles and experiences that prepared me for the advertising and marketing field specifically. In sharing just a few, the hope is that recruiters, agencies and portfolio schools further create space and opportunity for young talent coming from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). They are hotbeds for authenticity, culture and creativity, and this perspective will be beneficial industry-wide if agencies can appropriately recruit and retain from these spaces.

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Existing at the intersection of multiple worlds

Gen Z exists as 26% of the global population. Consumer data for the U.S. confirms Gen Z is the most racially diverse and socially conscious consumer group to date. HBCU students are at the forefront of creating trends across categories that influence and inform the habits of this group, which will ultimately affect the consumer psychology of the masses.

Looking back even a decade ago, students were already starting clothing companies, hosting art exhibitions and sneaker events on and off campus—long before consumer trade shows like Sneaker Con, ComplexCon and other events became mainstream marketing tactics.

As student body president, I’d run from these events to meetings with administrators. Existing as both a student leader and a creative entrepreneur, there was never a feeling that these were incompatible lifestyles.

This multidimensional experience prepared me to craft and test the many ways we, as marketers, connect to consumers. Culture is and has always been, created by existing at these types of intersections.

The value of positively leveraging culture

Brands are beginning to recognize the influence that Black culture has on, well, everything. I often quote Tristan Walker—global culture is informed by American culture, and American culture is informed by Black culture.

Time on campus provided a deeper understanding of the roots of Black culture beyond Black History Month and the transatlantic slave trade. This allowed me to understand the value of culture and community holistically and how it relates to commerce.

The experience was rooted in and celebrated the culture I was birthed into.

—David J. Butler, managing partner, Hue House

Brands have always seen the tangible business impacts of leveraging Black culture to boost pop culture relevance. However, this should be done authentically and equitably. Brands and agencies alike will not reap the creative and cultural benefits of diversity in the long term without genuinely being diverse.

Latent skills and interests were transferable

During my time at my HBCU, I did everything I wanted to do and nothing I didn’t—student government three out of four years, an internship with a media company owned by a professor of mine—and I planted seeds for my professional and entrepreneurial future. The campus was an environment where our natural skills merged with new skills gained in the classroom and were implemented for real-time feedback. I’d routinely pick up ideas on leadership and strategies for managing teams and was able to test them with my peers or when interacting with faculty and staff.

The power of ownership

This all-powerful lesson is the reason I started my own company and didn’t join an existing agency.

My early endeavors included handling marketing strategy for a clothing company and photo sessions for graduations and Greek life on campus. This taught me the value of creating and owning a brand. Leveraging the intersection of my passions and my latent skills has always allowed me to create space for myself at many “tables.” The campus was an incubator for innovation, which for me fused creative services and business school in a unique way.

My HBCU created an unparalleled environment, supporting me in ways that no predominately white institution (PWI) or portfolio school could because the experience was rooted in and celebrated the culture I was birthed into. It has encouraged me to infuse this into everything that I own and build.

Professionalism and code-switching are not synonymous

I’ve retained countless life skills from my time at my HBCU, such as what it means to do good business and the power of building meaningful relationships. But these professional pickups are not inherently synonymous with Eurocentric, white office culture. The narrative that professionalism is equivalent to what you wear, how you speak, your hair type, etc., is excessively limiting and doesn’t acknowledge the value of understanding cultures or the nuances of difference.

The pandemic has laid bare what has always been true: There is no one way to be professional. Learn to attract opportunity, talent and clients that see your authenticity as an asset to be welcomed, not an accommodation to be made.

For me, this meant crafting a creative community that has spanned over a decade and grew from the rich soil that was my HBCU experience. And to be clear, there is no one Black experience, nor is there a monolithic HBCU experience.

Nevertheless, marketers should be looking to these institutions as the creative powerhouses that they have always been and tapping into that talent through responsible and equitable hiring practices to create opportunities for meaningful impact on our society.

This article is part of The Black History Month Voice Series, intended to educate marketers and advertisers and spotlight issues, nuances and challenges the industry should be aware of when marketing to the Black community. Be sure to check out more articles throughout the month here.

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