Cashmere Is Rearranging Its Leadership Team

Cashmere was born out of a garage in Inglewood, Calif. At the time, the agency had seven employees. Today, it has almost 200. The shop, which merged with Media.Monks in September and is Taco Bell’s first culture agency of record, just made two new hires—Eric Erickson as chief operating officer and Rebecca Williams as vice president and group creative director. Celeste Bazán was elevated to vice president of people and culture and Aisha Bean to chief diversity officer. “These new hires are a marker of that scale and growth,” said Ryan Ford, president and chief creative officer, whose shop was honored in Adweek’s Fastest Growing Agencies for its 164% growth in 2021. “We’re making very provocative moves right now. We’re putting the right team members in place to guide processes internally and optimize our value for our clients.” Bringing in new people Erickson, who joins Cashmere from Razorfish, has over 20 years of operational experience working with clients like Samsung and Honda/Acura. According to Ford, the right person for this gig had to understand that Cashmere’s relationships with clients are not transactional—they go beyond making a single commercial or influencer campaign. Erickson was drawn to the role because of Cashmere’s “authentic roots in culture,” which he said allows the agency to “move at breakthrough speed.” Cashmere was interested in bringing on Williams, who most recently worked on the McDonald’s account at Burrell Communications, because of her experience in understanding how multicultural audiences interact with brands. "We’re looking at a culture that’s bursting with ideas, energy and experiences faster than we’ve ever seen before. I’m thrilled to join an agency that has the diverse talent and leadership to capture all that lightning in a bottle," said Williams. Elevating veterans In the height of the Black Lives Matter movement when every agency was scrambling to diversify, Cashmere didn’t need to worry about checking boxes. With multicultural founders, 60% diversity and almost all of its senior leadership being people of color, Ford and his team weren’t sure if they needed a chief diversity officer. “We said ‘Cashmere is a chief diversity agency,’ right?” said Ford, who then added that the role is now necessary in finding “new and unique ways” of working under Media.Monks and making sure that people who are already on the team feel happy and fulfilled at work. Bean, who was previously vice president of people and culture, serves as the executive sponsor of Cashmere’s coalition against police brutality. “The last five years at Cashmere represent a collage of snapshots in time and each year reflects the robust levels of growth, matching our aspirations to be the leading culture agency in the space,” she said, adding that the agency is setting “the standard for diversity and inclusion for the industry and [its] clients.” Bazán, who is taking over Bean’s position, previously worked as director of people and culture. According to Ford, she has already established herself as an employee who understands the unique needs of today’s workforce, and Bazán was drawn to the agency because of its “diverse collective of cultural storytellers." “Cashmere feels like home,” she said. What Chief Diversity Officers at Some of the Biggest Agencies Are Doing to Drive Inclusion

Leadership & Talent

Cashmere Is Rearranging Its Leadership Team

The agency is rounding out its staff with new hires and promotions

Emmy Liederman

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Emmy Liederman