How Agencies Can Open Doors for Rising Latinx Talent

For the Latinx community, the ad industry is still unwelcoming. Just 8.9% percent of ANA members are Hispanic, whereas Hispanics comprise 23% of the U.S. population, according to the organization’s 2021 advertising and marketing industry diversity report. The problem doesn’t start and stop at hiring. Agencies struggle to retain people of color, who switch roles faster than their white peers. This is because companies generally do a poor job of supporting employees of color and creating work cultures that support and encourage them. To nurture the next generation of Latinx advertising talent, Latinx industry leaders recommend agencies do more. Removing hiring barriers, nurturing incoming talent and investing in mentorship opportunities and educational resources are some of the ways agencies can step up. "What we're all facing right now is that no one's really trying to figure out how to develop the pipeline," said Andrew Herrera, CEO of Remezcla, a digital publication for young Latinx people in the U.S. "Do we have the things in place to nurture these people... nurture new talent at an early stage in their career? There's still a long way to go there." A Letter to the Next Generation of Latinx Marketers: Don’t Dim to Fit In Latinx industry leaders spoke with Adweek about their career trajectories, the professional resources they’ve found and what agencies must do to make a difference. Tear down barriers to entry Support for rising Latinx talent starts before they’ve come in for an interview. Agencies and marketing organizations must start by removing hiring restrictions, including degree requirements. “Depending on your diverse background, you may not have an MBA or you may have gone to a community college,” said Ada Agrait, svp of marketing at software behemoth SAP, praising SAP and her former employer, Microsoft, for striking down degree requirements. When an HR representative or recruiter takes an initial phone call with prospective talent, they must be invested in matching incoming talent to the right role. When Yeliza Centeio, the founder and owner of full-service, bilingual agency Integral Marketing and Advertising interviewed for her first job at an agency, the recruiter she spoke with noted she might be better in media than in the creative role she'd applied for, and directed her to an open media role. “Thank God that I had someone so nice interview me for the first time in my first corporate job, because I would be so horrible at creative,” she said. Being bilingual also helped Centeio stand out in her first agency job interview. “I was fluent in Spanish, I can write it, speak it, read it … I can translate on the spot,” she said. “And [the recruiter] actually pointed that out and said that even in South Florida, they didn't see that much.” she said. Centeio went on to start her bilingual agency, and because of her experience with that first recruiter, she said Latinx talent that speak Spanish should point it out on their resumes and agency recruiters should take note. Nurture incoming Latinx talent To retain talent once they’re in the door, agencies must commit to initiatives like extending onboarding processes so as not to overwhelm new hires, assigning peer mentors and building ERGs. Agrait saw these things make a difference at companies she’s worked for. “One of the things that tends to happen is if you can help those folks be more successful earlier in their career, then their likelihood to be successful at the company is larger,” said Agrait. Agencies can also do more to amplify and get more involved with external local resources. Centeio joined local clubs like Amplify Latinx and the Greater Boston Latino network, and suggested rising talent find similar groups, sign up for their newsletters and most importantly, attend in-person events. Industry leaders must do their part by publicly signaling their willingness to mentor rising Latinx talent, said Harry Roman-Torres, chief brand strategy officer at Droga5. Stating an interest in mentorship on their LinkedIn profile is one way leaders can be more approachable. A less obvious way to nurture rising talent is broadening their access to skillbuilding tools and technology. Arturo Gigante, chief creative officer at the brand transformation agency, Burns Group, found that mastering programs like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop gave him an advantage in the creative industry. “It's really important that we give these younger Latinx creatives access early on,” he said. Support ad schools and trade orgs Providing employees’ financial support to attend ad schools and further their education is another way agencies can cultivate talent. Roman-Torres’ career accelerated after he attended a bootcamp for account planners at the Miami Ad School. Mariana Pacheco, global svp and group account director at Media.Monks, took a free online “crash course in creativity” at Stanford University, which gave her access to creatives across the industry who had also signed up. Educational resources can make a difference in an industry where DEI efforts are abundant but often ineffective. Roman-Torres describes those efforts as “fragmented,” and noted he would like the industry to rethink its approach. For instance, agency leaders who have affiliations with trade organizations can focus on amplifying community-focused fellowship programs. Some should resist the urge to pour all their resources into their own programs that, often due to limited scale and resources, can only impact so many people, according to Roman-Torres. “This is a systemic problem, and it requires a systemic solution,” he said. One third-party program with scale that agencies can get involved with is the 4A’s 50-year-old Multicultural Advertising Intern (MAIP) fellowship program. The organization is planning a new program for Latinx talent, according to Tangie Murray, svp at the 4A's Foundation. Next month it's holding a "listening session" with its MAIP graduates, Hispanic industry creatives and ERGs at both member and nonmember agencies to discuss what program elements could benefit the Latinx community. Showing support for these initiatives creates a pipeline for “bringing hundreds of people, thousands of people into the industry, not just a handful of people,” Roman-Torres said.