Shannon Washington on the Process of Becoming a Leader

In 2022, Shannon Washington participated in a documentary titled Black Madison Ave. The film, which debuted at New York Festivals, featured seven of the ad industry’s mere nine Black executive creative directors at the five major holding companies discussing their careers amid the lack of diversity. And outright prejudice. It wasn’t an easy decision. “Initially, I was pretty reluctant to do it,” Washington said. “At a very surface level, I have always operated under the guise of letting my work speak for itself.” She considered raising her voice akin to donating to charity: "You should give because you want to give, not because you want attention for giving." Later that year, when R/GA promoted Washington to U.S. chief creative officer, she became the first Black woman to occupy the position at a holding company agency. Ever. With the new role came even more attention. “I was like, ‘Can we just promote me and not say anything?’” said Washington, who’s familiar with the emotional price and threatening texts that come with stepping into the spotlight. Thanks in part to her involvement with Black Madison Ave., Washington moved past her love-hate relationship with speaking out. She's overcome the overanalysis. Now, having done her best to navigate uncharted territory—whether that's speaking out or being a Black woman in advertising who has risen through the ranks—she hopes younger people entering the industry won't just be better at reading the map. “I want them to be the cartographers,” she said. Know your audience Because social progress requires different groups of people moving in the same direction, Washington stressed the importance of acknowledging who exists within your sphere of influence and who does not. In other words, understand the distinction between your current audience and your desired audience. “If you want to speak out or represent your community, more than likely your initial audience is going to be your community,” she said. “But if you want to speak out against something or speak through the vein of change, you’re going to want to speak to the opposite of you.” Flex your voice As every good communicator knows, members of an audience are more likely to receive a message if it's tailored to match their experience of the world. Doing that work means one can remain authentic when presenting the same point in a different manner across dissimilar contexts. “I'm a Black woman. I know I can reach a room of Asian moms in one way, and a room of white men in a completely different way,” she said. Nobody knows everything Some people don’t raise their voice because they assume they need to be an expert on the issue they’re addressing. It doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed, Washington noted, creativity requires a consistent openness to more knowledge and other perspectives. "You don't have to have all the answers," said Washington. "There's power in the words 'I don't know’ because it leaves me open to understanding and learning more. It sets a boundary that we haven't always embraced in this industry.” -- Work History Shannon Washington is the global chief creative officer of Gotham, a New York-based ad agency within the McCann Worldgroup Network. Prior to joining Gotham in early 2024, Washington served as U.S. chief creative officer at R/GA, where she worked with clients such as Uber, Sephora and TurboTax. Washington is also a creative advisor to the Unstereotype Alliance, an organization dedicated to ending harmful stereotypes in media and advertising, as well as a member of the Ad Council, a nonprofit group that produces public service announcements on various social issues.