Creative 100: Authors, Artists Inspiring Future Generations

Artistry comes in many forms, but these creators—part of Adweek’s 2023 Creative 100—draw inspiration from tradition while expanding the limits of their craft. By using their unique voices and talents, they start important conversations, spark joy and inspire future generations. Lola Bakare Author, strategist, CMO adviser The art of inclusive marketing: Bakare is an enlightening and challenging voice in the marketing industry as more brand leaders grapple with how to improve inclusivity in an authentic way. The Anthem Award-winning CMO adviser, inclusive marketing strategist and founder of consultancy Be/Co was named one of 15 2022 LinkedIn Top Voices in Marketing and Advertising. She has also worked with brands including Gatorade, Ronzoni and Smirnoff. What’s next: After writing for publications including Adweek, Forbes and Harvard Business Review, Bakare is penning her first book, Responsible Marketing: How to Create an Authentic and Inclusive Marketing Strategy, due out later this year. Challenging the industry: “Until each and every one of us reframes our responsibility to prioritize cultural literacy, we will continue to fall short of where we need to be, blaming the scarcity of time and money for our own complicity in preserving the status quo,” Bakare told Adweek. —Colin Daniels Laura Dave Author, co-creator, The Last Thing He Told Me The last thing she told us about The Last Thing He Told Me: After her 2021 novel The Last Thing He Told Me topped The New York Times Best Seller list, and remained on the hardcover list for more than a year, “I got to be a part of bringing the limited-series adaptation of The Last Thing He Told Me to Apple TV+, starring the incredible Jennifer Garner," Dave said. "I co-created the show with my husband, screenwriter Josh Singer, and a fantastic team of writers, directors, cast and crew, all of whom helped give The Last Thing He Told Me the most wonderful second life." Intuition is key: “I've always wanted to be a writer. I spent my 20s attending graduate school and following fellowships to different universities and towns. After moving back to New York City, I started writing for a variety of publications (Glamour, Self, ESPN the Magazine) and published my first novel. I have written novels (and screenplays) full time since.” Advice to aspiring writers: “Writers write. Your main responsibility is to sit down in your chair and do your work. Protect your writing time and find joy in it. If you do that, the rest will follow.” —Luz Corona Brandon Deener Artist Afrofuturism artist: Deener was a producer for hip-hop and R&B artists such as Timbaland, Missy Elliott and Lil Wayne before becoming a visual artist and musician. He calls himself an artist of Afrofuturism—a genre exploring the intersection of African diaspora culture with science fiction—who focuses on painting the Black community. Earlier this year, he held his third solo exhibition, titled “In Unison,” in New York. Art meets music: An only child raised by a single mother, he was part of a musical family, including an uncle who is a bishop and plays drums, and cousins who sing. Music still influences Deener’s work, and the artist said he listens to 1960s improvisational jazz during his creative process. Describing the portraits shown in "In Unison," he said, “There is music in the faces.” Black pride: “Given the history of Blackness and art and the lack thereof being represented and represented in the work, I have a duty or dedication to depicting us, always,” Deener told The Guardian. —Colin Daniels Sadie Hartmann Editor, author and co-owner of Night Worms The mother of horror: Known on social media by the moniker “Mother Horror,” Hartmann is an exciting voice in the modern horror genre. She co-owns horror fiction subscription company Night Worms and is editor in chief of her own horror fiction imprint, Dark Hart. "Horror is our happy place": Through Night Worms, which she co-owns with Ashley Saywers, Hartmann brings the genre to a wider audience by working with a network of publishers to curate horror books, magazines, goods and collectibles for subscribers. The pair started Night Worms on Halloween 2018 and have since grown the service into a horror brand. After all, “Horror is our happy place,” the duo say on their website. A book about horror books: Later this year, Hartmann will release 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered, a nonfiction book through Page Street Books. The writer says in her bio that she considers herself “a horror fiction advocate.” —Colin Daniels Elizabeth Ito Animator, writer, director Thinking outside the IP: Kids animation is full of franchises, and Ito has worked on a number of blockbuster TV series and films, from SpongeBob SquarePants and Angry Birds to Adventure Time. Yet the industry’s preference for “big, already established IP isn’t very interesting to someone like me,” Ito said, noting that it’s a challenge to convince “people who have all the money to spend it on creating new properties or ideas.” But she bucked the trend with her first Netflix series, City of Ghosts, a melange of supernatural stories and lesser-known Los Angeles neighborhoods that won a Peabody and two Emmy awards in 2022. Monsters and Mall Stories: Among the LA native’s other original projects are Welcome to My Life, a short film starring a soft-spoken teenage monster who’s a stand-in for her brother, and Mall Stories, a docu-style short about a family-run restaurant. She also directed an infectiously energetic music video for young punk band The Linda Lindas. Advice for aspiring creatives: Giving and taking feedback are key in the collaborative field, Ito said, “and the better you are at those things, the easier time you will have in finding more work and lifelong friendships.” —T.L. Stanley Ellen Kane Choreographer Mathematical approach to dance: London-based Tony and Olivier-nominated choreographer Ellen Kane was the mastermind behind choreographing around 300 children for Netflix's adaptation of the musical Matilda. In the midst of the pandemic, "We started compartmentalizing these mini towns of children. And those children would do certain things in the film, and these children would do other things,” Kane told Broadway World last year. “It was like mathematics.” Taking off on TikTok: Kane doesn't do social media, but she felt pure joy when her "Revolting Children" dance from Matlida went viral on TikTok. “I love dance, and so, for me, to be able to do something that has connected to that generation, using something that they all communicate with … that in itself is something I feel very grateful for and very proud of,” she told Broadway World. Anything but Revolting: TikTok virality aside, the "Revolting Children" number holds a special place in Kane's heart: "Watching that many young people dance, and express like that, and really go for it with such passion, that is gold for me." —Trisha Ostwal Clarkisha Kent Writer, culture critic Sharing her Manifesto: Nigerian American writer and culture critic Kent is committed to telling inclusive stories. In her debut memoir, Fat Off, Fat On: A Big Bitch Manifesto, Kent recounts her journey as a “fat, Black and disabled queer woman,” and reveals how she overcame an abusive childhood home, racialized fatphobia and ableism. “It has been in the works since 2020 after a house fire almost cut my life short. I am so proud of the finished product and the reception it has received," she said. An avid journalism supporter: “In digital media, the shuttering of so many media outlets and newsrooms is not only depressing but a dark omen of what is to come as we head into the misinformation age. To combat this, I’ve started to subscribe directly to the Substack accounts of journalists I follow and send what little money I can to newsrooms seeking funding/community support," she said. Advice for aspiring writers: “If you’re entering this industry—both digital media and any other creative industry—purely for the money, reconsider.” —Trisha Ostwal Shirley Kurata Stylist, costume designer Oscar nominee: Kurata received a costume design Oscar nomination for her brilliant Everything Everywhere All at Once creations, but said that wasn't her only 2023 highlight: “I styled the cover story for W magazine with Jennifer Coolidge shot by The Daniels, costume designing looks inspired by Japanese Tokusatsu film and TV.” Fighting for pay equity: “Costume designers are predominately made up of women, and there has been a pay discrepancy between costume designers and other department heads," Kurata said. "I'm on the pay equity board in the Costume Designers Guild, and we are actively fighting for pay equity in the film industry. I am also making an effort to work on projects that promote diversity and working with female directors and directors from the BIPOC community.” In her free time: “My [LA] store Virgil Normal, which I run with my husband, is a great way to be in touch with the local community and to also help and contribute. I also think it is important to be connected to nature, so I try to go on hikes as much as possible.” —Luz Corona Jennette McCurdy Author, I'm Glad My Mom Died Writing her truth: McCurdy, who first rose to fame opposite Miranda Cosgrove as Carly’s funny best friend, Sam, on the hit Nickelodeon show iCarly, made her publishing debut this year with I’m Glad My Mom Died, her bestselling memoir about her difficult upbringing as a child star with an abusive, now-deceased mother. She's now working on her first novel and developing a feature film. Taco Bell time: “I also did not come from wealth, and I think you can feel that in my voice," said McCurdy. "There's something about the way I write that just screams ‘she knows her way around a Taco Bell dollar menu.’” In her free time: “I'm a full-fledged, no-shame Disney adult," McCurdy said. "Fourteen pairs of ears and counting.” —Catherine Perloff Stephanie Williams Comic book author Alter ego: Williams’ résumé sounds like a setup for a superhero flick: she previously worked as a (mild-mannered?) lab researcher by day—chemical analysis and radioisotope measurements were part of the gig—while world-building at night, penning stories for the AV Club and Den of Geek. That was the run-up to her current job as a professional comic book writer, developing the groundbreaking series Nubia: Queen of the Amazons in 2022 and its predecessor, Nubia and the Amazons, around a character “who deserved a definitive role in the DC Universe that extended beyond her proximity to Wonder Woman,” Williams said. Co-creating Nightshade: Williams, who credits her upbringing on the South Side of Chicago with honing her storytelling skills, recently co-created a new Marvel character named Logan Lewis, also known as Nightshade. The heroine debuted on the cover of the brand’s annual Voices Pride issue, with Williams noting that the industry has “been making some strides” in inclusivity, “but there is still a long way to go.” Daily affirmation: “Bet—it’s one simple word but it means not only have I accepted the challenge, I plan on showing you it’s no fluke that I am here.” —T.L. Stanley Michelle Zauner Author, musician Her music journey: Zauner was born in Seoul before moving to Eugene, Ore., when she was less than a year old. Now based in New York, she is best known as the front woman behind the indie-pop band Japanese Breakfast. She studied creative writing at Bryn Mawr College, then spent her early 20s waiting tables and trying to get her music hustle off the ground, eventually finding her feet in Philadelphia-based rock band Little Big League. In 2016, she started to gain a following online after releasing Psychopomp, her first record under her current moniker, which received critical acclaim. Writing and Crying: In 2021, the same year she released her third studio album, Jubilee, Zauner also published her first book, Crying in H Mart. She penned the memoir, about family, food, grief and growing up Korean American, after she lost her mother to cancer. It spent more than a year on The New York Times Best Seller list and was revered by reviewers for its raw honesty. The film adaptation is now underway, with the artist issuing an open casting call for an actor to play her. On writing books versus writing songs: “There's a lot more involved, a lot less to hide behind,” Zauner told Asia Blog. "Writing a book felt like I was really feeling around in the dark. It's also a much lonelier, insular process.” —Rebecca Stewart Check out Adweek’s Creative 100 for 2023 by category: Agency Leaders | Rising Agency Talent | Branded Content Innovators | TV and Streaming Innovators | Influencers and Celebrities | Media Innovators | Directors This story is part of Adweek’s Creativity x Culture digital features package, which spotlights the people, marketing strategies and creativity driving lasting cultural and societal change.

The Creative 100

Creative 100 2023: The Authors and Artists Inspiring Future Generations

These artistic talents are expanding the limits of their craft

Lola Bakare

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