Celebrating Black Women Leaders in Business

Black History Month in the U.S. is a celebration, one that can help us better understand our present, take action, and begin to heal as we look forward.

 Over the past year, Black communities have experienced tremendous pain, from the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the devastating violence we have witnessed – pain that builds up from centuries of injustice. We have also been inspired by progress. Led by Black activists and community leaders, people of all ages and backgrounds rallied to march for Black lives, demand justice, vote for a new path forward, and honor giants like John Lewis. As always, Black Americans are shaping our history and helping us move toward meaningful, lasting change.

 This kind of change starts in our own communities and organizations, and it requires resilience and action from all people. In June 2020, WPP committed to take decisive action on each of the 12 points in the “Call for Change” open letter to our industry from more than 1,200 Black advertising professionals. I deeply respect our WPP colleagues and all who signed the letter because they responded to anguish with action by using their collective voice. The letter gave root to our resolve – from accelerating changes in our hiring, retention, promotion and development practices, to establishing our new Global Inclusion Council to hold us accountable. There is nothing more important to me than our work to deliver on our commitments. We also have the power to spark change far beyond WPP through our work with clients and communities. Our Black talent has helped WPP lead and create campaigns to champion racial justice that resonate around the world, such as The Choice, created byGrey/Cartwright for P&G, WPP Roots and Ogilvy Roots’ pro bono campaign for Black Pound Day and our support for the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation with donated media via GroupM and our media partners.

 As we cherish the contributions and impact of Black Americans throughout our history, I also look to our community and our Black colleagues who are making history today. Our society, industries and companies continue to reckon with the crisis of racial injustice, and Black business leaders continue to show us the way forward. All of us must listen, acknowledge and learn so we can be better partners to our Black colleagues as we build a more equitable and inclusive future, together.

 In my career, I have been privileged to work with extraordinary Black women who demonstrate this kind of powerful leadership every day. I am forever grateful for the way they have changed my life.

 With that gratitude in mind, one way I would like to celebrate is by sharing the stories of four Black women who represent the leadership, perseverance, creativity and compassion we need in leadership roles across all companies. In so many ways, they have had to beat the odds to achieve everything they have achieved. They have unlocked new pathways for so many young people who look up to them, and their partnership, mentorship and clarity lift everyone around them. I know this firsthand because they have made me a better person and leader.

I feel lucky that I have worked alongside these four phenomenal women. Here is what they mean to me.

Carla Harris

I met Carla when she was appointed to the Walmart board of directors and served on the compensation and management development committee. When you talk with her, you can feel the power of a person who brings her true self to every conversation. From the beginning, I could count on Carla for her exceptional counsel to realize meaningful change and strengthen our culture with diversity, equity and inclusion at the center. 

As Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley, she is a longtime icon and a trailblazer in finance. She rose up in an industry dominated by white men, and she did it her own way. If you have never seen the video of Carla’s career advice to her 25-year-old self, stop whatever you are doing and watch. I promise she will inspire you to take on the day with purpose. When I need a boost, I imagine Carla saying, “The first thing I would tell my 25-year-old-self is, ‘Girl, own your power. Don’t ever let anyone take your power away or make you feel that you can’t have an impact in the world just because they said so.’” Her words carry confidence and warmth in a seemingly impossible way.

Carla’s leadership as a business person is just one of the many things she does with her unmatched excellence, expertise, and above all, passion. She shares her advice and help (Carla’s Pearls!) with the openness and generosity of someone who knows that many are following in her footsteps. As an author, speaker, advisor and mentor, she lives by her words, “We are blessed, so that we can be a blessing to others.” She has turned her own success into more opportunities for more people, from her position when President Obama appointed her as chair of the National Women’s Business Council to her work making investment more equitable. And her voice! She’s probably the only senior executive I know who has released albums and can start a conference presentation by singing beautiful gospel music. These are just a few of the reasons why I – and people across all industries – look up to Carla as a role model.

Latriece Watkins

 Latriece’s journey has been marked by perseverance. She tells the story so well in this Essence interview, so I’ll do my best to give it justice. Growing up in Arkansas, she signed on as a dishwasher at the truck stop where her grandmother worked and got promoted to waitress in two weeks. The cheerleading captain and president of the student council in high school, she worked her way through college and law school. Her son, Alex, was born two weeks before her third year of law school, and she had the resolve to get back to class and finish the degree. She started as an intern in the Walmart real estate department and accepted a full-time job the day after she finished the bar exam. Since her first job at the company, she has risen to the most senior ranks – growing herself, her team and the business every step of the way. 

Latriece was one of the first people I met when I joined Walmart. When I reflect on my time there, I always come back to Latriece because she was one of my rocks. I see her as the heart of a company with its people at its core. She’s an ideal partner, the kind of person who treats everybody with respect and takes care of her team. Last year in the midst of the pandemic, she stepped into a new role as EVP of the Walmart U.S. consumables division, which means she leads all merchandising strategies for baby, beauty, household chemicals, household paper, over-the-counter pharmacy, personal care and pets business. Simply put, a massive, wide-ranging responsibility! Above all, her vision is extraordinary. She is helping the company reimagine beauty, for instance, by bringing new experiences and points-of-view to the table. She has made the company’s approach more inclusive for customers with new product lines and independent brands like Bobbi Brown and Harry’s Razors.

Since I met Latriece, I have counted on her sage counsel and friendship. I love that when somebody asks how she’s doing, she always says, “Fantastic!” And she means it! No matter how busy she is, she always sets aside time to mentor and help people. It is a testament to her leadership and the way she carries her responsibility.

 Monique Nelson

When I think about our voice at WPP, I think of Monique. I met her in my first few weeks at the company, and I was struck by her presence as a leader. As the Chair and CEO of UniWorld Group, the longest-standing multicultural advertising agency in the U.S., she leads a team that helps clients build inclusive campaigns, ones that sing. Monique’s superpower is her ability to bring together diverse teams with individuals that bring different viewpoints in order to do the most creative, resonant work. As she says, “A diverse tapestry of ideas always produces the best solutions.”

This approach means that UWG is able to build a campaign like Ford’s “Built Phenomenally”, which not only celebrates Black women on the screen, but also ensures they are the ones shaping and producing the work behind the camera and throughout the creative process. When companies want to speak out for racial justice, Monique and her team help clients do so in a way that means something. In a conversation we had last year, she reflected on UWG’s work on Dove’s “America the Beautiful” campaign: “We had lots of clients that were willing to have that conversation, Dove being one of them... They made a very bold statement to say America is not beautiful until all of us can be seen, heard and protected equally.” Beyond her own agency, Monique helped WPP develop an Inclusive Marketing Playbook to put principles and best practices at the heart of all communications, marketing and new business projects.

Monique tells the story about how she dreamed of being a performer and singer as a girl, but she found herself drawn to marketing as she rose in her career. She continued to learn and grow, eventually taking the helm at UWG when legendary founder Byron Lewis retired. Monique found her own way to perform by creating impressions for audiences of millions, and now she’s a role model for young women who dream of being CEOs when they grow up.

Judy Jackson

Judy is more than a colleague – she is a friend, partner and role model for everyone around her. At WPP Judy has worked tirelessly to realize meaningful, inclusive, equitable change – not just in our company, but all across the industry. She has earned her reputation at so many organizations throughout her distinguished career, including as Global Chief Talent Officer for Wunderman, Chief Talent Officer at IPG Mediabrands North America and Digitas, and in HR roles at Time Inc., BBDO and ABC-TV. Her power starts with her authenticity and honesty, and the way she creates a culture where everybody can feel a deep sense of belonging.

As Judy says, we have been facing two pandemics: COVID-19 and systemic racism. She played a central role in the response to both by making sure we look out for each other and take care of our people, and she stepped up at a time of deep pain to shape WPP’s racial justice commitments. In response to the pandemic, late last year Judy and Monique Nelson also co-founded We All Rise Together, an organization focused on addressing the acute impact COVID-19 has had on our Black and Brown communities.

This kind of work, to meet longstanding challenges with action, is not new to Judy. Wherever she goes, Judy helps the people around her bring their true selves to work, and she builds a culture to celebrate and cherish that kind of difference. She lives a life of purpose, not just through her work, but through her family and community. I love this interview she did in 2019 with AWE because she is an outstanding storyteller with a beautiful life story: overcoming tragedy, reinventing herself, inspiring others, and doing everything with passion. I’m personally grateful to Judy for coaching, guiding and making me a better leader, and I am just one of many.