The Creative Industry Wasn’t Made For Us.

Last week at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity we exchanged experiences with different professionals in the industry about their journeys, and we shared ours.

Some with 20 years in the industry told us in awe how bold they felt I was by opening my agency at only 22 without any previous experience in other agencies, and also, from their POV how na?ve I was. They said that wasn’t an option for them; it’s not how the industry was and not how it is now. Some share that they need to choose 2 out of the following 3: couple, kids, or career. And we also talked about the fact that a lot of winners at the festival were men, or that men led agencies.

I instantly knew when I started studying to be part of this industry that I didn’t like a lot of what I saw: the micro and macro machismo, the “man-solving”, the culture not being life-balanced.

So, I decided to open my agency and build a culture that matched my vision, even though one of my teachers advised me that “I needed at least 10 years working on an agency before even thinking of opening one”... I did it anyway. I set myself up for only working with startups and entrepreneurs like me (at least for a few years).

Then Anggie Salazar ?? , my sister, joined, and probably because she wasn’t in the industry at all, she saw things possible, so after a few pitches here on LinkedIn, we started working with corporate clients.

My background is in Design & Business, so the team I built in those early years was focused on good design and management on socials, but I kept hearing that agencies had a creative director, so I decided to hire one, and that’s when the 22 years old Milagros Storto , came to show me her CV, she worked at Brother where she won an award, and I told her: “Look I don’t have any specific task or project to give you, but I would love for you to join me, check what we are doing and see where you can add value”, she felt lost the first few days, and thought of leaving but followed her mother’s advice: at the office, the food was provided by us and cooked by my grandmother, so her mom told her “If they care about you eating, they will care about you forever” so with that and her gut, she decided to stay.

Today, out of all odds, we are not only the Creative agency for brands within the L’OCCITANE Group , City of Miami , and Telecom, but we are part of the 0.1% of creative agencies founded by a woman, led by women, with the majority of the team being GenZ and Millennial. Here we are 3 of us, Anggie, our VP of Marketing. and Mili our CCO, representing CROING l Creative Agency at the biggest festival of creativity in the world.

It was incredible! We had meetings, I had the opportunity to speak and advise brands on how to be closer to their audiences. We got so inspired by many of the campaigns that won, not only because we now believe is possible for us to win as well, but also because we need to see an agency like ours winning because we need to show young Alejandra, that as long as you CARE enough about the people around you and your craft, you will all WIN.

I have to thank so many women who showed me, even if they didn’t know me at the time, that things were possible: My mom, Jessica Walsh , Anggie Salazar ?? , and every CROINGER who believed in and helped me build this vision, and all the ones that believed in collaboration with the competence. Gabriela Fenton , last year told me to come to Cannes, and one year later we are here together sharing anecdotes and dreaming big.