Speakers at Global Members Summit 2024

Keynote Speaker

Over the course of three decades, June Ambrose — designer & creative director — has pioneered the visual aesthetic language which came to define hip hop imagery and culture. The role she inhabits within the fashion arena is a result of her own audacious self-making, professional moxie, and an unsurpassed mastery of visual storytelling and creative branding. She not only melded the genre but made it an undeniable commercial juggernaut, ushering entertainers onto the global stage and into the stratosphere. 

Altogether, she worked as creative director and costume designer on some 200 music videos, countless ad campaigns, global music tours, photo shoots and red carpet appearances. Her work elevated music videos as an art form and established artists as undeniable cultural figures. Her latest history-making partnership is with PUMA, where in 2020, she signed on as Creative Director, designing across multiple categories, reconceptualizing what it means for women to be stylish and active. As a consummate collaborator: visionary, and tastemaker: June Ambrose's influence is endemic to the very DNA of hip hop, fashion, and artistic visual culture.

Open Plenary

Ms. Sima Sami Bahous became UN Women’s third Executive Director on 30 September 2021. A champion for women and girls, gender equality, and youth empowerment, as well as a keen advocate for quality education, poverty alleviation, and inclusive governance, Ms. Bahous brings to the position more than 35 years of leadership experience at the grassroots, national, regional, and international levels, coupled with expertise in advancing women’s empowerment and rights, addressing discrimination and violence, and promoting sustainable socio-economic development towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ms. Bahous most recently served as Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations in New York. Prior to this position, she served as Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at the United Nations Development Programme from 2012 to 2016 and Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Development Sector at the League of Arab States, from 2008 to 2012.

Launch: The New and Expanded 3Ps Toolkit

Jane is a Planning Director with over 20 years of insight and marketing experience. For the last 17 years Jane has worked at Diageo in global and local roles across the company’s enviable array of iconic brands. In her current role, she leads Diageo’s best practise brand building approaches and capability (the Diageo Way of Brand Building), ensuring Diageo consistently builds culture-first brands with flair and precision around the world. As part of this remit Jane has led the development and deployment of Diageo’s Progressive Portrayal capability programme, and is passionate about the opportunity for brands to drive real change in shaping culture for the better​

Fireside Chat: Braving Backlash

Meghan Bartley (she/her) is GLAAD Media Institute’s Senior Director of Agencies, Brands, and Engagement, leading GLAAD’s Advertising Vertical and Visibility Project to increase quality, quantity, and diversity in brand marketing and advertising campaigns and build more impactful corporate advocacy. Meghan came to GLAAD with over a decade of experience in account management and marketing strategy specializing in live entertainment productions and venues. In addition to her agency background, she was a consultant for professional events, public affairs firms, and political campaigns.

From Z to Alpha: Learning Initiatives to break stereotypes

Valerya Borges is Director of Inclusion, Equality and Belonging at VML Brasil since 2021. She has experience in Corporate Communication, Social Responsibility and as a consultant in the management, design and planning of social and cultural projects, with a focus on tax incentive mechanisms. She has a degree in Journalism and is currently a master's student in the Humanities, Rights and Other Legitimacies Program (Diversitas) at the University of São Paulo. She also has a postgraduate degree in Culture, Education and Ethnic-Racial Relations from USP and a specialization in Creative Economy and Creative Cities from the Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo. 

Models of Change and Impact

Graduate in communications, specialist in politics, gender and human rights. With extensive experience in the public sector, currently Manager of Corporate Responsibility and Social Impact at Unilever Argentina, in charge of the Sustainability and Diversity and Inclusion agenda for Southern Latam. 

Spotlight: Outrage - Ageism in the Ad Industry​

Nicky is Chief Creative Officer of MullenLowe UK. A fierce champion of equality, who, on top of a day job she adores, supports many brilliant organisations and charities. Nicky has worked with UN Women during lockdown creating a film around domestic violence, which followed a campaign called “Listening from Home’ which she created for NoMore, encouraging those who were suddenly working from home in lockdown to listen for abuse through the walls of their homes. She has also been on the marketing committee of Women for Women International and is one of the founding members of The Hope Collective, a UK body of organisations changing the negative headlines about young people to headlines of hope. Over the years she has created award-winning work for The Miscarriage Association, a subject very close to her heart. Nicky has been named an Ad Age Woman of Europe, and has featured in the Financial Times HERoes list 3 times. A multi-awarded writer, she is also a regular judge and President on international awards juries and has been named one of Campaign’s Agency Leaders of the Year.  

Nicky went viral during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity when she highlighted industry ageism by posting a picture of herself on LinkedIn, with a Best Before food sticker on her chest bearing her 50th birthday date. A drum she says she will never stop beating. 

Launch: The Inclusive Media 3Bs Toolkit 

Named CEO of Omnicom MediaGroup in mid 2022, Elda is first and only woman to run a leading agency group in the MENA. 18 year at OMG, she has held several leadership roles, always driving growth, elevating talent and product, retooling and reconfiguring the services for optimum performance. She sits on multiple industry boards; in 2023, was named amongst the 100 Most Powerful Arab Businesswomen by ForbesME and was listed amongst their Global Meets Local list, in addition to Campaign’s The MENA Power List. She lends her expertise to industry groups being the Vice Chair of the Advertising Business Group and board member in the IAB GCC. 

Launch: The New and Expanded 3Ps Toolkit​

Tracey is a proud hard of hearing woman with a passion for film, advocacy and inclusion. As CEO of Bus Stop Films she is advocating for greater representation of people with disability in the advertising and screen industry. In 2023, she received her Order of Australia for services to people with disability and the arts.  Her 25-year career has crossed social housing, women’s domestic violence services, including 6 years as the State Manager of Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Program and the film and television industry, working with a number of industry services including Screen NSW, Event Cinemas and Women in Film and TV (WIFT) NSW.  Her advocacy work in the screen industry has seen her lead on strategies including “Screenability” and “She Shoots” aimed at supporting women to work in camera and sound at Screen NSW and WIFT’s Raising Films Australia, supporting parents and carers to work in the film industry.  

Tracey is growing the work of Bus Stop Films on a global scale, with a focus on disability employment and authentic representation in the commercial advertising and screen industry. She has presented Bus Stop’s work to filmmakers and creatives globally, including at the Dignified Storytelling Summit in Dubai.   
 
Tracey is an Includeability Ambassador on disability employment to the Australian Human Rights Commission and a Director of Deaf Sports Australia and Northcott (Disability Services). She is also a member of the Gender Matters Taskforce with Screen Australia, Screen Producer’s Australia Respectful Workplaces Reference Group and TAFE NSW Creative Industries Taskforce. In 2022, Tracey gave evidence to the Disability Royal Commission about disability representation in the screen industry and was a member of the Australian delegation of disability advocates to the United Nation’s 15th Conference of State Parties to The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Tracey is Executive Producer on Bus Stop’s growing slate of award-winning productions. 

Workshop: Unstereotype 101 

Alaina Crystal is a creative communications strategist, accredited Integral Development Coach, and committed feminist with over twelve years’ experience building campaigns and mentoring people to make the world a better place for women, girls and non-binary people. Through her work, she has helped to transform the way the world views periods and women’s health with Bodyform, and demonstrated how free play can be a tool for developing young girls' imaginations and self-esteem with Barbie. She regularly partners with the Unstereotype Alliance and developed the “Unstereotype 101” Toolkit, which launched in 2023 alongside the “Say Nothing, Change Nothing” campaign. 

Sara spent 18 years working around the world for leading advertising agencies including BBDO and Saatchi & Saatchi, with clients such as Visa, Emirates, Danone, Lexus and P&G. Her passion for gender equality and a determination to change the narrative around women led to post-graduate study in human rights, and a role as Campaigns Officer on CARE International’s gender-based violence projects in Cambodia. Then, as Head of Campaigns and Communications at CARE Australia, Sara designed advocacy campaigns that changed the Australian Government’s position on global policy issues. Since January 2020, Sara has led the Unstereotype Alliance Secretariat at UN Women in New York, working with the Alliance’s 237 member companies and 12 national chapters to eradicate harmful stereotypes from advertising and media content.

Launch: The New and Expanded 3Ps Toolkit​

New Macho works with global brands such as Dove Men+Care, Bumble, Ruffles, HeforShe and Heinz to help them dispel negative clichés and redefine masculinity. With more than 20 years of experience marketing to men, including at Unilever where he led the Lynx/Axe brand repositioning, Fernando continues to provide important industry insights around masculinity. Fernando is a regular speaker at industry events like Cannes, AdWeek, prominent Institutions like the UNWomen and several universities around the globe. Recently, his work has been recognised by Campaign Magazine awarding him as part of their illustrious 40 Over 40.

Spotlight: The Power of Partnership​

Madeline Di Nonno is the President and CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the only global research driven non-profit working within family entertainment media to create gender balance, foster inclusion and impede bias. The Institute was recently awarded the prestigious Governor’s Award form the TV Academy for its profound, transformational and long-lasting contribution to the arts and science of television. Di Nonno leads the Institute's strategic direction, research, fundraising, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Di Nonno is an Executive Producer on the Emmy nominated, television series Mission Unstoppable on CBS and the award winning feature film This Changes Everything. Di Nonno has served in Executive leadership positions for Hallmark Channel, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and Nielsen Entertainment. Di Nonno is a U.S. State Department Specialist Speaker and a speaker at The White House, and the United Nations. Di Nonno has been featured in Ad Age, Fast Company, Good Morning America, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair and Variety. Di Nonno holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University. 

Launch: The Inclusive Media 3Bs Toolkit 

Spotlight: The Progressive Unstereotype Metric​

Caroline is a multi-award-winning Global CEO who leads inclusively with impact to drive transformational change, and unprecedented commercial growth. Kantar is the world’s leading marketing, data and analytics company shaping the brands of tomorrow by better understanding people everywhere. Caroline is a member of the Kantar Executive Team running the overall $3Billion business, and the Global CEO of Kantar’s award-winning multi-million-dollar Profiles. Division that powers compliant, programmatic sourcing of first-party data from real people who truly are who they say they are for world-leading brands. In 2022 she was voted ‘CEO of The Year’ for her work on driving equality 

Charter of Accountability

Carol Frazer Haynesworth is a wife, mother, Inclusion leader, marketing and advertising executive, philanthropist, and published author of Coauthor of Your Great Destiny. She serves as Head of Multicultural Strategy & Inclusion at Carmichael Lynch (CL). She proudly serves as Global Chair of IPG Women's Leadership Network (WLN). At CL she is responsible for the implementation of equity and inclusion efforts in the workplace, and multicultural strategy across a remarkable portfolio of clients. She has a strong background both in marketing and targeting multicultural audiences. As Global Chair of WLN, she leads and manages global initiatives across all agencies and regions in an effort to provide strategic and sustainable support to women within the IPG network.  

Throughout her professional life she has led marketing initiatives for Time Warner (U.S., Latin America and United Kingdom), Fisher-Price Brands, Meredith Corporation, and The Economist. She has led national Diversity and Equity efforts for Teach For America, has served as a Senior Consultant for NBCUniversal’s Corporate Social Responsibility, and most recently served as Vice President, Executive Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at IPG Mediabrands. At IPG Mediabrands, she led Ulta Beauty’s successful strategy and investment into the competitive multicultural space. She has a passion to inspire everyone to engage in community and equity advocacy.  

Launch: The New and Expanded 3Ps Toolkit

Ali Giordano is a marketer with over 20 years of experience and expertise in sponsorship management, consumer marketing, creative strategy, event activation and operations.  Since she has been at Mastercard she has lead numerous teams and has held roles in the US, Singapore and Japan. She is currently Senior Vice President, Global Sponsorships and Consumer Marketing at Mastercard with responsibility for global sports sponsorships and brand activations and is a driver of Mastercard’s global D&I marketing activity.  Her past experience includes partnership marketing roles at media companies and sports marketing agencies.

Ali holds an MBA from American University and a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. She lives with her husband and two children in New Rochelle, NY.​

Launch: The Inclusive Media 3Bs Toolkit 

Dale Green is Global Director – Purpose Marketing at Mars Inc. With over 25 years marketing experience, Dale leads Purpose Marketing across Mars’ segments ensuring that the marketing of Mars’ brands speaks to and celebrates the diversity of the consumers who enjoy them as well as being responsible in the world. Dale is Deputy Vice Chair of the Unstereotype Alliance, a board member of the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media and sits on the World Federation of Advertisers’ Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, which seeks to challenge the wider industry to better represent and champion diverse identities.

Braving Backlash 

Helen has spent 20 years partnering with the world's biggest and best brands to deliver transformative ideas that help their businesses grow. In her role as CEO, Helen leads the team at Crispin Porter Bogusky London, an award-winning creative agency based in London with clients including Pernod Ricard, Tinder, Asics and Marie Curie. Over the last five years, Helen has built a core specialism and passion in supporting and communicating to women. In 2023, Helen founded CPB WMN, a female forward brand studio, with the purpose of working with brands and partners to represent and elevate the role of women globally by creating communications that better represent and reflect their experiences. In 2018, Helen founded Creative Equals Business, a community and leadership programme for women in the creative industry. Helen is a regular writer for Marketing Week, covering topics at the intersection of Gender and Marketing. She is a proud mum of two daughters, Kitty and Agnes.

Models of Change and Impact 

Manisha is the CEO and Secretary-General of The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). She is also one of four global vice presidents of The International Council for Advertising Self-regulation (ICAS). Under her leadership, ASCI has worked on several initiatives to become more future-facing and digital-oriented, as well as focus on the preventative aspects of self-regulation via the ASCI Academy. Her background of nearly 2.5 decades in consumer marketing and brand strategy is helping shape ASCI to be a collaborative and a thought-leader organization. 

From Z to Alpha: Learning Initiatives to break stereotypes

Ali Khalil is Assistant Professor at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Zayed University. His current research work includes gender equality and social media activism. Before joining ZU in 2017 he was a journalist, worked 13 years with the global newswire Agence France-Presse (AFP) as Gulf correspondent based in Dubai. He worked earlier for the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat in London. He also served as an adjunct faculty at the Department of Mass Communication at the American University of Sharjah from 2012 to 2016. 

Charter of Accountability

Kaitlin is a consultant working with public and private sector clients, including multilateral organizations, corporations, and mission-driven businesses, to understand and articulate impact and developing and operationalizing business strategies and approaches for professional service firms interested in the intersection of business and social impact. Prior to this, Kaitlin was at Ipsos for over eight years, where she led the Sustainable Development research team, working across the public and private sector to conduct social impact focused research in over 40 countries around the world.  She uses this experience to bring an impact lens to all the work she does. 

Launch: The Inclusive Media 3Bs Toolkit

Rachel drives creativity for brands to use marketing and tech for social change. With experience working with major brands like Unilever and Booking.com, she drives inclusive marketing efforts linking social and business impact.

A respected industry thinker, Rachel was recently awarded as one of Ad Age’s 40 Under 40. She has spoken at Cannes Lions, SXSW, Yale University, and more.

As an autistic woman, Rachel advocates for neuroinclusion as a content creator with over 90,000 followers. Collaborating with Google, she created The Neu Project for neuroinclusive events and led #AutisticOutLoud, a project challenging autism stereotypes with Getty Images and Hiki.

Launch: The New and Expanded 3Ps Toolkit

Prioritising the DE&I in AI

Christina is an Inclusive Designer who identifies as neurodivergent and experiences dual arm paralysis. She is the Head of Inclusive Design at Microsoft and serves on the boards of Inclusively & Open Style Lab. Her work focuses on creating technology that empowers marginalized communities. Her most recent work is focused on developing and integrating responsible AI principles and best practices around disability inclusion.

Fireside Chat: Barbie – The Billion Dollar Proof Point​

Lisa McKnight is Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer of Mattel. Lisa oversees all of Mattel’s toy categories and global brands including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, and American Girl, as well as design and development across the entire portfolio.

Most recently, Lisa led a critical effort to further recontextualize the Barbie brand for the next generation, partnering closely with Warner Bros, Atlantic Records, and filmmakers of BARBIE to bring the record-breaking film to life.

Credited with leading the transformation of Barbie, under Lisa’s leadership, Barbie enjoyed its highest growth in sales in more than two decades in 2021.

Prioritising the DE&I in AI

Doug Melville is one of the most innovative voices in corporate diversity, and is currently the CEO of Jodie AI. He is a fifth-generation leader whose family worked with several different presidential administrations. He's been featured on The Daily Show, PBS Newshour, Forbes, USA TODAY, Time, The Washington Post, and given three TEDx Talks. In 2023, he published his first book Invisible Generals. Melville is a founding board member of ADCOLOR, and splits time between the United States and Switzerland, where he was most recently the global head of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the luxury industry. 

Spotlight: The Progressive Unstereotype Metric​

Sarah specialises in working with brands to understand how they can optimise the in market performance of their campaigns, with a particular interest in positive and progressive people portrayal in advertising fuelled by partnerships with the global and UK national chapter of the Unstereotype Alliance and by collaborating with a number of global FMCG brands to measure and push for better representation in their marketing activities.  Sarah is also part of an internal Kantar steering committee responsible for I&D training needs, working with a group of SME colleagues to ensure accessible, appropriate and up-to-date support materials are available and maintained. 

Prioritising the DE&I in AI

Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle is a “culture shifting exec” (Glamour 2019) who has developed transformative and digital-first brand strategies that deliver sustainable growth for top beauty brands like L’Oreal, Maybelline, and La Roche-Posay.  She is a people-first leader focused on building diverse, empowered teams and fostering inclusive cultures that inspire new ways of thinking and collaborating to unlock “the magic”.

Nelson-Bogle is currently VP, YouTube Ads Marketing at Google.  Before Google, she served as General Manager of New Business Ventures at L’Oreal USA, Deputy General Manager at L’Oreal Paris, and SVP of Maybelline New York.  She has been recognized by Glamour as a 2019 Glamour Women of the Year and by ESSENCE as an ESSENCE Black Women in Beauty.

Open Plenary 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Sanda Ojiambo of Kenya as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Global Compact in April 2022. For the past two years, Sanda Ojiambo served as the CEO & Executive Director of the UN Global Compact.

As the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, Sanda Ojiambo launched an ambitious new UN Global Compact Strategy to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change.

During her tenure, she has also promoted stronger business engagement with UN partners to deliver and finance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Sanda Ojiambo brings to the UN Global Compact more than 20 years’ experience in the public, multilateral and private sectors including as Head of Sustainable Business and Social Impact, Safaricom Plc in Kenya; and capacity development work in CARE International and United Nations Development Programme Somalia. Throughout her career, she has cultivated and managed relationships with key business entities and civil society organizations and led the implementation of several public-private partnership initiatives.

From Z to Alpha: Learning Initiatives to break stereotypes

Amina Oyagbola is a Lawyer, Independent Director, Gender Advocate, and Management Consultant with 35 years’ experience in legal practice and HR in corporate Nigeria. Her career spans HR strategy, legal consulting, women empowerment, banking and finance, oil and gas and telecommunications. She is the Founder and Chairperson of WISCAR, a leading non-profit organization focused on empowering and developing professional women. She is an alumnus of Cambridge University, Lancaster University, INSEAD, London Business School, IMD and Harvard. She serves on the Presidential Council on Support to Women and Girls in Nigeria. 

Open Plenary

As Chief Brand Officer, Aline is responsible for global marketing, communication and innovation excellence, marketing services and marketing capabilities. As Chief Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Officer, she is responsible for driving positive change within the organisation to ensure equity, diversity and inclusion are central to Unilever’s values and behaviours. Having joined as a marketing trainee, Aline has been the architect of many successful purpose-driven campaigns including Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ and OMO/Persil ‘Dirt is Good’. She is the creator of Unilever’s marketing philosophy, Get on the Frontline and the driving force behind Unilever’s Unstereotype initiative, including co-convening the Unstereotype Alliance with UN Women, to break outdated stereotypes and set new ED&I standards, in front and behind the camera. Aline spearheaded Unilever’s strategy for gender balance, achieving 50:50 ahead of target. Outside of Unilever, Aline has a non-executive role at IKEA and the UK’s Victoria & Albert Museum.

Models of Change and Impact

Dr. Gül Şener is an associate professor of advertising at Bahçeşehir University (BAU). Her research interests include advertising and gender, applied semiotics, cultural branding, and influencer marketing. Before starting her academic career, she worked at global and local advertising agencies in Türkiye. She is the co-director of Effie Awards Türkiye Gender Equality Report published under the leadership of the Association of Turkish Advertisers (RVD), in collaboration with Unstereotype Alliance Türkiye. She is the national consultant for the UA Türkiye Chapter. She is a member of the Advertising Self-Regulatation Board. She consults brands on progressive advertising strategies and purpose-driven communication.

From Z to Alpha: Learning Initiatives to break stereotypes

Preetesh Sewraj, CEO of the Loeries, is an experienced business leader trusted by organisations across Africa and the Middle East with regards to insights on Creativity and Innovation. He is a regular media contributor on topics such as inclusivity, innovation and branding. He has spoken at a number of high-profile global events in countries such as France, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Mauritius. 

Open Plenary 

Dan Seymour is UN Women’s Strategic Partnerships Director since July 2019. He previously served as UN Women’s Director of Humanitarian Action and Crisis Response Office and Deputy Chief of Staff/ Strategic Planning Advisor to the Executive Director. He began his career as Save the Children UK’s first Human Rights Officer. He has worked in government as an advisor on child rights to Robin Cook, the UK Foreign Secretary, with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Kosovo Mission as a human rights monitor and head of office, and as Save the Children Alliance Representative to the United Nations in New York. He joined the UN with UNICEF in 2002 working first in the Child Protection Section of Program Division, then as Planning and Social Policy Officer in the Viet Nam Country Office, and finally as Chief of UNICEF’s Gender and Rights Unit. During that time, he was elected chair of the OECD/ DAC’s Human Rights Task Team. In 2010 he went to UN Women to support its establishment. He is a graduate of Oxford University with degrees in Political Science and Economics and Human Rights Law and Theory. Dan is a UK national with two daughters and a son.

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist. She has published 19 books, 12 of which are novels, including her latest The Island of Missing Trees, shortlisted for the Costa  Award, British Book Awards, RSL Ondaatje Prize and Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is a bestselling author in many countries around the world and her work has been translated into 57 languages. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize; and was Blackwell’s Book of the Year. The Forty Rules of Love was chosen by BBC among the 100 Novels that Shaped Our World. The Architect’s Apprentice was chosen for the Duchess of Cornwall’s inaugural book club, The Reading Room. Shafak holds a PhD in political science and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She also holds a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College. 

Shafak is a Fellow and a Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature and has been chosen among BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women. She is a founding member of ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations). An advocate for women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression, Shafak is an inspiring public speaker and twice TED Global speaker. Shafak contributes to major publications around the world and she was awarded the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2017 she was chosen by Politico as one of the twelve people “who will give you a much-needed lift of the heart”. She has judged numerous literary prizes, including PEN Nabokov prize and she has chaired the Wellcome Prize. Shafak was awarded the Halldór Laxness International Literature Prize for her contribution to 'the renewal of the art of storytelling’.

Launch: The Inclusive Media 3Bs Toolkit 

Traci Spiegelman, Vice President, Global Media at Mastercard, is responsible for guiding regions and markets on Mastercard’s overall media strategy and driving consistency across the world as it relates to KPIs and Measurement. Traci has worked both agency side and brand side in her 17 years in the business. Working across several categories from B2B to Non-Profit to Beauty, she has spent a lot of time understanding consumer behavior and ultimately driving innovation to keep up with the changing media landscape. Prior to her role at Mastercard, Traci led Global Media for the Aramis & Designer Fragrances division of Estee Lauder, transforming their go-to-market media strategies. She currently spends most of her time at Mastercard guiding seamless execution and innovative integrations, enabling a solid planning foundation, and growing the collective media knowledge of the organization. She is also a co-chair of the ANA’s #SeeHer in Media Taskforce.

Spotlight: The Business Case for Progressive Marketing 

Prioritising the DE&I in AI​ (Moderator)

Professor Andrew Stephen is the L’Oréal Professor of Marketing and Deputy Dean at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. He also leads the Oxford Future of Marketing Initiative, a collaborative academic-industry research center. Andrew is a leading academic expert on marketing effectiveness, particularly in relation to how new media types and technologies can be used responsibly, effectively, and efficiently by brands.

Launch: New Getty Images exhibit ‘Look Back, Move Forward'

Rebecca joined the photography industry over 20 years ago and was one of the founding members of the creative research team at Getty Images, introducing visual research methodology to the industry. 

Rebecca leads Getty Images’ global Creative team, setting the content strategy for Getty Images and iStock, researching and analyzing trends in visual communication. Rebecca also runs global research projects investigating the future of visual communications and has published many trend reports.

One area Rebecca is particularly passionate about is evolving visual representation. Rebecca has rewritten the visual standards of commercial imagery depicting women and girls. Most recently she has turned her attention to addressing authentic and diverse representations of people with disabilities and moving the visual language about aging forward. 

Rebecca has a PhD in Photography. Her research expertise is in commercial creativity and the evolution of visual trends in advertising. 

Braving Backlash 

Debbie is a successful senior professional operating in the professional services sector. Since 2016, she has been working with FTSE100 clients, Top 100 Law Firms, and one of the Big Four as Client Relationship Director & Non Executive Director at Obelisk Legal Support Solutions. During her tenure, she has been a key driving force behind the successful running and operations of the business; in particular, the client and sales function, with critical input into long-term strategic development and goals. She is a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) powerhouse, having extensively advised FTSE100 and professional services firms about the strategic importance of DE&I and its position as a critical enabler of long-term sustainability, from a people and profit perspective. At Creative Equals, she drives the strategic partnership with clients such as PepsiCo, McDonald's, AB InBev and PVH, to name but a few, spearheading comprehensive data-driven strategies and programmes, and translating them into impactful initiatives and outcomes with proven results to create more inclusive and sustainable brands. 

Launch: The New and Expanded 3Ps Toolkit

Ayesha Walawalkar is Chief Strategy Officer International Brands, at Mullenlowe, where she oversees strategic planning for the agency’s major multinational clients, helping them build famous brands that connect with people in different contexts, cultures and channels.

A native Briton, Ayesha has led strategy on some of the world’s best-known brands for almost thirty years in markets as diverse as the UK, China and S.E Asia.

At Mullenlowe Ayesha has also led the ‘Invisible Powerhouse’ project - a qualitative and quantitative study of the very different tribes who make up the powerful 55+ age cohort. The study highlighted the extent to which older adults are either ignored or stereotyped in everyday advertising.

Fireside Chat: Barbie – The Billion Dollar Proof Point

Launch: The New and Expanded 3Ps Toolkit

Braving Backlash

Jess Weiner [Ween-er] is a Cultural Expert + brand advisor who has spent decades educating and speaking on cultural trends in order to help people feel more seen, heard + understood. She is the CEO of Talk to Jess, a consultancy focused on helping Fortune 500 companies and global brands to become more inclusive and culturally fluent. Jess has been a strategic partner in culture-changing moments such as launching. Dove’s campaign for “Real Beauty”, which is celebrating 20 years of self-esteem education this year and she is a driving force behind the evolution of Barbie.She is also a trusted advisor to companies such as Unilever, American Eagle, Mattel,and Warner Brothers.

Braving Backlash 

Lauren Winter, Global MD of Consumer Culture at Fleishman Hillard counsels FH’s top global clients on societal movements and themes, and the impact of culture on consumer behaviour and choices. Winter is an experienced storyteller for brands and businesses, fighting for share of voice or breaking through into new territories with industry leading brand perception and behavioural change campaigns. Using culture to connect brands with elusive audiences, Lauren is helping clients redefine themselves in the global market and avoid reputational backlash.

Launch: The New and Expanded 3Ps Toolkit​

Crystal Zerrenner is the Chief Growth Officer of Thinx, Inc., the leader in period and bladder leak absorbing underwear. With over 20 years of experience in marketing and strategy, her work champions the idea that doing good is good for business. As a proven marketer, she has successfully harnessed authentic insights to enable effective, creative work that is culturally relevant, and changes behavior. 

At Thinx, Crystal set the ambition to bring authenticity and empathy to the feminine hygiene category. Most recently her team launched Thinx's most ambitious campaign to date, “How a New Generation Thinx,” to show innovation, ease, and comfort of Thinx leak protection, across age and life stage. 

Prior to joining Thinx, Crystal was the Global Chief Marketing Officer at global ad agency BBDO. There Crystal helped marketers design creative content that was precise, personalized, and impactful for our world. Her approach merges performance marketing and brand purpose to ensure audience-first experiences. Under her leadership, BBDO tripled the number of effectiveness awards won; including notable brands such as AT&T, GE, Barbie, Snickers and Pedigree.

As a MAKER, TimesUp Advertising signatory, and 2022 AAF Hall of Achievement Inductee, Crystal is championing intersectionality in order to solve women’s issues and help achieve equality in the workplace. She lives in New Jersey with her son Logan, husband Justin, and rescue dog Hudson. 

Models of Change and Impact

Sthu Zungu-Noël is a global market development leader and an advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She serves as the national expansion program lead for UN Women's Unstereotype Alliance. In her current role she oversees a growing network of dynamic national chapters across the world that are driving positive social norms for gender equality. National chapters ensure that the Alliance takes a localized approach in its mission to eliminate harmful stereotypes in advertising and media content. Prior to UN Women’s Unstereotype Alliance, Sthu held several international roles spanning over 15 years, including – as Head of Brand Communications for MINI at BMW Group, and later as head of South African Tourism: in Italy and in North America.

Guiding Sthu in her work is the principle of Ubuntu, a Southern African philosophy encapsulated by the phrase, "I am because you are." This principle emphasizes the interconnectedness of humanity and serves as the bedrock of Sthu's approach and her broader vision for social justice and equality.