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 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Shawn Purdy / Alyson Ahrns – SLATE PR (212) 235-­‐6813 / (212) 235-­‐6814 / (646) 741-­‐4449 shawn@slate-­‐pr.com/ alyson@slate-­‐pr.com ADCOLOR® AWARDS ANNOUNCE 2015 HONOREES AND NOMINEES The 9th Annual ADCOLOR Industry Conference & Awards Takes Place September 16-­‐19, 2015 in New York City NEW YORK, NY (June 9, 2015) – ADCOLOR® announced today 2015 Honorees and Nominees for the 9th Annual ADCOLOR Awards. The 9th Annual ADCOLOR Awards on Saturday, September 19, 2015, highlight and honor the achievements of African-­‐American, American Indian/Native American, Asian Pacific-­‐American, Hispanic/Latino, LGBT professionals and diversity and inclusion champions in creative industries. The 9th Annual ADCOLOR Industry Conference and Awards will take place in New York City for the first time this year at Pier Sixty (61 Chelsea Piers) from September 16-­‐19, 2015. New York Times best-­‐selling author Janet Mock will host the Awards. Janet Mock is the New York Times best-­‐selling author of Redefining Realness and the host of MSNBC's "So POPular!," a weekly series about popular culture, politics, identity and representation. She also serves as Contributing Editor for Marie Claire – the magazine where she first stepped forward publicly as a young trans woman. Her writing, work and media advocacy has been recognized by the Ms. Foundation, Planned Parenthood, ADCOLOR, TIME, which dubbed her “one of the 30 most influential people on the internet," and Fast Company which named her "one of the most creative people in business." Hailing from Honolulu, Hawaii, Janet lives and writes in New York City. The 2015 Catalysts are entertainment mogul MC Lyte and Maurice Marable, Founder and Creative Director of Brim+Brew. Legendary lyricist, DJ, voice over talent, actress, entertainer and icon, MC Lyte is still making the crowds move across the globe. MC Lyte first appeared on the scene in 1988 with her debut album Lyte As A Rock. At the tender age of 17 she began schooling other MCs in the art of rhyme, and since that time she has proven that greatness always prevails with a total of ten albums (9 plus a “GREATEST HITS”) to her credit. Lyte is the FIRST rap artist ever to perform at New York’s historic Carnegie Hall and the FIRST female rapper to ever receive a gold single. Lyte is still a much sought-­‐after concert act. You can find her performing throughout the year. She recently returned from a very successful nationwide tour with The Roots. Lyte is the founder of the Hip Hop Sisters Network which promotes positive images of women of ethnic diversity, bringing leaders together from the world of Hip Hop, the entertainment industry, and the corporate world Maurice Marable is a creative force to be reckoned with. As a filmmaker, he has moved seamlessly between Feature Documentaries, Episodic Television, Commercials and On-­‐Air Promotional Campaigns. Maurice’s television tenure began as a freelance production manager in HBO’s Creative Services, eventually becoming the creative director of on-­‐air promos for original programming. Eventually leaving HBO, he returned to helm numerous memorable on-­‐air campaigns for the network including promos for “Boardwalk Empire”, “Six Feet Under”, “True Blood” and “Big Love”. The Season 2 promo for the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire” received 3 gold awards at the 2012 PROMAX. Maurice was also the V.P. of Creative Services at BET Networks where he helped navigate the rebranding of the network as it transitioned to original scripted programming. In 2012, he was recognized by EBONY magazine as one of the Top 100 most influential African Americans. In 2014 he was featured on FastCompany.com as he launched his newest venture Brim+Brew, a creative production shop. The 2015 Advocate Honoree is Brian Ellner, Executive Vice President and Group Head of Public Affairs of Edelman. Brian Ellner is a leader and innovator in the interconnected worlds of politics, government, media and communications. He is the newly named Executive Vice President and Group Head for Public Affairs at Edelman in New York. Brian was the senior strategist for the Human Rights Campaign's successful effort to win marriage equality in New York in 2011. In that role, he launched New Yorkers for Marriage Equality, a communications campaign featuring iconic New Yorkers -­‐-­‐ from Julianne Moore, Anna Wintour and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Barbara Bush and Russell Simmons -­‐-­‐ expressing support for equal marriage rights. Brian created HRC's Americans for Marriage Equality campaign and provided strategic counsel on the marriage wins in Maryland, Minnesota, Maine and Washington. He also co-­‐founded the Four 2012, a national social media effort to support the four marriage campaigns. Brian is an attorney and practiced with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison and O'Melveny & Myers LLP and is a recipient of LGBT Bar Association’s 2014 Community Vision Award. Mr. ADCOLOR 2015 is Andy Deaza. Andy is an Art Director for SpikeDDB. He is a member of the first class of ADCOLOR FUTURES (2012). He is also an alumni of Together Our Resources Can Help (TORCH) and 4A’s Operation Jumpstart Scholarship Recipient. Andy is a native of the South Bronx in New York City. Following please find a list of the ADCOLOR 2015 Award Honorees: The Catalyst Honorees • MC Lyte, legendary lyricist, DJ, actress, entertainer and icon • Maurice Marable, Founder and Creative Director, Brim+Brew The Advocate Honoree • Brian Ellner, Executive Vice President and Group Head for Public Affairs, Edelman The Legend Honorees • Pam El, Chief Marketing Officer, NBA • Luis Miguel Messianu, President and Chief Creative Officer, Alma DDB The Lifetime Achievement Honorees • Catherine L. Hughes, Founder and Chairperson, Radio One, Inc. (2015 AAF Advertising Hall of Fame Inductee) • Bethann Hardison – Model, Founder of Bethann Management Co. Inc., Producer & Fashion Advocate The One Club|ADCOLOR Creative Honorees • Alberto Ponte, Global Creative Director, Wieden + Kennedy • Vann Graves, President/Chief Creative Officer, Fancy Rhino Following please find a list of the ADCOLOR 2015 Award Nominees. One finalist will be chosen from each category and will be announced as an honoree on September 19, 2015, at the ADCOLOR Awards: The Rising Star Nominees • Justin Adu, Creative Lead, Open Channels Group PR • LaTanya Ware, Business Affairs Manager, 72andSunny • Haywood Watkins III, Fellow, WPP Group The Change Agent Nominees • Will Chau, Creative Director/Art Director, GSD&M • Kat Gordon, Founder, 3% Conference • Brandon Rochon, SVP, Creative Director and Wells Davis, EVP Strategy Director, Leo Burnett Advertising The Innovator Nominees • Julie Ann Crommett, CS Education in Media Program Manager, Google • Jerome Austria, EVP, Digital Executive Creative Director, Deutsch, Inc. LA • Stephanie Rance, Digital Marketing, Social Media and PR Manager, Family Dollar The Rockstar Nominees • Luvvie Ajayi, Owner, AwesomelyLuvvie • Ingrid Otero Smart, President/CEO, Casanova Pendrill • Brandon Rochon, SVP, Creative Director, Leo Burnett The MVP Nominees • Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies + Target 10 • University of Phoenix + One Solution The Ad of the Year Nominees •
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TITLE: "Emily’s Oz" | CLIENT: Comcast | AGENCY: Goodby TITLE: "Eugina & Corinna" | CLIENT: Hallmark | AGENCY: Leo Burnett TITLE: “Love Has No Labels” | CLIENT: The Ad Council | AGENCY: R/GA TITLE: "#ProudTo Play" | CLIENT: YouTube | AGENCY: 72andSunny TITLE: "The Walk" | CLIENT: Pedigree | AGENCY: BBDO Following, please find a list of the ADCOLOR® Futures Class of 2015: 4As MAIP Andrea Rivera, Associate Art Director, DigitasLBi (San Fran) Janet Rodriguez -­‐ Media Associate, Starcom Mediavest Group Stephanie Cruz – Assistant Account Executive, BBDO NY Shawn Gadley -­‐ Junior Copywriter, CommongroundMGS AAF MAFA Ebony Francis – 2015 Graduate of University of Missouri (Former Account Executive, MojoAd) Brittany Applegate -­‐ Account Executive, Upshot Agency Nancy Maya -­‐ User Experience Designer, Connelly Partners Joi Weathers – Associate Producer, CommongroundMGS AAF MPMS Rebekah Andrews – 2011 Graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-­‐Champaign (Former Account Manager, Google) Brittany Johnson – 2015 Graduate of Florida University (Former Media Planning/Buying Intern, DigitasLBi) Marquis Mahoney – 2015 Graduate of Howard University (Former Strategy & Analytics Intern, DigitasLBi) Evan Miguel -­‐ Project Manager, UMSL Digital Lab I’mPart – A program of the Advertising Club of New York Christina Negron -­‐ Client Solutions Manager Intern, Facebook Alexis Toney -­‐ Social Media Planner, Neo@Ogilvy The LAGRANT Foundation Liane Membis -­‐ Marketing Specialist, RED Commerce Yi-­‐Chin (Annie) Chang – Junior at the University of Texas at Austin, Graphic Designer, Multicultural Engagement Center Sulin Phat – Junior at Augsburg College, PR Officer for the Augsburg Asian Student Association Valerie Regis – 2015 Graduate of Florida University, Program Assistant for FIU Marcus Graham Project Matt Augustin -­‐ Account Executive of Social Content, DigitasLBi Jewell Donaldson – 2015 Graduate of Columbia College (Former copywriter, MGP/ iCr8 bootcamp) The One Club Jerry Louis -­‐ Junior Copywriter, Y&R Dorado Quick – Senior at VCU Brandcenter (Former Copywriter intern at Zambezi, Inc.) Kayla Robinson -­‐ Creative Resident-­‐ Art Director, BBDO NY PromaxBDA George Hernandez – Senior at Santa Monica College (Former Post Production Coordinator), FX Networks Breeahna Britt -­‐ Original Programming Intern, BET Networks Kareem Taylor -­‐ Production Intern, Troika Ghetto Film School Christopher Butler -­‐ Creative/Writer, Digital-­‐Bodega MAT Program Emmanuela Ebunilo -­‐ Account Coordinator, Russ Reid Company For more information about and to register for the 9th Annual ADCOLOR Industry Conference & Awards, visit http://www.adcolor.org ### About ADCOLOR® ADCOLOR® is a not-­‐for-­‐profit 501(c) (6) organization whose mission is to celebrate and champion diversity in the advertising, marketing, media, PR and entertainment industries. ADCOLOR® champions diversity and inclusion in the creative industries. Our process is twofold. First, we help individuals and organizations RISE UP, letting their accomplishments and ideas shine. Then we teach these new leaders and would-­‐be-­‐mentors how to REACH BACK and find others who deserve to be noticed and promoted. Our goal is to create a community of diverse professionals who are here to support and celebrate one another. www.adcolor.org Sponsors The 9th Annual ADCOLOR® Industry Conference & Awards is presented by Omnicom Group & GSD&M, sponsored by BBDO Worldwide, DAS Global, DDB Worldwide, Deutsch, Inc., DIAGEO, Edelman, Omnicom Media Group, Publicis Kaplan Thaler, Publicis Groupe, Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA\ Worldwide, Wieden + Kennedy and supported by The American Advertising Federation, 4A’s, The One Club, GLAAD, the ADVERTISING Club of New York and Sticky Docs