The One Club Brings WAATBP Pop-Ups to ATL and LA

The One Club for Creativity has kicked off the road to this fall’s annual Where Are All The Black People (WAATBP) diversity conference and career fair with a pair of aligned pop-up events in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

The tentpole WAATBP in New York, taking place September 26-27th, has long been the leading annual gathering to address and correct the lack of diversity within the ad industry, bringing together Black voices from across the ad community – from students to C-suite leaders – to celebrate successes, examine challenges, and assert their rightful place at the table alongside their allies. 

In lead up to this major event, The One Club will for the first time hold WAATBP ATL, a condensed pop-up version of the flagship gathering, on May 3-4th, 2024. WAATBP ATL will be held in partnership with The Come Up, host of brunch, dinner, mixers, and networking experiences cofounded by Dèja Mays and Kelsey Matthews, to provide resources and community for mid-level creatives who want to connect and level up. 

The first day, billed 'WAATBP ATL Presents: How to Break Into Advertising', is a culture conversation taking place at Miami Ad School Atlanta for Black entry-level talent, recent college grads, current students, and their supporters, as well as entry-level art and design talent with creative resources and panel discussions featuring local industry talent from across the gamut.  In order to make the event as accessible as possible, admission to the first day is free.

Confirmed panels and speakers for Friday, May 3rd, taking place at Miami Ad School in Atlanta, are as follows. 

Breaking Into Advertising

• Moderator: Dèja Mays, freelance art director
• Kelsey Matthews, brand manager, Paramount | BET+
• Terence Raines, creative director, 160 Over 90 
• David Tann, CEO, Tantrum Agency
• Jason Whyte, admissions coordinator, Miami Ad School

The second day is 'WAATBP ATL Presents: The Come Up Brunch', an industry brunch and networking experience from 12:30 pm-4:00 pm at a location to be announced for the city’s Black mid- and senior-level ad executives, advertisers, and allies.  Admission is $40.  

The three panels and confirmed speakers for Saturday, May 4th are as follows.

Access Granted

• Moderator: Dèja Mays, freelance art director
• Johnell Gipson, copywriter, Six Degrees
• A.P. Chaney, senior director of creative, Sprite and Fanta
• Kaleeta McDade, global chief experience design officer, VML
• Sherman Winfield, creative lead, North America at StudioX (The Coca-Cola Company) 

Laid Off: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

• Moderator: Sharon Harris, founder, Sharon Harris Collective; Board member, She Runs It; BECA
• Janis Middleton, chief inclusion officer, Guided by Good 
• Christofer Peterson, chief people officer, Chemistry
• Dr. Nicole Garner Scott, financial advisor, Northwestern Mutual

Your Network is Your Net Worth

• Moderator: Kelsey Matthews, brand manager, Paramount | BET+ 
• Peter Brooks, VP of business strategy Paramount, BET, VH1
• Brandon Butler, partner, chief culture innovation officer, Majority; CEO, founder Butter ATL
• Bem Joiner, founder, Atlanta Influences Everything
• Adrienne Lucas, J.D., global head of DEI, The One Club for Creativity

A WAATBP LA pop-up event is also in the works for mid-July.

“As advertising’s largest diversity conference and career fair, WAATBP has helped Black talent upskill, network, and find jobs for 13 years,” said The One Club’s Adrienne Lucas.  “Our roots are in New York, and now we're taking it on tour to connect with Black ad talent in markets across the country.”

While other industry DEI events are confined to addressing topics from the stage, WAATBP stands apart by also providing one-on-one portfolio reviews by top agency creatives, and recruiting opportunities for mid-level creatives who want to advance their careers, as well as students looking to break into the industry.  

WAATBP grew out of a conversation more than a dozen years ago between One Club Board members Jimmy Smith, chairman/CEO/CCO at Amusement Park Entertainment, and Jeff Goodby, chairman, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, about the critical need to create job opportunities in advertising and design for minority students.  The pair spearheaded the initiative for the organisation, which held the first WAATBP panel on diversity during The One Club’s Creative Week 2011.

The One Club has a long track record of creating ongoing programs that address the ad industry’s lack of diversity. These include global Creative Boot Camps and mentorship programs for diverse college students and other young creatives; ONE School, the ground breaking free portfolio program for Black creatives in the US and UK; ONE Creator Lab, a free training program to bring diverse creators into the industry; the Behind the Stonewall Riots competition in partnership with WPP, and more.

The One Club for Creativity – home of The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) awards, ONE Asia Awards, Type Directors Club and competition, TDC Ascenders, Young Guns, Young Ones Student Awards, Next Creative Leaders, ONE Screen Short Film Festival, and more – is the world’s foremost non-profit organisation whose mission is to support and celebrate the global creative community. Revenue generated from entries to its global awards shows goes back into the industry to fund programming under the organisation’s four pillars: Education, Inclusion & Diversity, Gender Equality, and Creative Development.