Don’t Talk About It, Be About It – Making Spaces More Inclusive at Cannes Lions and Beyond

In 2017, I attended my first Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, widely recognized as the most prestigious awards event in the advertising industry. As I walked along the Boulevard de la Croisette, I was inspired by the high level of creative energy, innovative work and, of course, the beautiful views of the Mediterranean Sea. But I was disappointed by the lack of representation at the festival. 

People of color and other historically marginalized communities set trends, and define culture and creativity, yet the representation in the industry wasn’t there. It sent a message that while our cultures are brilliant enough to be co-opted to win a coveted Lion award, underrepresented communities didn’t have the opportunity to attend and be recognized at the festival. As such, it was evident the festival had to become more inclusive.

That same year, I vowed to change the cultural makeup of Cannes Lions. I returned the following year with five young Black creators as part of the Cannes Can: Diversity Collective (CC:DC) Ambassadors program. I founded CC:DC to provide young people of color and underrepresented communities with access and opportunity to participate in the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and expand diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in the advertising, marketing, communications and creative industries. Over the years, we’ve seen exponential growth with rising stars from five different continents Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. (Antarctica! You got next!) This summer CC:DC marked our fifth anniversary at Cannes with a cohort of 25+ ambassadors and scholars. We also made history by launching the first HBCU+ Can: Diversity Collective by bringing four students from HBCU's including Dillard University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Morehouse College and Spelman College . 

In 2019, CC:DC launched the first-ever DE&I activation at Cannes called “Inkwell Beach,” named as a tribute to the historic beach in Martha’s Vineyard, a place of solace for Black people during segregation. Since its launch, we have blazed trails for more conversations on DE&I and created space for other groups to lend their voices to the festival. We believe it may have also been the catalyst for Cannes Lions to hire its first DE&I leader, Frank Starling • FRSA. We were honored to have Frank featured on our stage during our Juneteenth celebration this year, which focused on “Bridging the Gap of Information Dissemination.” Our 2023 theme was “Expect the Unexpected – Moving from the Woe is Me to the Wow is Me of DE&I,” where we explored ways to implement revolutionary change in the creative industry. We had incredible speakers, including:

• Marc S. Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, Procter & Gamble
• Modupé R. Congleton, Global Head of DEI for Amazon Stores
• Robert M. Bakish, President & CEO, Paramount
• Valeisha Butterfield Jones, VP of Partnership & Engagements, Google
• Travis Montaque and Richelieu Dennis, Cofounders, Group Black
• Richard Dickson, President & COO, Mattel, Inc.
• Channing Martin, Chief Diversity and Social Impact Officer, Interpublic Group (IPG)
• Esi Eggleston Bracey, President, Unilever USA and CEO, Unilever Personal Care North America @

This year, CC:DC launched the AYA Inclusion Awards (sponsored by FleishmanHillard, Amazon, McCann and FCB Global): a newly rebranded recognition celebrating the power of creativity to reshape the world through the advertising, marketing and communications industries. The AYA is an adinkra symbol for endurance, independence, defiance against difficulties, hardiness, perseverance and resourcefulness. It demonstrates why inclusion is good for the world and business, underscoring that you must include the world to have world-bending ideas. The awards celebrate culture-shifting creativity across race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion, disability, neuro, age and body diversity. In the spirit of equity, all entries are free. 

This award grew out of a need – something missing from Cannes's main stage. I did not want to wait for change; I just acted. The AYA Inclusion Awards winners were honored in Cannes on Monday, June 19 at Inkwell Beach. The winners include:

1. Gold: The Uncover; Weber Shandwick for FRIDA
2. Silver: ADLaM: An alphabet to preserve a culture; McCann for Microsoft
3. Bronze: The Black Elevation Map; Performance Art for Black & Abroad Black and Abroad

It’s been five years since CC:DC was founded, but the work has just begun. The recent attacks on DE&I have shown us, we must remain diligent in our commitment to DIVERSITY, in our mission to move the needle on INCLUSION and in our promise to create EQUITABLE spaces for the next generation of leaders and changemakers to BELONG. 

Here’s how I believe we can continue to drive genuine and sustainable inclusion for the future of our industry: 

• Increase opportunities: 
• Inkwell Beach created an open space for people to come and hear impactful thought leadership while networking and making connections they may not have been able to make anywhere else at Cannes Lions. Many of our CC:DC Ambassadors and Scholars have been hired due to the people they met through the organization, so we are creating more diverse pipelines across industries. CC:DC Ambassadors have become Cannes Lions jurors and mentors for the Young Lions Academies.
• Cannes Lions launched the Entertainment Lions for Gaming this year, celebrating creative work that connects people to brands through gameplay. The addition of this awards category opened the door for more diverse gaming companies to be present at Cannes. Black-owned gaming company Cxmmunity Media partnered with CC:DC to host a gaming lounge at the CC:DC House in Cannes for CMOs and stakeholders to learn how to reach diverse gamers.
• CC:DC will become the Global Voice of Inclusion by launching the “Davos (WEF) Can: Diversity Collective,” “@Dubai Lynx Can: Diversity Collective,” “Spike Asia Can: Diversity Collective” and more.
• Educating more people on the issues: 
• To achieve sustainable change we must remain in a constant state of learning. The whole idea is for us to talk about how organizations can be strengthened when they are more inclusive, create more equitable environments and when the diversity on their teams looks like the audience and communities they’re targeting.
• Growing sponsorships and partnerships: Increasing diverse voices requires investments. We are so grateful to our incredible sponsors who have paved the way for these critical conversations on DE&I and opportunities for our ambassadors and scholars.
• Don’t Talk About It, Be About It:
• Actions speak louder than words. We must keep the momentum going and be able to overcome setbacks. The future of our industries is watching and depending on it.