LUISA GABALDI

How can the industry evolve to ensure success in the next decade?

The industry needs to make diversity sustainable, not performative. We’re great at hiring underrepresented talent but terrible at keeping them. We celebrate the numbers but offer no real growth path, and we’re back at square one. Success means building cultures where diverse voices thrive and lead. That requires clear career plans, financial support for training and development, and opening recruitment processes at major agencies to break the insider bubble. We need uncomfortable conversations about why people leave and how our systems fail those we claim to support. It’s ironic that in an industry built on creativity, we’re failing to use it to create real change.

“It’s ironic that in an industry built on creativity, we’​re failing to use it to create real change.”

Why did you apply to Next Creative Leaders?

Discovering NCL in 2019 was a turning point. I saw women stepping into positions of prestige and recognition, while leading authentically and reshaping advertising. That wasn’t something I witnessed at my agency, where there were so few women in leadership and I was often the only woman in the room. Seeing the competition winners as role models made me believe I could be on that list too. It inspired me to be part of a generation that transforms creative spaces so the next women don’t have to feel alone.

Who are you thanking in your Next Creative Leaders acceptance speech?

My mother. My pride in her goes beyond our bond as mother and daughter and into deep admiration for the professional she is, even in a different field than mine. I grew up watching her balance a career with raising her children, and during the Covid pandemic, when we both worked from home, I saw up close the incredible leader she is. She built a team culture grounded in respect, care, and motivation. She shows me every day what it means to lead with humanity. I hope that time and maybe a little genetics will help me become the kind of leader she’s always been.

What’s one piece of advice you wish someone had given you early in your career?

Seek your comfort zone, don’t avoid it. The industry loves telling us to get out of our comfort zones, but as a woman in advertising, I’ve learned that comfort is actually the advantage. Feeling heard, valued, represented, safe, and above all, comfortable, is the foundation for doing your best work. There are already enough uncomfortable places out there for women and minorities. Finding environments where you can be yourself and thrive isn’t settling. It’s strategic. Recognizing and prioritizing those environments early on can make all the difference in building a sustainable and impactful career.

“Comfort is actually the advantage. Finding environments where you can be yourself and thrive isn’​t settling. It’​s strategic.”

How are you approaching the tension between AI tools and human creativity in your work?

AI is changing how we work, and I’m using it to reclaim my time for what machines can’t do – think strategically and creatively. In 2017, I’d spend four hours building an image in Photoshop. Today, AI image generators give me a better result in five minutes. That’s nearly four hours back to develop better ideas, refine strategy, and focus on the human insights that actually connect with people. AI handles execution well, but it can’t replace cultural awareness, curiosity, or creative judgment. The key is knowing where AI adds value and where human creativity is irreplaceable.

“AI handles execution well, but it can’​t replace cultural awareness, curiosity, or creative judgment.”