Next Creative Leaders
Next Creative Leaders is a portfolio competition that identifies, celebrates, and gives a global platform to talented, gender expansive creatives who are making their mark on the world with both their work and a unique point of view on creative leadership.
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When we created Next Creative Leaders nine years ago, it was with the hope that an intentionally inclusive award could help expand the kind of creative leadership we celebrated. In order to better represent the world we’re a part of—and encourage the industry to do the same—we’ve embarked on a journey of learning and evolution as a program. So as we celebrate our ninth class of winners: 35 brilliant, intersectional creative leaders from around the world, it’s important to acknowledge who is represented here, because it’s a triumph. And also to acknowledge who isn’t—because it’s where we have room to grow.
This year’s Next Creative Leaders class has dedicated themselves to having impact in and out of their workplaces, through mentorship efforts, inclusive side projects, founding affinity groups, DEI councils, and telling representative stories that help change minds, hearts and behaviors. They include:
- Our first trans man and non-binary winners.
- More Asian, LGBTQ+ and freelance representation than any other class.
- Our largest global class of winners, with 24 residing outside of North America.
- Our first-ever winners from Mexico, Taiwan, and Hungary. And our second-ever winner from Colombia.
Along with 2023’s wins and the firsts, we wanted to share the lessons we learned, and our plans for evolution as we look to year ten: Historically, the celebration of Black talent has been a source of pride for Next Creative Leaders. Unfortunately we saw an unexpected decline in Black applicants this year, which impacted representation among our winners. Correcting this will be a top priority for us in 2024.
An intentional move to a more global footprint this year helped boost entries from Latin America and Asia, which put them on par with European entries for the first time ever. Next year we will focus on growing applicants in the Middle East and Africa.
We saw the clear impact of companies and affinity groups helping identify and encourage diverse talent to apply. Huge thanks to Wieden+Kennedy, who led the way in this department, and to Asians in Advertising for helping us get the word out to their community. We cannot do this on our own, and welcome more of this partnership in the future.
We’re so proud of our 2023 class, what and who they represent, and the many ways they’ve helped us grow and evolve our inclusive mission. Congratulations to all our Next Creative Leaders, their agencies, clients, and supporters. You’ve all played a role in shaping this future.
Below, you can explore the archives of of this year's Next Creative Leader class. A few of our winners also participated in profiles on leadership and their creative process.
Hear more from Sitta Chandarawong, Connie Chweh, Emese Gillote & Dorottya Tóth, Farishte Irani, Julia Machado, Ted Malenfant, Sands Mathura, Alejandra Rozo, Rana Sadek, or Cassandra Shuber & Daniela Marino by reading the interviews on their profiles.
Next Creative Leaders is a collaborative effort between the 3% Movement and The One Club for Creativity to support gender equity in creativity. Thank you to Laurel Stark Akman, Kat Gordon, and The One Club for Creativity team – Jenna Brandvold, Lucy Lopez Travez, Aubreyne Brizette Tolentino