Creative Events & Conferences
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Next Creative Leaders Winners Celebration
Thursday, November 6, 2025
12:30–2:00 PM EST
ABOUT THE EVENT:
This year marked 10 years of Next Creative Leaders, and we celebrated the milestone with a virtual gathering that brought the NCL community together in a meaningful way.
The event kicked off with an inspirational message from VML's Global Chief Experience Design Officer, Kaleeta McDade. From there, we unveiled the 2025 NCL winners and showcased their standout work. Then we heard from NCL Co-creator, Laurel Stark Akman, as she moderated a candid panel conversation with exceptional past winners, as they reflected on the moments that shaped their paths and their evolution of creative leadership.
This was more than a ceremony—it was a moment to connect and have real conversations about what it truly takes to lead in today’s creative industry. Together, we explored what leadership demands and where it is heading next.
Whether you’re new to NCL or part of its legacy, we hope you find inspiration in the creativity, courage, and community that define the next generation of changemakers.
MARQUEE SPEAKER
Kaleeta McDade
Global Chief Experience Design Officer, VML
MORE ABOUT THE FEATURED PANEL — LEADING OUT LOUD!
Tune in for a special panel featuring past Next Creative Leaders who have pushed boundaries, broken molds, and redefined the standards set by the industry. They’ll share the moments that shaped their journeys, from being named an NCL to the meaningful work that followed, and reflect on how their paths embody the kind of creative leadership this program was built to celebrate. The conversation will also look ahead, exploring where creative leadership stands today and where it should go next. As we welcome a new class of winners, this session offers a space for the NCL community to share stories, exchange ideas, and spark what’s next!
SPEAKERS
Bianca Guimaraes
Partner & Executive Creative Director, Mischief @ No Fixed Address
2016 NCL Winner
Bianca is an Executive Creative Director and founding partner at Mischief. She's behind culture-creating work which has shifted perception of the world's biggest brands and catapulted Mischief from start-up to GQ’s Most Creative Companies in the World, and #1 agency of the year five times over by Ad Age, Adweek, Campaign US and Effies.
Fatima Ansari
Associate Creative Director, Publicis One Touch
2020 NCL Winner
Fatima is an award-winning Associate Creative Director at Publicis, where she leads global creative for NIVEA and has also worked with brands including PepsiCo Snacks and Unilever. With a career spanning two continents—Pakistan and Germany—she brings a rare blend of cultural insight and global perspective to her work. Her campaigns have earned over 80 international honors, including Cannes Lions, D&AD, and Clio. Recognized as one of The One Club’s Next Creative Leaders, Drum Future 50, a D&AD Next Creative, and a Rising Star by Campaign, Fatima continues to push boundaries in how brands connect with people and creative leaders shape the world positively.
Joss Ng'ang'a
Creative Lead & Content Strategist, Independent
2022 NCL Winner
I don’t believe creativity has a linear path. I’ve always followed curiosity wherever it tugged, from copywriting floors at WPP, VMLY&R, and Dentsu, to chasing inspiration through Southeast Asia. Somewhere along the way, I helped create Kenya’s first TV commercial to win a metal at The Loeries. Around that same year, I was invited to join The Loeries Youth Committee, and was named one of Africa’s Next Creative Leaders for my leadership and work with Netflix and Cadbury.
Eventually, I went rogue (freelance). I worked with Netflix Africa as Kenya’s Content Lead and together with teams in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, we turned the brand into a cultural benchmark for storytelling across the continent. Now, I call myself a creative ally and co-conspirator for brave African brands that want to stir things up. I’m fascinated by how Kenyans, and Africans at large, move, speak, dream, and build. My work is about helping brands find their rhythm in this cultural landscape through strategy, storytelling, content, and creative direction.
Sally Fung
Creative Director, Broken Heart Love Affair
2023 NCL Winner
Sally Fung is an award-winning Creative Director at Broken Heart Love Affair. In 2023, she was recognized as a Next Creative Leader by the One Club for Creativity and her work has been celebrated by local and international shows including a Cannes Lion Grand Prix. She has worked at some of Canada’s most celebrated agencies on brands like adidas, Amazon, Air Canada, HBC, IKEA, and the Canadian Down Syndrome Society. Her next goal is to learn how to whistle.
MODERATOR
Laurel Stark Akman
Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director, Vigilante
NCL Co-Creator
Laurel is a creative executive and change agent who lives at the intersection of brand, purpose, and culture. Known for disruptive ideas and inclusive leadership, she’s had a transformational impact on the creative industry and the trajectories of some of the world’s most beloved tech and entertainment brands—including Google, TikTok, and The Sims.
Her work has been profiled in Vogue and Rolling Stone, ranted about on Fox News, nominated for an Australian Grammy, and celebrated by over 35 international creative awards, including the One Show, the Effies, the Clios, and Webby. She’s also been honored by the Adweek Creative 100, the Brand Innovators 40 under 40, the AWNY Future is Female Awards, and the ADCOLOR Leaders.
Laurel has been a champion for historically marginalized talent for over a decade by creating impactful programs like One Club’s Next Creative Leaders, which has helped accelerate the careers of over 200 global female and gender expansive creatives around the world. Hopelessly bored by the status quo, she’s on a mission to remind creative misfits and relentless optimists everywhere that a better world is just one bravely answered brief away.