I've been following Jessica Walsh's career now for several years.
She is one of the most influencing and inspiring contemporary women in advertising.
She has launched her own agency, &Walsh, after nearly 10 years working alongside Stefan Sagmeister at Sagmeister & Walsh.
&Walsh becomes one of the few creative agencies in the world that is led by a woman. Walsh published an article on her new website to highlight this issue of gender imbalance in the industry.
She wrote: "Today, as I launch my creative agency &Walsh, I am overwhelmed with emotion: elation that this is finally happening, exhaustion from the non-stop work that brought me to this point & an anxious excitement about what's next.
"I’m also overwhelmed with gratitude for this privileged position I’ve found myself in. Very few women make it to creative leadership positions and even fewer have founded their own creative agencies."
She added: "The numbers say it all: 70% of design students are women, but only 5-11% of creative director positions are held by women. Only .1% of creative agencies are women-owned. POINT. ONE PERCENT. How does this make any sense when women drive about 80% of consumer purchasing? Diversity in leadership at agencies drives profit."
Right now I'm working as a Creative Director at Immersive international, a studio is focused exclusively on creating iconic world firsts in Art, Architecture, Theatre, Museums, Advertising, and Live Events.
I'm proud to say that I'm one of the 5-11% of female creative directors. Also, I'm a film director. In both industries, advertising and film directing, I have come across a very similar sexist situations from men and women as Jessica explain in her article.
I really support proactive and inspiring women like Jessica. I invited you to read her article.
https://andwalsh.com/articles/all/walsh-launches-joining-the-1-of-women-founded-creative-agencies-/