BICsters Rising >> Female Forward

12/16/2020 Unknown 0 Comments



The women of BIC are on the rise and smashing it in their new roles! From landing top jobs to rising through the ranks, Erica, Melissa and Katie are truly putting their BIC knowledge to work.

Erica Lopez BIC '18 recently became Account Manager on the Corporate Reputation and Brand Purpose team at WE Communications, an independent, global communications and integrated marketing agency. As part of the Brand Purpose team, Erica will support different accounts across the tech, consumer and health sectors with a focus on corporate citizenship, philanthropy, social impact, employee engagement and other related areas. Erica is particularly excited to have purpose at the center of her work and that many of her projects require an integrated approach -- kind of a perfect situation for a BICster! Prior to this role, Erica was the Marketing and Communications Manager at Columbia University

Melissa Lee BIC '20 is a Senior Associate Planner at Wavemaker, a WPP agency focused on reshaping consumer decision-making and experiences through media, content, and technology. At Wavemaker, Melissa is servicing the L’Oreal business across the Luxe division (Giorgio Armani, Mugler, YSL, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, etc.) providing strategic media plans including digital and traditional mediums. Prior to the move, Melissa worked at Essence, a global data and measurement-driven media agency part of GroupM. There she rose through the ranks beginning as a Media Coordinator working on DAZN before moving on to Associate Media Manager, Target and then Associate Media Planner, Google

Katie O'Neal BIC '19 is a SVP / Group Account Director at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness. Katie joined the Saatchi Wellness team in May of this year to lead one of their top health and wellness clients. Katie and her team are responsible for the development and execution of the patient support program for one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world. Katie's primary focus since joining the team -- and something that she is most proud of -- is starting up a personalization effort in partnership with Epsilon, an effort that leaned heavily on data strategy and enablement to create a pilot across the digital ecosystem. Before joining Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness, Katie spent over four years at Digitas North America where she went from Vice President to SVP Group Account Director, Head of Account Management.

Congratulations to Erica, Melissa, and Katie for your amazing accomplishments.  

Check out our other BICsters Rising here: 

Top Ten CEOs of 2020 Includes BIC Board Member Rob Schwartz

12/16/2020 Unknown 0 Comments

 

It's been quite a disruptive year, so it makes perfect sense that BIC's favorite disruptor has just been certified as Industry Era's "10 Best CEOs of 2020."

A big BIC bravo to Rob Schwartz, CEO of TBWA\Chiat\DayNY and BIC Board Member, who's applied his agency's "Disruption" philosophy to its own growth strategy, transforming it from industry icon to $100 million powerhouse. His leadership and bold thinking have empowered the agency to thrive in a year that's not just challenged by the pandemic, but marked by TBWA's 50th Anniversary.

For over five years, Industry Era has honored industry CEOs who have helped their companies accelerate in growth and revenue through their unique visions and strategies.

In 2020, Rob joins a list of prestigious CEOs including Terry Stubbs, Founder, President and CEO, of ActivMed Practices & Research INC, Thomas Charlton, Chairman and CEO of Goliath Solution, Cynthia Marsden, Chairman, President & CEO of CSR, Matthew Kim, CEO of SureCo & more. You can read the full article "10 Best CEOs of 2020" and Rob's honor here.

Past winners have included Sheila Mikhail, JD, MBA, CEO & Co-Founder Ask Bio, Sergey Barykin, CEO BIA Technologies and Kumar Bhavanasi, President & CEO First Tek.

As a BIC Board Member since 2017, Rob's come to campus as a guest lecturer in our @BIC Series as well as hosted BIC's Mix+Mentor at TBWA\Chiat\DayNY in 2018.

Congratulations, Rob, on a well-deserved honor!

Leading IN >> the Art of Mentorship with Paul Kim and Sarah Irby

12/08/2020 Unknown 0 Comments


On Monday, November 16th, our @BIC Lecture Series “Lead IN” focused on mentorship as Paul Kim, founder of Capital vs Humans, and Sarah Irby, Director of New Brands at Unilever, commanded the BIC grid. Their lecture “LEADERS. MENTORS & Vice Versa” treated participants to an inspiring conversation on how to navigate high-level mentor and mentee relationships. They also touched on leadership’s role in new business development as Sarah discussed the launch of Unilever’s new skincare line, MELÉ. The banter was lively and personal: as former classmates at NYU’s Stern School of Business, Paul and Sarah are living testaments to the importance of building and sustaining lifelong networking through the grad school experience.  


During the lecture, Paul and Sarah discussed the value of having mentorship at all stages of one's career and how it's important to have mentors in both business and life. Paul stressed that a lot of young people incorrectly treat mentorship as transactional. He strongly advised everyone to work on maintaining mentor/mentee relationships throughout their career and not just leveraging them for getting that first job.  

But, what makes a good mentee? Speaking from personal experience, Sarah said people should be respectful and follow advice, but also have drive, energy, enthusiasm and a willingness to be proactive. Paul, who is also a Senior Fellow at CCNY focusing on global socioeconomic inequity, said that "approachability" is key. He cited how "social capital is often more important than hard skills." This was something Sarah echoed, noting that she applies her marketing skills to social relationships within the company and in the office environment. But being approachable in business is not just about being friendly; it's about being productive, fostering collaboration, and leadership. “You can’t get anything done as a marketer without teamwork.” 


Sarah showed a case study of MELÉ, a new brand within global skincare giant Unilever, which demonstrated her approach to corporate leadership.  MELÉ was born from the belief that melanin-rich skin should always be a priority as opposed to an afterthought. After a survey found that 63% of women of color felt ignored by the skincare industry, Sarah worked with fellow beauty industry pioneer, Esi Eggleston-Bracey and a team of Unilever scientists, dermatologists of color, and real people in the community to develop a brand that gives melanin-rich skin the attention it deserves.


MELÉ is not just a skincare brand, but a tool pushing for change in the skincare industry. Its purpose-driven essence is reflected in Unilever's corporate interest in making a positive impact on the community as well as on its bottom line, recalling the philosophy of Scott Goodson, CEO of StrawberryFrog who discussed "Brand Purpose" in our first @BIC of the semester. Read about his lecture HERE.  You can also learn more about MELÉ and buy their products HERE.

When the evening wrapped up, BIC Program Director Nancy R. Tag thanked Paul and Sarah, noting both the substance of their conversation and their easy rapport. "As former grad school classmates, you're living the advice you're imparting this evening. It's gratifying to see your continued support of each other." The growing BIC alumni network provides similar support: Our BICsters don't just leave with an MPS degree and a portfolio, but a network that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. 

Thanks so much to Paul and Sarah for an incredible conversation and for being role models of what collaboration and Leading IN truly looks like.


Our final @BIC Lecture in our Fall 2020 Lead IN Series featured Shameka M. Brown + Julius Dunn, Founders of The Adversity Group. Attendance to the December 3rd event "Leading with Intention: The Difference Between Non-Racist and Anti-Racist" was limited in order to create an intimate participatory and interactive experience.  

Watch the full lecture recording here

BIC Board Member Gustavo Stecher wins BIG at BID >> The 2020 Ibero-American Design Biennial!

12/05/2020 Unknown 0 Comments


A big BIC bravo to Gustavo Stecher, Founder and CEO of Menos es Más and BIC Board Member, who is adding a new award to his distinguished resume: first prize in City Branding at the Bienal Iberoamericana de Diseño (BID) in Madrid! The Ibero-American Design Biennial is held every two years at the Design Central Matadero Madrid and is one of the most prominent meeting points for design professionals and institutions from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Gustavo worked with his team Camila Stecher, Pamela Blanco, Lucas Rodríguez, Matías Scappaticchio, Florencia Ciccirello, Lucas Cabrera, Marcelo Mansilla to create the winning Bariloche City Branding project, which started back in 2017. The challenge was to define a new iconographic identity for the city, one of the top tourist destinations of Argentina and South America. It consisted of a large-scale collaborative work, for which the team “called on the entire community to participate and share their ideas, memories, stories and experiences.” The information collected in community-powered meetings gave rise to the conceptual basis of the entire branding and graphic identity development process including the design of over 500 graphic elements that define the city.

Since the new identity was implemented in 2019, tourist activity in the city of Bariloche has shown a notable increase, with 41 daily flights at the local airport and hotel occupancy levels with maximum peaks of 90%.

Menos es Mas was in charge of creating the new identity icons, using three axes: home, water and mountains. The fieldwork allowed the studio to recognize the differential values of Bariloche, its most representative elements, and to develop the conceptual construction of the brand. 

When asked about the project, Gustavo remarked how "developing city branding with our Community-Powered design methodology is the key to a successful and long lasting identity system for a city." 

The project also won the first prize at the City Image Awards/ UCCI (Iberoamerican Capital Cities Union) that rewards and distinguishes “good practices, those that not only employ large layers of graphic makeup, but also detect and point out, in a precise manner, the best differentiating qualities and the urban and cultural values of a city, highlighting them visually and semantically.” The project also won a mention in the Design and City Award / Madrid City Council.

In addition to being on our BIC Board, Gustavo has brought his community-powered design approach to BIC's one credit intensives Brandinghood: Parts ONE and TWO.  Last Fall, the course worked on developing brand identity for Harlem.  This course was developed through a grant by CCNY's Campus Engagement Network (CEN), an initiative funded by the Moxie Foundation which facilitates new approaches to teaching, research, and advocacy missions. 

Congratulations Gustavo!! We're so proud of this achievement and can't wait to see what you do next.