Former Netflix Multicultural Director Linda Guerrero Launches Cultural Agency

Linda Guerrero, who was formerly a Netflix and 42 West multicultural executive, has founded Cultural Agency, a multicultural agency that aims to connect publicity, awards and marketing campaigns to culture. Guerrero will serve as CEO of Cultural Agency.

The newly launched agency will be specifically focused on Hispanic, Black, API, LGBTQ+, faith and accessibility audiences.

“Multicultural audiences are mainstream audiences, and we know that films with diversity drive bigger box office. But connecting with these audiences takes much more than heritage months, once-a-year campaigns or social media feeds,” Guerrero said.

Having spent most of her career helping brands and clients engage multicultural communities with authenticity, purpose and a deep understanding of their nuances, Guerrero said creating Cultural Agency was the next right step.

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Guerrero most recently served as senior director of multicultural publicity, social and community at Netflix, where she led a team focused on strategy and outreach for Black, Latinx, API, LGBTQ+ and faith audiences across films and series. During her six-year tenure, Guerrero also spent three years as director of publicity for Latin America, overseeing publicity, events and visual communications.

Before joining Netflix, Guerrero spent 10 years in a managing director role at 42 West out of New York, creating and leading its multicultural practice with clients including Universal, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Netflix.

Before that, Guerrero served as a vice president at Terry Hines & Associates, helping launch its multicultural group. She has also held roles at Paramount, Rogers & Cowan and 20th Century Fox.

She has been a member of the Marketing and Public Relations Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (the organization behind the Oscars) since 2016, has served as co-chair of A2020 and A2025 since 2020, and has been on the Branch Executive Committee since 2019. 

Cultural Agency’s first hire is Shawn Finnie, who will serve as executive vice president. Finnie most recently served as executive vice president, member relations, global outreach and awards at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. There, he oversaw member engagement and global outreach for the organization’s membership of more than 11,000 artists and executives, as well as Academy Awards administration, rules and regulations, processes for submissions and voting, along with industry engagement and film festivals strategy and outreach. 

Finnie launched member-led, staff-supported Academy Affinity groups, created for members to amplify voices in the Black, Indigenous/Native American, Middle Eastern, West Asia, North African, LGBTQ+, Asian, Latinx and accessibility communities. 

Finnie also co-created and produced the Academy Dialogues: It Starts With Us series and was an instrumental part of the Academy’s premiere events, including the Governors Awards, Women’s Luncheon and Oscars broadcasts, for the last decade. Finnie is the current host of the Los Angeles Times digital series The Envelope. He has been featured on Variety’s New Leaders list and received the 2023 AdColor Advocate award.

Cultural Agency’s advisory council is made up of industry leaders who will help guide the agency with strategic input and valuable insights, including: Bing Chen (CEO and founder, Gold House), Dee Poku (CEO and founder, The WIE Suite), Jessica Sibley (CEO, Time), Nina Garcia (editor in chief, Elle Magazine) and Sarah Kate Ellis (CEO and president, GLAAD).

Cultural Agency is already working with clients, including major streamers and studios.