After a series of significant changes to IPG agency R/GA as it restructures and moves away from its city model in the U.S. and instead implements a country model with five disciplines powering the business, the agency is making another noteworthy change by promoting Shannon Washington to chief creative officer, making her the first Black woman U.S. chief creative officer in the history of all holding company agencies.

“My job is to create the best possible environment at R/GA to make the best work. This represents a really pivotal time, not just with me, but for R/GA as a whole,” Washington told Adweek.

In her previous role as svp, group executive creative director at R/GA, Washington led creative work for clients such as Ad Council, Google, Sephora, Samsung and Uber and will now continue her creative efforts on a much larger scale. In this new position, Washington continues to show the impact she can make in the creative world.

Some of her notable works include Ad Council’s “Love Has No Labels” campaign which powerfully tells the story between siblings and Sephora’s “Black Beauty Is Beauty” campaign which sheds light on the significance of Black beauty and culture campaigns. As a testament to her talent, Washington was featured in Adweek’s Creative 100 in 2020.

Despite R/GA’s restructuring—it laid off about 5% of its New York office in June and closed its physical office spaces in New York and San Francisco in November—the agency and Washington remain dedicated to evolving and bringing diverse people together to create meaningful work, especially through a pandemic.

“The value of intersectionality is something that ironically came to light in the pandemic because of the way we had to work,” Washington said. “In person I wanted to make sure I recognized the value that everyone brought to the process and [help everyone feel] seen and heard, but working in a hybrid culture, it became clear to me that I had to think of new ways to do that.”

Helping creatives be seen and heard

Now three years into her time at the agency, Washington hopes to continue her personal goal of putting work at the forefront as she finds a way to take the best of what the agency does and inject a sense of place and culture into the work.

Washington is continuously aiming to create a space where everyone can feel seen and heard. And as a creative woman of color, she emphasizes the importance of creating spaces where other creatives of color can have opportunities.

“You have to hold the door that you open; you don’t walk through that door by yourself,” Washington said. “There has been a generational shift in our industry [and] we are starting to see way more women of color in medium and junior positions. My goal is to keep them here. Recruitment is one thing, but for me it’s all about retention. For creatives of color it’s really about supporting and seeing [others] and acknowledging that [they] are going to have a different experience.”