—Throughout Black History Month, The Message will be sharing short profiles of Black professionals from across the industry: marketing, advertising, PR, media, and production. Written by POCAM members, the profiles are a way to “fight invisibility,” an exercise in representation for an industry where representation must get better—
Over his long career, Paul Allamby has been president and partner at Padulo Integrated, SVP of Sales and Marketing for the Blue Jays, president of Euro RSCG, EVP at Havas, CMO at Mirum and managing consultant for EQ Bank. He was able to build friendships and hold doors open for others. As a junior partner at Yew+Bamboo (which he opened with Rick Padulo), he was able to hire two excellent Black account people who went on to very successful careers.
About 10 years ago, one of Allamby’s daughters bought him a gin-making kit and he was bitten by the gin bug. He and his partners decided to launch Levenswater, a gin that represents Toronto’s diversity. “Each infused botanical,” Allamby explained, “comes from the different cultures that make up our city.” Levenswater is Dutch for “water of life” — it’s a nod to Allamby’s great grandmother who was half-Dutch.
Allamby proudly identifies himself as Black. In a late-night email exchange, he tells me about his background. “My father was from Guyana but l never knew him. My grandfather was from Barbados. My grandmother was biracial—her Dad was from Guyana but her mum's family were originally from Holland,” he said.
Though born in England, Allamby never really felt at home there. He shares snippets of his childhood in East London, remembering that there was only one other black boy at school. “He was the tough one,” he said. “l was a fast runner (had to be)!”
His advice to young Black talent: be the very best version of yourselves. You are representing your community. Always look to open doors for others. Never stop learning, always be focused on being the best you can be. Always keep your promises.
His mantra: to be true to himself. “Success or failure cannot change who l am,” he said.
Allamby’s family worked with their hands. “My granddad had been a ship’s cook, my grandmother was a cleaner and cook, my uncle was a roofer,” he shared. “I wanted more than anything to be like the Brits l saw on the tube going to Central London. I wanted to wear a suit and tie and work in an office,” he admitted. His wish came true. But, after all that, when Allamby created his handmade gin, he too returned to making something by hand. Allamby has come full circle, in his way, to the kind of work his elders did before him.
It’s a bit of delicious irony that he appreciates keenly, saying, “It came home to me, finally, that my family were poor, but took pride in their work. It’s taken me almost a lifetime to realize, that when you take pride in what you do, it matters.”
This POCAM BHM 2024 profile was written by Gavin Barrett, CEO/CCO/founder of Barrett and Welsh and a co-founder of POCAM and the Multicultural Marketing Alliance of Canada.
Melanie Isaac-Taitt has been in marketing for over 20 years. She has worked for some of Canada’s—and the world’s—most iconic brands: Second Cup, 20th Century Fox, Maple Leaf Foods, Coca-Cola, and most recently Roots, where she was vice president of marketing.
A first-year Intro to Marketing course at York U drew Isaac-Taitt to the industry. She tested her interest in a real-world setting at a Marketing internship job that very summer. “After that, I was sold,” she said. As a creative person (Isaac-Taitt is a lifelong gospel singer) who is also an analyst and problem solver, she loves that marketing allows her to bring her whole self to her day job.
The experience she treasures most from her marketing career? The opportunity to spotlight the work of Black changemakers like Révolutionnaire, Adidem Asterisks* and Benny Bing, during her time at Roots. “I got to do this not just during Black History Month, but throughout the year, and that was an experience I didn’t take lightly,” Isaac-Taitt said.
Like many black people in business, Isaac-Taitt has faced bias, microaggressions, and racism. She remembers an incident when a colleague called her ‘racist’ simply for hiring a man of colour. She says it changed her for the worse and for the better. “It made me second guess my judgment for future new hires,” Isaac-Taitt shared, “but it also fortified my strength to address racial challenges.”
While marketing has come a long way in driving diversity for businesses, Isaac-Taitt feels it is still mostly external—seen in marketing campaigns. Like all strategic business imperatives, she explained, it must start inside and at the top. When diversity is authentically on the internal agenda, the employee base reflects it at all levels. “And if the voice of those employees is given value,” Isaac-Taitt added, “the benefit of diversity more naturally manifests through the work and radiates from the brand out into the marketplace.”
Isaac-Taitt is on a much-needed career break. As she prepares for her next chapter as a senior marketing leader and brand advisor, she shares a lesson she learned years ago—that women are held to a high standard of expectation in order to earn their seat at the table in the business world; and that Black women are held to an even higher standard. “But,” said Isaac-Taitt, “I have learned to know and stand firm in my worth, and in doing so I don’t just make sure I have a seat at the table. I take my seat at the head of it.”
This POCAM BHM 2024 profile was written by Gavin Barrett, CEO/CCO/founder of Barrett and Welsh and a co-founder of POCAM and the Multicultural Marketing Alliance of Canada.
Karina Black went to school for Business and knew she wanted to work in the corporate world in a job that allowed for creativity, collaboration, and structure. This is what led her to media planning as an industry.
Breaking into the industry was not the challenge for her, but rather finding a voice and being able to be herself. She struggled with trying to fit in, dealing with micro-aggressions, and finding people to relate to, especially since there were very few Black women in the industry in leadership. But she didn’t allow this to hinder her ability to push through and become the role model she wished she’d had.
A pivotal moment in her career was becoming a mentor for a young woman that was just entering the industry. Like Black, this person faced many similar challenges, and Black was able to give her the advice that she learned the hard way. Through this relationship, Black was able to watch the young woman find her own voice, stand up for herself, and ultimately receive what it was she was looking to accomplish. Black came to the realization that she was put in her position not to help clients with their bottom line or create flashy award-winning campaigns, but to help those like her to elevate themselves within this industry.
Black continues to face bias and micro-aggressions to this day. She’s still asked “can I touch your hair” and the typical things black women hear on a daily basis. But she’s realized that many of these comments/actions don’t always come from a place of ignorance, and instead, she’s tried to combat this through conversation, educating those open to listening, and working to develop programs that help impact our community.
Her hope for the media industry is to find ways to be more inclusive in a genuine way by trying to understand the nuances of all groups and having the right people in the room to contribute to change. After the George Floyd murder in 2020, she witnessed a lot of brands and companies “stand with the black community, without actually standing with us. No policy changes, no true action or stance. This is what I hope that we can shift away from,” said Black.
Her advice to young people is to firstly consider this industry as one that is not talked about enough – especially in underserved communities, and once you get in, make it your mission to bring someone like you along for the ride.
On the side, Black creates hair content on YouTube and sells hair units (aka wigs)! “This Hussle also stemmed from a racial struggle I faced growing up. I never really understood why black women were buying hair units from non-black women who don’t exactly understand the complexity and needs of our hair” she said. This is when Manes by Black was born.
This POCAM BHM 2024 profile was written by Aleena Mazhar Kuzma, SVP, managing director, partner of FUSE Create and a steering board committee member of POCAM.
Shedona Nash is a graphic designer with over ten years’ experience working in the Canadian advertising and marketing industry.
She is also a traveler who takes time away from her work to explore different artist markets while selling her own Illustrations, wall prints, stickers and bookmarks. Nash was drawn to the industry because of her strong relationship with visual arts and holding an admiration for how cleverly art could be used to enhance campaigns.
Getting in was not the easiest for her, especially in the beginning where she lacked confidence and the means to share knowledge. In time, through perseverance, she transformed that trajectory: “For this industry, you need a voice and at the start of my time, I wasn't the loudest person in the room,” she said. “As I got more confident in sharing my ideas and knowing my brand, breaking the wall, and getting in, got easier.”
Much of Nash’s design work exists within the ever-booming Gaming industry. Unfortunately for her, she did not have a BIPOC mentor to look up to; a notion that she hopes will not remain for future generations.
Nash has leveraged some amazing projects to grow her skill sets. “I had the opportunity to put together a 30-second teaser from the women-led organization Femme Gaming,” she said. “This teaser has been shown at several esports tournaments and events across the nation, and Femme Gaming is an organization that strives to empower women within the gaming industry and esports.”
Her work has helped her find that voice she needed at the beginning of her career, which is now indicatively the driving force behind her impact at large. “I believe the majority of racism comes from the fear of the unknown and lack of information,” she said. “So, when I come across moments of this in my life, I like to hit individuals with facts to give them a new perspective on the matter in hopes that they start thinking about what they believed differently.”
She invites more BIPOC professionals to leverage their work, particularly their integrated work, as an avenue to being seen across the industry, adding that nothing will change if we stay behind the scenes and constantly go with the flow. She also believes that companies and organizations have a vital role to play in how campaigns are assembled in the first place. “I believe a lot of the issues that arise will decrease if we have more of a voice in the beginning stages,” she said.
This POCAM BHM 2024 profile was written by Justin Senior, head of Media + Creative at RISE Integrated Sports + Entertainment, Professor at George Brown College, chair of the board of directors for POCAM.
