Jessica Walsh is a creative director and founder of &Walsh. She has received distinctions such as Forbes “30 Under 30” and Ad Week’s “Top 10 Visual Creatives.” She lectures at creative conferences and universities internationally. Her work has been featured in numerous galleries, books, and magazines. She has led branding and campaign work for Netflix, Google, Snapchat, TED, Apple, Beats, Bombas, The Aldrich Museum, and The Jewish Museum among many others.
She founded Ladies, Wine & Design; a global initiative with chapters in over 280 cities aimed to champion and mentor creative women and to foster women’s growth into leadership roles. Walsh also started Let’s Talk About Mental Health, a website, and Instagram account to start dialogues around mental health, creating a safe space for others to share their stories.
Her project 40 Days of Dating received over 30 million readers and international recognition. The film rights to 40 Days of Dating were originally bought by Warner Brothers. Her book ‘40 Days of Dating: An Experiment’ was released by Abrams and is available for purchase online and in bookstores worldwide.
Can you summarize your career?
As CEO and Creative Director of &Walsh, I oversee all of our client and internal operations including the management of clients, finances, recruitment, resourcing, personnel, social media, new business, photo studio, and remote team members. Another large part of my career is to manage the social impact initiatives that are a part of &Walsh, Let’s Talk About Mental Health and Ladies, Wine, & Design, as well as a photographic series called Sorry I Have No Filter.
How do you see the role of the woman in the sector?
Such a small percentage of women and non-binary people make it to CEO or leadership roles at creative & adveritising companies. It’s not for a lack of talent or intelligence, it’s sexism that has led to these numbers. This is pretty wild when in fact, women control over $20 trillion in consumer spending and drive 80% of all consumer purchases in the U.S. The industry needs to start recognizing that diversity in all forms including gender, race, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, backgrounds, etc, need representation in order to create great work.
That being said, not every woman or nonbinary creative wants to be a leader, some people prefer to focus on their craft, which is great and valid in its own right. There should be career paths and trajectories for those who significantly contribute to projects in ways beyond leadership or management. Everyone looks at success differently.
Do you think there are enough female representatives on every level of the sector?
No, and that’s not just an opinion, but a fact. The numbers say it all: 70% of design students are women, but when you look at the top, the numbers are shockingly small: only 5% of CEOs are women. Approximately 11% of creative director positions are held by women. Only .1% of creative agencies are women-owned. POINT. ONE. PERCENT. Even beyond the ethical problem of this, how does this even make any business sense when women drive about 80% of consumer purchasing? Diversity in leadership at agencies drives profit.
"The industry needs to start recognizing that diversity in all forms need representation in order to create great work".
Do you think you have found more difficulties to develop your career because of being a woman?
There are many reasons why women, myself included, have found it more difficult to develop our careers, some of which include:
#1. Sexism in the workplace. Studies show that companies are often consciously or unconsciously biased in favor of male candidates , which leads to more men being hired, getting raises, and receiving promotions. The imbalance in gender representation then creates a heightened sense of competition between those of us trying to make it to the top, which means defaulting to internalized sexism.
#2. A lack of diversity in mentors or idols historically. Open a design history book, and you’ll see that almost all the famous designers mentioned are white men. The design industry used to be a boys club at the top, lacking diversity across both gender and race. With a lack of
representation among their role models, underrepresented people can be deterred from pursuing creative positions.
#3. The responsibility of childbearing. Many start families and have children around the time they’d be considered for career advancement. Historically, most cisgender men continued working and did not hold child-bearing responsibilities, leading to a gender imbalance in terms of career success. Many call this the “motherhood tax,” referring to the financial burdens and sacrifices involved in motherhood.
All of these issues are multiplied tenfold for women of color, women with disabilities, and other intersectional identities.
Bombay Mixers & Google I/O.
What creative woman is an inspiration for you?
The two biggest female inspirations in my life are my mom and my sister. My mom and dad came from families with very modest means; they didn’t have much growing up. They started a company in the 80s out of their garage when my mom became pregnant with me. I grew up as their business did and it was amazing to watch her help grow their small idea out of nothing into a successful company that employed others. She was a strong female role model that showed me that anything was possible with hard work, time, and persistence if you put your heart and soul into it. She showed me how a woman could balance being a badass working professional while also spending time with family and being a great mother. She taught me the value of money and spending it wisely. Early on, my parents always made us work and start saving our own money. My sister runs new business and strategy at &Walsh and she’s one of the smartest hardworking people I know. But she also taught me how to fucking relax! I was very uptight growing up, always following rules and trying to please or impress others. This came at a detriment to myself, and it took me a while to understand that when you’re not happy yourself, you can’t really make others happy either. My sister taught me to open my mind, to see things from other perspectives, and how to let go. For these reasons, I have so much love and appreciation for these two strong & beautiful & influential women in my life.
To finish, what would you ask for to improve the situation of women in the sector?
If any organizations are looking to help we’re looking for sponsors and funding to help our non-profit Ladies, Wine & Design. We offer free mentorship circles, talks, and networking events in over 280 cities worldwide. We have events on topics such as Creative Leadership, Design & Business, Diversity in Design, and more.
A lot of what we need can only come from systemic change, like closing the gender pay gap, hiring more women professors and instructors in learning institutions, implementing paid parental leave, enforcing stronger protections against sex discrimination, and more.
Lex & Geltor.