O Union of Advertising Agencies of the State of São Paulo (Sinapro-SP) announced the hiring of Patricia Alexandre as executive director. After a 35-year career, seeking to change professional areas and with an invitation from the president of the Union, Roberto Tourinho, she arrives to implement more diversity and inclusion in the world of agencies.
“My goal is for us to bring Diversity and Inclusion. We realize that today, in the market, this issue is growing every day, a path of no return. Agencies are moving towards this, but many still don’t know how to do it,” said Patricia.
Currently, larger agencies, such as multinationals, already have exclusive areas for diversity. In smaller agencies, there are no specific departments, and often, they are not even able to have them. Therefore, Sinapro -SP seeks to help and interact between large and small agencies, so that together they can accelerate diversity in the world of advertising.
Patricia has been working in the Human Resources area for 35 years and has worked in companies such as GOLDentsu Internacional, Ericsson Telecomunicaes, Tintas MC, in addition to working in the graphic, civil construction and almost nine years in advertising agencies. Before Sinapro, Patricia was working at Kavak, a vehicle buying and selling startup.
Despite the executive’s great experience in the market, it was not always possible to work on diversity, but little by little this reality is changing.
“I’m a black woman, from the outskirts of So Paulo and I’ve always worked hard to get to where I am, because I always had to be better than others. Whenever I had an opportunity, if there was a white person, I would lose, especially if it was a man. I see that this changed in the market after the death of George Floyd, but until then, there was no such issue of diversity in companies. We achieved a lot based on ability, because the color of your skin, for example, does not define your competence”, said the executive director.
In parallel, Patricia believes that by improving these issues in the advertising segment, society will also be positively impacted, and that if a business has diversity, it delivers a better product to the customer, promoting, in addition, discussions and new ideas.
According to a survey by Adobe, 38% of participants prefer to consume products and services from brands that show diversity in advertisements and 34% have boycotted brands at least once because they do not feel represented. Another study, from the Associação Paulista de Supermercados (APAS) indicates that 95% of Brazilians give priority to products and services from companies that invest in ESG practices.
The new executive director does not yet have a concrete project, but together with Sinapro, she already has some ideas, which are being worked on with the Diversity Observatory, an association made up of 27 advertising agencies, which address precisely this issue.
“It’s been very different, because in 35 years of HR, I’ve never sat in a director’s chair. Receiving this proposal from Roberto, a white man, shows me the recognition of my work. I was very happy and I have to thank you”, highlighted Patricia.
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