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Multicultural Marketing News – Women’s History Month Profiles

Wednesday, Mar 08, 2023
Multicultural Marketing News March 2023
March is Women’s History Month

March 8 is International Women’s Day

Meet the women leaders from the Expert companies featured on multicultural.com. Click on each photo below to learn about each company/organization in our online Source Book of Multicultural Experts directory and Speakers Showcase or to contact them directly.

In this issue:

  • Adriana Waterston, Senior Vice President, Insights and Strategy, Horowitz Research
  • Karen Sinisi, Director, Sales and Marketing, Ethnic Technologies
  • Ginny Yang, VP of Marketing, My Code
  • Kaitlyn O’Neill, Chief Content Officer & Sales Consultant, Lighthouse List
  • Ashleigh Williams, Senior Research Director​, C+R Research
  • Shaili Bhatt, Senior Research Director, C+R Research
  • Anna Rossi, Research Director, C+R Research
  • Ana Villodres, Senior Qualitative Director, C+R Research
  • Laura Westraad, Senior Research Director​, C+R Research
  • Selina Guo, Vice President, Strategy, ADMERASIA
  • Sharon Carothers, Managing Director, SensisHealth
  • Danielle Austen, founder and CEO, fluent360
  • Zekeera Belton, Vice President of Client Services and Diverse Segment Strategist, Collage Group
  • Lisa Skriloff, President, Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc.
The Impact of Sociopolitical Issues on Women Consumers
“Women’s History Month is an important opportunity to reflect on how current events and the sociopolitical environment are impacting women’s lives today, and thus how they think and feel about brands. At a time when these are being threatened, women’s rights and LGBTQIA+ allyship are the top issues women care about, along with supporting local businesses and the environment. Brands, advertisers, and marketers looking to make connections with women consumers need to become public advocates for these rights that are being threatened today. Look, for example, at the #BoycottWalgreens movement that is erupting right now. Also, it’s time for brands to embrace the diversity of women in the United States – that includes women of color, women across religious and cultural identities, non-straight women, and trans women. In our recent State of Consumer Engagement 2022 study, 55% of women surveyed say that they find it appealing (love it/like it) when a company uses a lot of diverse people, lifestyles, and cultures in their ads, while only 7% find this unappealing (dislike it/hate it). While more brands are making strides toward diverse representation and messaging, there’s an opportunity to feature more ads that are inclusive of allwomen we see in the world around us.” — Adriana Waterston, Chief Revenue Officer and Insights and Strategy Lead at Horowitz Research
View Adriana’s full Speaker profile here.
View full company profile here.
Karen Sinisi, Director, Sales and Marketing, Ethnic Technologies
Karen has extensive knowledge and experience in Multicultural Marketing as well as broad-based Direct Marketing. She has worked with clients at Ethnic Technologies for ten years, helping them to reach critical multicultural markets. She has also been instrumental in developing “cultural competence” strategies for those same clients. Karen has 25 years of previous experience in marketing, client service and management. She was a member of the Board Of Directors for the West Coast Chapter of the Florida Direct Marketing Association. She also held the position of Newsletter Editor for that organization. She holds a BA in Anthropology and Sociology from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. Specialties: Multicultural Marketing, Language Preference Marketing, Gender Marketing, Hispanic and Spanish Language Marketing, Multicultural Data Appends, Direct Marketing
View Karen’s full Speaker profile here.
View full company profile here.
Ginny Yang, VP of Marketing, My Code
Ginny Yang is the VP of Marketing at My Code, the leading media partner that connects, amplifies and empowers diverse audiences. In her role, she leads a team that includes Product Marketing, PR, Events, Content, Social Media and Design. Since joining, Yang has increased My Code’s visibility to B2B and B2C audiences through expertly developed marketing strategies as part of the business’ goals toward exponential growth and impact within the market. Yang has deep experience overseeing and executing high-impact initiatives, having previously led the development of the first native advertising campaign at The New York Times with Dell during her time at the company. While at G/O Media, she launched The Root Institute with Target, which was recognized as a Webby Award Finalist. She also has experience leading Emmy-Award winning programs, as she managed the online community, Think MTV, for young activists at Viacom, which ultimately received the award for Best Community Service Campaign.
View full company profile here.
Kaitlyn O’Neill, Chief Content Officer & Sales Consultant, Lighthouse List
Kaitlyn is Chief Content Officer and Sales Consultant, at boutique data company, Lighthouse-Ameribase. As part of her role she champions data accuracy and helps her clients to find quality datasets for their upcoming campaigns, including Lighthouse’s female-focused on-demand data segments such as women business owners, “mompreneurs” and female business executives. She is particularly proud of Lighthouse-Ameribase’s “exceptional” data quality, as judged by independent data evaluator, Truthset, in their most recent analysis of Lighthouse-Ameribase’s data.
View full company profile here.
Ashleigh Williams, Senior Research Director​, C+R Research
Ashleigh Williams is a Senior Research Director at C+R Research. Her own cultural context and expertise illuminates her research style and enables empathic connections with consumers of various backgrounds. In addition, she helps spearhead the CultureBeat PULSE ezine at C+R and holds experience working with multicultural teens, harnessing her passion to uncover the thoughts and desires of the next generation. Prior to joining C+R Research, Ashleigh worked as a Design Strategist at BrandImage Schawk Inc. She also spent 4 years collaborating with a variety of research and design firms (Kelton Global Research, Insight Product Development, and Webb de Vlam to name a few) to conduct qualitative research projects for Fortune 100 clients, Ashleigh holds her BFA in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois Chicago.
View Ashleigh’s full Speaker profile here.
View full company profiles here and here.
Shaili Bhatt, Senior Research Director, C+R Research
From 2012-2016, Shaili served on the Board of Directors for the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA), a global association promoting the excellence of qualitative research. She has presented her ideas at dozens of events, including QRCA, AQR, TMRE and IIEX North America. She has been the Trends Editor for QRCA VIEWS magazine for over 10 years, is a regular contributor for CultureBeat PULSE, and she was nominated as a Qually Award finalist in 2018. Shaili has a BS in Advertising and a minor in Sociology, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
View Shaili’s full Speaker profile here.
View full company profiles here and here.
Anna Rossi, Research Director, C+R Research
Anna Rossi, a Research Director at C+R Research, manages a variety of projects including shopper research, awareness, and usage research, tracking research, and CopyIQ. Anna was involved in C+R’s first big data initiative. Anna is also a member of CultureBeat, C+R’s multicultural research team that brings deep cultural insights to our research projects. She specializes in the LGBTQ+ community where she has years of research experience. Anna received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Philosophy from Illinois Wesleyan University and a Master of Arts in Sociology with a LGBTQ+ Studies Certificate from Northern Illinois University. She started her career assisting on professors’ research at Northern Illinois University where she also designed and conducted her own research projects.
View Anna’s full Speaker profile here.
View full company profiles here and here.
Ana Villodres, Senior Qualitative Director, C+R Research
Ana is a Senior Qualitative Director who joined C+R in 2021. She manages research initiatives across industries and consumer segments. ​She also supports CultureBeat, the multicultural division of C+R Research, where she works on research initiatives emphasizing the U.S. Hispanic consumer.​ Ana has 20 years of experience with particular strengths conducting primary qualitative research, identifying consumer insights, and translating insights into actionable strategies. She previously worked for Coca-Cola, Heineken, Miller Coors, and Univision in various marketing and consumer insights roles. She also served as the founder of Sapience Consumer Insights, an independent market research firm. In this role, she led qualitative research projects for brands like Univision, HBO, Verizon, Home Depot, PepsiCo, Shake Shack, and other leading consumer trademarks. As a bicultural and bilingual independent researcher, she has addressed the pain points and data needs she witnessed while on the client-side. Ana’s breadth of expertise includes concept, product, and ad testing, new product development, food research, and brand positioning studies for clients across various industries targeting the General population and the Hispanic market.​
View Ana’s full Speaker profile here.
View full company profiles here and here.
Laura Westraad, Senior Research Director​, C+R Research
Laura Westraad is a qualitative bilingual moderator with over 10 years of advertising, marketing, and research experience. ​Laura’s natural ability to connect with people from all walks of life, along with her strong analytical sense, has positioned her as a go-to moderator for a wide range of clients from healthcare and wellness to CPG and online marketplaces. In addition, Laura has a wide range of experience in multicultural research. ​She is known among her clients for not being afraid to have “tough”conversations and facilitating discussions that, while comfortable and organic, still bring subconscious thoughts/biases/sensitivities to light. ​Laura also brings client-side experience, having worked as an advertising analyst for Grupo Exito (Lead retailer in Colombia) where she worked in the creation and development of marketing strategies for brand positioning, product launch, loyalty programs, and customer service.​ Laura has a BA in Advertising from the Pontificia Bolivariana University of Colombia. Laura is a RIVA Trained Moderator / Bilingual Moderator.
View Laura’s full Speaker profile here.
View full company profiles here and here.
Selina Guo, Vice President, Strategy, ADMERASIA
Selina Guo leads the strategic planning department and the internal research unit at ADMERASIA. Selina’s creative design background and working experience in London, Hong Kong and New York have given her an international perspective, and a keen eye for today’s connected and influential global Asian consumers. Her areas of expertise include helping Fortune 500 brands connect with the growing Asian American consumers in the U.S., partnering with U.S. brands that aim to expand their business to Asia, and helping emerging brands in Asia or with Asian-heritage to refine their strategy for the U.S. general market. In her 13 years of experience, Selina has worked with clients across multiple industry sectors, such as British Museum, Shangri-la Hotel, State Farm, Citibank, MassMutual, Humana, Nissan, SK-II, L’Oréal, Godiva, Hennessy, Dunhill, Halstead and China Communications Construction Company and more. Selina is also dedicated in collaborating with brands and community organizations to advocate and advance Asian American’s representation in the mainstream. For more information about the company profile, please click here
View full company profile here.
Sharon Carothers, Managing Director, SensisHealth
SensisHealth is a Voice for Women
Sharon Carothers leads SensisHealth, and offers a rigorous set of strategy, partnership and communications services to public and private sector clients, focused on addressing the nation’s leading public health problems, and is a voice for women. “Ever since I can remember, I have been passionate about women’s lives and hardships. I have been re-energized around these issues, especially the process of aging and what it looks like for women. The one fundamental thread that I feel the most strongly about is supporting older working women and identifying how we can improve their lives. We see so much unnecessary suffering among this group between caregiving responsibilities, lower salary earnings, and nonoptimal health. It’s important to ask the “average woman” – not the “elite women” – what she needs and what we can do as a society to address her needs.” -Sharon Carothers, Managing Director at SensisHealth. Sharon has done extensive research on female aging and the sociological, economical and emotional impact on this issue. You can view her in-depth thought leadership piece on “Why Are Older Women Invisible to HealthTech” here. Learn more about Sharon on Linkedin and at SensisHealth.
View full company profile here.
Danielle Austen, founder and CEO, fluent360
fluent360 founder and CEO, Danielle Austen, has been named 2023 Advertising Woman of the Year by the Chicago Advertising Federation (CAF). The award recognizes outstanding leadership by a woman in the Chicago marketing community. Recipients make significant contributions within the field of advertising and the companies they lead, raising the standards of the profession while supporting others through their professional, civic and community engagement. “It is truly an honor to be the recipient of this year’s Advertising Woman of the Year Award. In its 65th year of existence, I thank the Chicago Advertising Federation for continuing to recognize and celebrate women who trailblaze in this industry and our community. I am simply humbled to join this group of amazing women who have led the way for many others, including me.” Austen founded fluent360 in 2008 with a single client and a team of five employees looking to take the next evolutionary leap in the multicultural marketing discipline. Her vision was to elevate how people of color were portrayed in marketing communications. Today, the agency boasts a multifaceted team of over 100 employees and a roster of Fortune 500 clients spread across three offices in Chicago, New York and Nashville.
View full company profile here.
Brands Must Engage with Women Leaders
Women’s history month is a great time to acknowledge the number of women-owned small businesses and other women leaders. These numbers, thankfully, have grown in recent years. Add to that, we see that these businesswomen are highly engaged in the day-to-day decisions about their companies and dealings. As a result, these powerful women are a key group that marketers should target when looking to build partnerships. Further, gender identity has become progressively more important to modern American women, but only about half of women say they’re satisfied with portrayals of women in advertising. This is an opening for brands and marketers to listen to women and engage with them, particularly these women who are proven leaders, capable of explaining what is needed or lacking. Brands must make it a priority to support women leaders and women in general, as well as put efforts toward advancing gender equality, and not just in March but year around. Collage Group is a great resource for that. We empower woman who are some of the best cultural experts in the industry, and who are ready and willing to discuss essential insights and best strategies for reaching, connecting with, and learning from women leaders. Be sure to follow Collage Group as this month we’re sharing resources to authentically engage women, including an on-demand webinar on gender equity featuring our member brand leaders from Lincoln Financial, Pernod Ricard, and Adsmovil. Zekeera Belton, Vice President of Client Services and Diverse Segment Strategist, Collage Group
View full company profile here.
Lisa Skriloff, President, Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc.
Following successful positions as Director of Marketing at The New York Times and Sales Rep/Editor of Hispanic Age/Caballero Spanish Radio, Lisa Skriloff founded Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc. (MMR) in 1994 to serve as an authoritative business resource to corporations, agencies and journalists, providing information and referrals to multicultural and diversity experts. MMR is a consultancy, B2B public relations and marketing firm and editorial content supplier as publisher of The Source Book of Multicultural ExpertsMMRNews and a Speakers Showcase. The company’s latest effort is the relaunch of multicultural.com where experts can now upload their own content to the directory, job openings to the Career Page and upcoming webinars and conferences to the Events page. Lisa is also a travel writer and founding editor of Multicultural Travel News. Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc. is a WBENC certified woman-owned business, and also certified by New York City and New York State.
View Lisa’s full Speaker profile here.
View full company profile here.
The women featured in this newsletter were selected from among those listed in our Speakers Showcase and Experts Directory on multicultural.com. Would you like to see your company, expert, speaker or POV featured in our next theme newsletter? If you are interested in including your paragraph and logo in our next issue of Multicultural Marketing News/MMRNews ($425), please visit here for more information or sign up hereor contact Lisa Skriloff at 212-242-3351 or Lisa@multicultural.com. Participation is free to organizations featured on multicultural.com. Sign up here to feature your organization/company on multicultural.com.

Next Issues:

April 2023 Newsletter

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About This Newsletter 
Multicultural Marketing News (MMRNews), is a free e-mail newsletter published by Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc. (MMR) and sent to 8000+ subscribers. For a free subscription, sign up here.