Great Careers for African Americans

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African Americans are well know as superstars in music, films, dance and so many other areas of culture.

But, do you know of an African-American working in advertising or design? Probably not. There isn’t a video on YouTube of the people who created that amazing Super Bowl commercial. Or designed a fantastic new product. Or shot the titles for your favorite Netflix show. Even if you could see who was behind these creations, very few are made by African-Americans. Minorities, especially African-Americans, are under-represented in careers in innovation and visual communications.

Jayanta Jenkins' career skyrocketed!  He is now the Global Chief Creative Officer of HP. He is also a graduate of our art direction program.

There has never been a better time for minorities to enter these fields. 

Advertising agencies, design firms and brands are intent on diversifying their creative departments. Brands like Pepsi, and Gap learned this the hard way when they inadvertently created racially insensitive commercials and social media posts. Minority ideas and perspectives are important in order to tell authentic stories. More than that, the creative genius that black Americans can bring to advertising and design is mind-boggling. Of course you have to convince your mom that medicine, law, or finance just isn’t your thing. But a creative career is YOU. You can have a well-paying job that makes you want to go to work everyday and use all those things that make you different.

Domenique Curtis graduated from Howard University then came to Miami Ad School. She went through our copywriting program and is now a Senior Copywriter at R/GA.

The largest minority scholarship and mentorship program in the country. 

To help more minorities purse creative careers, Miami Ad School started a minority scholarship program. Facebook, Vayermedia, R/GA, Carmichael Lynch, Saturday Mornings, Canvas Worldwide and  IPG contribute to our scholarship fund and provide internships. The school’s enrollment is now 45% diverse. Our minority graduates get great jobs, are well paid and have careers they love. If you can write a song, you can write a commercial. If you can express yourself in a painting, you can design a campaign. Skills and talents can translate into amazing careers, and here, at Miami Ad School, we can show you how.


Here are some of our African-American graduates who now have creative jobs they love.

Click on their names to see the amazing things they create.

art direction

Jayanta Jenkins, Global Executive Creative Director, HP
Larry Gordon, Senior Creative, 360i
Taylor Roberts, Junior Art Director, 3601
Kendra Little, Art Director, McKinney
Dewayne Crawford  Campaign Director, Moveon.org
Adriana Dickerson, Art Director, 2X4

 copywriting

Piper Hickman, Executive Creative Director, 360i
Donnell Johnson, Creative Director, Droga5
Dominique Curtis, Copywriting graduate, Senior Copywriter, R/GA
Mya Passmore, Copywriter at Pandora music
Corrine Vance, Junior Copywriter, TBWA  

 graphic design

Sarai Wingate, Designer, Atlanta Hawk
Nakita Simpson, Designer, Weiden & Kennedy

 strategy

Ladan Baba Ndanani, Strategist, Chaco.CC
Danielle McKinley, Strategist, The Richards Group


Would you like to be paid to create things like that?

Learn How to Apply.

Minority Scholarship Information.

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