Today we’d like to introduce you to Reonna Johnson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Reonna. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a Black woman working in the advertising industry, I typically didn’t see many people who look like me. The more I climbed the ladder within the industry, the less black faces I saw. I’m sadly very familiar with attending industry events in NYC and in LA and always seeing the same few Black people in the crowds. When seeing the same people, who I identified with, we gave each other the standard “head nod” of “I see you”, as a sign of acknowledgment to a fellow Black person in the room. The three or maybe even five of us eventually built a rapport with each other and built a level of safety, familiarity and confidence within our tight little group. So, in 2018 we decided to start our own collective network for Black people and by Black people.
Once the group was formed, we realized the desperate need Black creative professionals had for a safe space to talk about how they felt working in predominantly White career spaces. Members wanted to be unapologetically Black with fellow Black colleagues. The feeling of being alone was real. The feeling of not being seen, valued or heard was real. Folks started to come in groups and told others to come. Eventually, our member’s list grew from five people to over 150 people in two years.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has been bumpy. It’s hard to get a group of people together and manage the needs, wants and concerns of different people. As a group leader, I realize that everyone’s intentions for the group aren’t the same. I have to be socially and intuitively aware of people’s different needs and prepare accordingly.
One of the main struggles, in the beginning, was finding out who we are and what do we do with all this energy? It’s fine to develop a safe space but people’s souls yearned for more. Can we be an agency what produces Black audience insights? Do we help each other with passion projects and initiatives that only other Black people will understand? Do we become a networking hub to build people’s industry knowledge and connections? Do we become a talent hub that manages all the Black creative talent? Do we make our own content from an unapologetic Black point of view? So many options. And with so much to choose from, I felt like we were being pulled in too many directions and not accomplishing anything successfully.
So, I decided to get back to basics. I thought about why we created the group. Why was it so impactful and full of potential? Why were folks so excited to be a part of it? I went deep and not only reached out to senior leaders, colleagues and members who were a part in the beginning but I also reached out to Black scholars, Black psychologists, Black government officials and Black local community businesses and artists to really pin-point what do we need and how should the group be led.
After assessing all, I honestly used my gut. I realized we all share a common dream and that is: to build space, influence, and tangible power within the creative industries. Ultimately, we aim to own ourselves, our culture and our youth. For us, by us.
Please tell us about Three’s a Crowd.
Three’s a Crowd is a community of LA-based Black creative professionals from all backgrounds, disciplines, and levels in our careers within advertising, marketing, entertainment, production, fine arts and entrepreneurial spaces.
Our mission is to empower Black creative professionals to unapologetically embrace their Blackness in their careers.
As a community, we:
Rise Together
Cultivate the talents–and careers–of our members.
Tell It On Our Terms
Create and share powerful stories from our own perspective.
Live Our Legacy
Champion the next generation of Black creative leaders.
Own Our Destiny
Curate a space in the industry for Black voices, not just Black faces.
We set ourselves apart as an LA-based creative collective for Black people by Black people. The LA Black creative scene focuses on entertainment (music, movies, tv) but advertising and ‘other’ creative spaces tend to be forgotten. In other major cities, like NYC and Chicago, the Black advertising communities are stronger and have more Black representation.
The way we structure our meetings sets us apart as well. Our community meets monthly. The conversation naturally moves from industry subjects to the state of Black America as a whole. The two are interrelated. Our monthly meetings, called ‘soul sessions’, are where we allow people to let their hair down, eat dinner and be vulnerable and discuss. We cover our areas of focus (which are outlined below). But more importantly, we have a formal agenda (with a group exercise) that can range from ‘how can I become my best self’, ‘is the new cannabis market the new cotton for Black people’ and ‘what’s my emotional IQ – how can I become a better leader’. We treat our membership and meetings like church, come when you want and as you are.
OUR AREAS OF FOCUS
Networking/Support
Create a safe space and resource for members to bond personally and professionally in all areas, including marketing, entertainment, business and advertising within the Black community.
Passion Projects / Initiatives
Speak to current issues, develop stories and create content from an unapologetic Black POV, while also being a resource to aid with individual members’ passion projects.
Each One, Teach One
Usher in the next generation of Black leaders by giving back to the very community that made us.
What we are most proud of is our IN FOR 13 initiative. Of course, we’ve been following the murders of Black people for years. But this past June the energy on the streets was different. We felt it and responded to it. So, we launched an advertising industry campaign called IN FOR 13. The campaign is asking advertising agencies to take a pledge that’ll commit each agency to actionably stomp out systemic racism and create equity in the advertising industry by raising the percentage of Black bodies in leadership positions to 13% (reflective of the % of Black people in the US) by 2023. We wanted advertising executives to know there’s nothing new about what Black Americans are demanding, in society or in advertising. There’s no novelty to our demand. Only urgency. One of our long-term goals has been changing the faces and voices of industry leadership. We asked ourselves, “Why isn’t this a short-term goal?” The long-term has a funny way of disappearing into the horizon.
We launched the campaign on Juneteenth, which was well received by the advertising industry press. As agencies pledge IN FOR 13 plans to develop toolkits to assist each agency with our Six-Step plan to help each agency achieve the 13% goal in three years. Thus far, we’ve had associates from 53 agencies take the pledge. All the pledgers are in STEP #1, which is the first step to the agency commitment to the next three years. We’ve even crossed into mainstream media and mentioned in a NBC News article.
What were you like growing up?
Reonna was that kid who played Cello, entered the science fair, read liner notes in album covers (plus studied the art), owned tons of school supplies (that were well-organized), loved painting, plants and patterns.
In the fourth grade, I was the only-girl on an all-boys flag football team and was the fastest PERSON on the team – star Running Back. I enjoyed fishing with my step-dad and neighborhood friends. I also loved reading the Thomas Guide maps on road trips.
When I was a kid, cellphones weren’t around, so house phones were important. I assigned myself as the house ‘message taker’ and set-up a phone pad and pen enter the phone, where I collected the daily phone messages after school and on the ‘answering machine’. I became the go-to person for all phone messages. The irony is I’m a horrible speller (knew it back then and still am) but always spelled things phonetically, so I knew how to say it. True story, my sister’s boyfriend was named Calvin, I wrote Cowvan. Meh, I knew what it was, so that’s all that mattered to me.
I guess you can say I was ‘woke’ in the 6th and 7th grade. I was obsessed with Malcolm X, Black Panthers (COINTELPRO), Benjamin Banneker and all Black inventors and Black leaders. I begged my mother for a ‘X’ shirt.
I always had a job. As early as 5th grade, I negotiate with my mom for chore money (i.e., I’ll iron her work uniforms, clean her car for extra money). In the 11th grade, I took a Bank Teller course because I wanted to make more than minimum -wage. I knew I had to pay for my own college, so I started to plan. Making my own money was important to me. I didn’t want to owe anyone.
I didn’t play with dolls much. My mom didn’t buy them. She told me ‘you have your whole life to “play” grown-up and being a mom isn’t a game. Go be a kid’.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.threesacrowd.black/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threesacrowd.black/
- Other: https://www.pledgeinfor13.com/
Image Credit:
Profile – Christopher Santiago, All other photos – Glen-Anthony McGowan
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