A Peek Inside Her Agenda: Candace Queen

Candace Queen is the Executive Vice President of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), where she champions diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through impactful storytelling and industry-wide initiatives. Recently, Candace played a pivotal role in producing the AAF’s 2024 Mosaic Awards, a night dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the individuals, agencies, and brands at the forefront of multicultural excellence. Held at Guastavino’s in New York City, the Mosaic Awards brought together industry leaders and innovators to spotlight campaigns and creatives pushing the boundaries of inclusive advertising.

As an executive leader within the AAF, Candace directs the Mosaic Center of Multiculturalism‘s DEI initiatives, focusing on removing barriers for underrepresented talent and building community through mentorship and advocacy. This year, Candace helped launch the Mosaic Center’s first scholarship program to bridge financial gaps for diverse, emerging talent—a moment she describes as deeply rewarding and a testament to her commitment to “lifting as you climb.” Her work reflects a deep-rooted passion for nurturing new generations of talent while promoting authentic representation in media.

Candace’s journey from Port Arthur, Texas, to an influential leader in advertising speaks to her dedication and resilience. She brings a unique perspective shaped by her creative upbringing and belief in self-advocacy, as she encourages women of color to apply for the opportunities they deserve and to pivot confidently when needed. Candace spoke with Her Agenda about her career, personal insights on mentorship, and the transformative impact of inclusion in advertising.

Her Agenda: We had a great time at the awards this year. Seeing all the recognition and amazing people getting their flowers was a really good feeling. I’m still living in all the good energy from that night.

Candace Queen: Producing the event, you get so caught up in all the logistics. So, hearing about your experience is a validation of our work. So we were really excited to have y’all there and appreciate y’all putting the time in for it. 

Her Agenda: Did you have a favorite moment this year that you were really happy to see recognized on the stage?

Candace Queen: Issuing our first scholarship out of the Mosaic Center was a big highlight. A major priority for us right now is how we support the communities that we serve. We do a lot of fundraising to support the programs, get folks in the right rooms, and get them hired. There are a lot of financial gaps in that journey. You don’t always have the funds to attend every conference, support a cross-country move, or even finish your degree. To give as much back as possible [is] an exciting and daunting task. But seeing [Joseph] receive that award, seeing [his] speech, his interview, after the fact, you could just tell it was the best investment. We’re really excited to expand that opportunity to others.

Her Agenda: How has your personal and educational journey influenced your passion for cultivating and nurturing new talent? 

Candace Queen: I strive to be what I needed at that age point in my life. I grew up in a very small town, Port Arthur, Texas, and unless you’re a hip-hop head or a sports fan, you probably don’t know much about Port Arthur, and Port Arthur did not know much about advertising or design. I grew up in a very creative home [where] my mom made every single thing or outfit, floral arrangements, curtains, like everything that you could see in our house. And so I was always around a creative environment, but did not know I could finesse that into something that would, one, make an income for me to survive on and thrive on. But then two, how can I commercialize that and make a career out of it? When I started college, I started in business school, and I quickly realized that was not the right trajectory for me, even though I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I took a history of advertising course. Eventually, I transferred from the University of Texas to the University of Houston and joined my student chapter, where I discovered the American Advertising Federation about 15 years ago. That was my first intro to what advertising is and what all the possibilities could be. I learned as I was developing and gleaning all these insights and key learnings going to all the events was to really lift as you climb. So, as much as I was pouring into supporting my personal career growth, I was also being an advocate and championing all the work that Mosaic Center was doing [and[ that other nonprofit organizations were doing to help connect more people of color to the industry. 

Another big thing to know is that I’m also a pastor’s kid, so there’s always just been a servant mindset in everything that I do. I don’t feel like I’m successful unless I’m helping someone else along the way, and that’s really important to me. 

Now, with the work I do with HBCUs for Advertising and the Most Promising Multicultural Student Program, I get that immediate reward of seeing folks get the jobs and get to their ‘aha’ moment. Most importantly, understand your value in what you bring to the table in this industry. Sometimes, the messaging around our work can be misconstrued as some sort of charitable effort. On the student side, for anyone wanting to pivot into this industry from a diverse background, just helping them understand that their story is so important and doesn’t have to be watered down. So that’s really what shaped my passion and commitment to supporting folks in their professional development.

Her Agenda: You mentioned that you do this work with the notion that you’re trying to set students and emerging leaders up for success in a way you wish you had. What is one career advice you wish you had received earlier in your journey that could have made a difference for you?

Candace Queen: It wasn’t necessarily something I wish I would have received in terms of career advice, but something that I did not listen to until I got deeper into my career.

I would get in my head. The first few years into my career, I was just constantly second-guessing myself, always feeling like I wasn’t adequate.

[My dad] would always say, ‘Candace, if they hire you for something, it’s because of who you are, not because of who they want you to be.’ I quit even claiming this concept of imposter syndrome because I’m a firm believer that God created me for a certain purpose, and who am I to undermine what his intentions are for me? The right jobs came when I just started to lean into who I was as a person [and] what my passions were. 

Her Agenda: It sounds like Dad knew what he was talking about! What key traits or actions are essential for women, specifically women of color, to stand out and be recognized in their careers? 

Candace Queen: First and foremost, you have to get comfortable with advocating for yourself and putting yourself out there. We won’t apply for the award, we won’t apply for the grant, we won’t apply for this fellowship, or we’re nervous about asking someone for a recommendation letter [because] we’re ‘not there yet.’ Part of that is not feeling like we deserve that recognition, never feeling like we’ve done quite enough. But as I started to get more comfortable advocating for myself and speaking about my wins, the more I did it and the more fluid it became.

The more you continue to apply for opportunities and reevaluate what you’ve done so far, the more you quantify your impact. We really have to start applying for more opportunities, for recognition, and then when opportunities are presented to us, take it. 

[Millennial women] often stay in one spot because we’ve been taught ‘you’ve gotta hit that two-year mark’ or ‘you’ve gotta hit that five-year mark to show consistency or reliability,’ but we have to prioritize ourselves and our mental health as well, and our career growth. If you’re in a space that’s no longer serving you, being okay with pivoting to the next chapter and doing so without any guilt about what you leave behind is really important. 

Her Agenda:Is there any specific way that you like to track or celebrate your wins?

Candace Queen: I didn’t have a formal process at first. Usually [tracking my wins] would start to come out when I was applying for a grant or a fellowship or any kind of opportunity, but then I got a little bit more formalized. If you’re in corporate America, you should see yourself as a brand and approach it like you would build a tangible product.

I thought of myself as a brand and started conducting brand audits, setting up metrics for success for myself at the top of each year and tracking it mid-year the same way I would do for my clients at my branding and design consultancy, Tabernacle.   I do it for myself now, so it’s a game-changer. It really level-set for what I expected of myself than what I expected from others interacting with me. 

Her Agenda: What are some resources or networks that have been helpful to you as you’ve grown in your career and also even in entrepreneurship? How can women aspiring to be entrepreneurs tap into those spaces?

Candace Queen: I’ve hit pretty much every single nonprofit that supports the ad industry. The AAF introduced me to all that. 

I received my first advertising internship through the 4A’s MAIP program, which is a multicultural advertising internship program, and that was really what set off my pathway into advertising as the Art Director and the designer. I’m also a 2014 Ad Color Future alum, and they became my second client for Tabernacle. And I’ve learned with those networks that you get what you put in. 

As an entrepreneur or a solopreneur, it’s so important to find the right networks. I was struggling as an entrepreneur then because I wanted to be my boss but had no management skills. I was looking for leadership development programs for women, and a program with Vital Voices in Estee Lauder came up called VV Visionaries, a full initiative dedicated to nurturing women leaders who were focused on impact work.

I think for women of color, things like Urban League, NAACP, the Black Chamber of Commerce, figuring out where those communities lie within your city, and leveraging them, because as entrepreneurs, sometimes they can get very lonely.

Her Agenda: As we think about young women who are entering the industry, what advice do you offer them when they are frustrated or struggling with the slow pace of change in media representation? There’s been a lot of change over the years, but we also know there’s a long way to go. What advice do you have for anybody who might be struggling or is frustrated with that?

Candace Queen: Sometimes I find myself in that position. You’re fighting an uphill battle, like, ‘I thought we had this conversation five years ago?’ It can sometimes take another chaotic event or a pandemic to turn the lights on. And so, coming into this industry, I really encourage young women to, pick your battles, and that is strictly from a place of self-preservation because if you try and attack and combat every single thing that surrounds you, you will burn out, so quickly. You’ll lose yourself in the process. It is so important to come in with a strategic mindset in the workplace. When I’ve faced challenges like that, especially when they have been targeted directly toward me, I found value in identifying who my advocates are, knowing that I can’t change everybody’s mind. I can’t make everyone adjust their way of thinking, but knowing that I at least have some allies in this space has been a big source of support. I’m also a big fan that if they don’t value you, find somebody who will. And so it’s really important to just to get comfortable with the fact that you did your first job might not be your best job. Get what you can out of it and move on. Be okay with moving on. Because I do feel like we become guilt tripped and sustain [thinking] ‘Oh, well, then we won’t have any other Black art directors, or we won’t have any other Black strategists.’ You feel the weight of it, and [like] the responsibility of representing your entire community is on you, but you have to know when to make a move and be comfortable and okay with that. 

Her Agenda: Is there anything else you want to add?

Candace Queen: I think it’s important that we understand our ‘whys’ and what our deal breakers are. For me, my ‘why’ is sharing and unearthing untold stories in really interesting ways in different mediums. I’m a multi-hyphenate, and one of my deal breakers has always been if I can’t do multiple things and that be embraced in the space that I work in, wherever I’m working, then I’ll move on and find a space that does embrace it.

I think it’s important for us in this economy right now to ensure that we have multiple revenue streams and income streams because you never know when you’ll lose something. You never know when the tides will turn, and if the pandemic didn’t scare us, I don’t know what will. I would just encourage folks to understand, and assess, how they diversify their income, making that a priority in their greater career strategy and strategic plan, which is really important.

[Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]