The Winners of the 2025 Adcolor Awards Showcase Community-Focused Leadership

ORLANDO — The 2025 Adcolor convention befell subsequent door to Cinderella’s Citadel at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. But if the previous yr have been a fairy story, this is able to be the second furthest away from fortunately ever after. However all isn’t misplaced. And not using a fairy godmother flying to the rescue, the message of the nineteenth annual gathering was clear: It’s the folks round you who will assist write your subsequent chapter. “Group is what’s most necessary in these instances — to carry one another shut, to indicate up for one another, and actually be capable to stand collectively within the face of all of the challenges that we’re going through in the present day,” mentioned Ghada Dajani, senior model advertising and marketing chief at Shopify and a member of Adcolor’s board of administrators.“It’s actually necessary to uplift the younger folks which are going by their careers early in advertising and marketing and the inventive industries and actually present them that there’s a spot for them. As a result of when you can’t see it, you possibly can’t be it.” The ability of that group was on full show on the 2025 Adcolor Awards gala, which befell Nov. 14 within the coronary heart of the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando. Adcolor, which champions folks in inventive industries who come from quite a lot of backgrounds spanning race, ethnicity, gender, incapacity, and neurodivergence, placed on a defiantly shining night to showcase work whose impression has been felt most keenly by the communities who gave rise to the honorees. There was McCann and the Final Prisoner Challenge’s “Pen to Proper Historical past,” a marketing campaign to vacate marijuana-related convictions. ADWEEK | Adcolor Beacon Award winner Richelieu Dennis went from promoting shea butter within the streets of New York to making a media platform and enterprise capital fund to advertise the following entrepreneurs of coloration. And Joe Corridor, who’s constructed a pipeline of underrepresented expertise together with his worldwide nonprofit Ghetto Movie Faculty.Adcolor additionally named two Legend award recipients: George Felix, CMO of Chili’s however generally known as a compassionate and inventive chief throughout manufacturers starting from KFC to Previous Spice; and Sofia Hernandez, who’s spent greater than 20 years rising manufacturers from founding to acquisition, at the moment main TikTok’s international enterprise advertising and marketing and industrial partnerships.Right here’s the total listing of 2025 Adcolor Award winners:ADCOLOR Creator of the Yr: Abigail Marquez (@abigailfmarquez)ADCOLOR in Tech: Rosakebia Liliana Estela Mendoza, CEO & Founder, Silver PassportCampaign of the Yr: “Pen to Proper Historical past” | Final Prisoner Challenge & McCannDEI Govt of the Yr: Shannae Ingleton-Smith, CEO, Kensington GreyInnovator: Gary Coichy, Founder & CEO, Pod Digital MediaRising Star: Kaleb Mulugeta, Senior Inventive, TranslationRockstar: Ri-Karlo Helpful, Founder & CEO, Helpful FoundationADCOLOR | Adweek Beacon Award: Richelieu Dennis, Govt Chairman, Sundial Group of CompaniesADCOLOR in Music | Govt: Ryan FordADCOLOR in Music | Artist: KaytranadaAdvocate: Joe Corridor, Founder, Ghetto Movie SchoolCatalyst: DiversabilityCatalyst: Mark Clennon, Artist, Studio Mark ClennonCatalyst: Stephanie Nadi Olson, Founder & Govt Chair, We Are RosieLegend: George Felix, Chief Advertising Officer, Chili’sLegend: Sofia Hernandez, International Head of Enterprise Advertising & Industrial Partnerships, TikTokMost Worthwhile Partnership: P&G and MielleADCOLOR | One Membership Inventive: Kaleeta McDade, International Chief Expertise Design Officer, VMLADCOLOR | One Membership Inventive: Oved Valadez, Co-Founder & Govt Inventive Director, IndustryMr. ADCOLOR: Umar Issa, Head of Inclusive & Cultural Partnerships, YahooMs. ADCOLOR: Jochebed Fekadu, Director, Advertising and Inclusion & Affect, Omnicom Precision Advertising GroupLifetime Achievement: Dani Monroe, Founder, Martha’s Winery Summit, CenterFocus InternationalLifetime Achievement: T.D. Jakes, Founder & Chairman, T. D. Jakes GroupLifetime Achievement: Carmen Smith, SVP of Inventive Growth, Merchandise, Content material & Inclusive Methods | Disney Experiences, Walt Disney Imagineering, and Disney Client Merchandise