Last week, at Ad Age’s A-List and Creativity Awards Gala in New York, Wieden+Kennedy Portland copywriter Titania Tran took the stage to accept this year’s honor for Creative of the Year. The jury bestowed the award for her work on the gut-wrenching “Call It Covid” film addressing the violent, racist attacks on individuals of Asian descent, as well as her breathtaking ad for HP. At the ceremony, once again she stunned the crowd with her powerful words. She recounted her experience as the child of Vietnamese refugees, growing up among a community of immigrants whose shared language was “broken English,” which ultimately proved to be a powerful tool for her as a writer today.
You can watch Tran’s full speech, and read more of her thoughts on “broken English” below.