Ad Age is marking Black History Month 2023 with our third-annual Honoring Creative Excellence package. (Read the introduction here.) Today, Outfront Media East Coast Regional Creative Director Tim Wasicki shares a key moment in his career: the creation of the Black Heart campaign. Ad Age is partnering with Outfront to showcase some of the industry’s most creative talent on their digital out-of-home media across the U.S. throughout the month. (Visit our package hub each weekday for a new essay from another notable Black creative.)

It was the summer of 2020. I found myself in a very unique position. The country was in disarray from the unfortunate events surrounding the Floyd family. People were tense. I was tense. I felt creatively tense.

I knew that I had an opportunity to say something that wasn’t being said. I knew that with help, I could make something special, unique and meaningful in a way others either hadn’t or couldn’t necessarily communicate.

As Outfront’s Regional Creative Director, I oversee creative for the company’s East region and am part of our in-house creative and design team, Outfront Studios. Inspired by the events of 2020, I brought together 15 colleagues from across the country from different cultural backgrounds. Through thoughtful discussion and ideation, we developed the Black Heart campaign. Our goal was to develop a billboard campaign that was direct and highly visual that spoke to the community. The campaign centered on a silhouette of a black heart that represented both a sense of melancholy and served as a connection to the core of human function: the heart.

In developing this campaign, we were very mindful to be inclusive while making sure that we remained sensitive to and representative of those affected within my community. The launch was a success and has continued annually since. I’m proud that the content has been recognized by local communities and businesses that have stepped up to work with us, including helping us to amplify and redistribute this program in other media. It’s also given my team unexpected accolades within our industry.

If someone told my earlier self that my career would afford me the opportunity to use my skills for a greater cause, I would have laughed or shrugged it off.

Yet the experience of creating content not only during unsettling and emotional times, but also through a pandemic, has sharpened my understanding of storytelling, connectivity and my tools as a creative to be a better leader no matter the circumstances.