The Black Executive CMO Alliance today announced a new two-year mentorship program for up-and-coming Black marketers that represents one of its first concrete steps toward furthering the ad industry’s diversification since the group was established earlier this year.
Called “The BECA Playbook,” the extensive program will offer its inaugural class of 25 mid-career Black advertising professionals one-on-one coaching with C-suite leaders, networking sessions with many of the world’s top Black marketers, and custom-curated learning experience to fill gaps in the participants’ résumés.
More than a dozen companies have signed onto BECA’s new mentorship program to lend support and resources, including General Motors, Deloitte, Starbucks, ViacomCBS’s BET and WPP-owned agency GroupM.
Pay it forward
“The BECA Playbook embodies one of our four pillars—pay it forward—to which our members and sponsoring organizations have wholeheartedly shown their commitment. In supporting our mission, they have committed their time and resources into building a stronger pipeline of Black leaders ready for the C-suite,” said BECA founder Jerri DeVard, whose career has included chief marketer roles at Citibank, ADT and Nokia.
The foundation of the alliance is rooted in four key pillars: “Share, learn, elevate, and pay it forward,” DeVard told Ad Age at the time of BECA’s launch.
Helmed by DeVard, BECA was established in March with a class of 26 Black creative leaders as the group’s founding members, including Netflix’s Global CMO Bozoma Saint John; Unilever executive Esi Eggleston Bracey; and Mars Wrigley’s North American President Anton Vincent.