Ashish Prashar brings his passion for social justice to R/GA

Ashish Prashar has had a notable career in journalism and politics—in his 20s, he served as then-London Mayor Boris Johnson’s press secretary and later worked on successful presidential campaigns for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. So when he joined R/GA as global chief marketing officer last year, he was determined to bring a “campaigning mentality” to the role. “When you knock on a door to get someone to vote for you, you have to connect with them, and I don't think those principles are different in marketing and how we do work with businesses and how we recruit more people,” said Prashar, 39. See all 40 Under 40 honorees here With Prashar's help, R/GA launched a “Mark the Days” campaign, in collaboration with nonprofit organization Clean Slate, to spread awareness for proposed legislation that would wipe minor offenses from the record of formerly incarcerated individuals. It's an issue he has been vocal about. Prashar also used his political ties to help R/GA develop Welcome.US, a website to help refugees during the Afghanistan crisis in the summer of 2021. This effort generated more than 1 million unique visitors within the first 24 hours of the launch and led to the successful relocation of 9,000 Afghans to date with the help of Airbnb. That same platform is now also being used to help Ukrainian refugees. If you could have dinner with one person, alive or dead, who would it be and why? Nelson Mandela. He came up saying the impossible is possible. What are the top two social media sites you use on a regular basis? I had to join Twitter when I was the press secretary to Boris because I had to, but I have no other platforms. What’s currently on your bedside reading list? “Good Talk” by Mira Jacob is the last book I read. The next book I'm about to start is “The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing” by Mira Jacob. “Good Talk” was really personal for me because I'm raising a mixed-race child. She [Jacob] is a brown mom with a white partner, and it's a very powerful novel. What was the last show you binge-watched? “Only Murders in the Building.” At what age do you hope to retire? I don’t know if that’s a question for me. I’m not one of those [people] that are going to work until I can’t anymore, especially for corporate [work]. I want to live life to the best of my ability to help as many people as I can in the time I have. See all 40 Under 40 honorees here

Ashish Prashar brings his passion for social justice to R/GA

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