Serial entrepreneur Travis Montaque, Ad Age’s 2023 Diversity & Inclusion Champion of the Year, is putting in real work to make the industry more equitable. As CEO and co-founder of Group Black, he supports and scales Black-owned media brands so they are able to attract advertising dollars.

Since its founding in June 2021, Montaque has nearly delivered on Group Black’s goal of generating $500 million in advertising commitments from major spenders such as Procter & Gamble as well as the media companies in its network, including Essence, Afropunk and messaging app Holler, another of Montaque’s ventures.

One Creativity Awards juror said not enough progress has been made on the most important aspect of DE&I—equity. And that’s where Montaque stands out.

To create a business that is “singularly focused on creating equity” for Black businesses, which historically receive the least benefit from the industry but are “the most leveraged within our industry, is not only impressive but just fucking amazing, and he’s done it quickly and at a massive scale,” the juror said.

Through his latest venture, Crater, Montaque is now helping to monetize and grow the careers of a network of diverse creators to make the creator space more equitable as well.

See all the 2023 Ad Age Creativity Awards winners.