When racial unrest last year upended marketing, Lela Coffey, Procter & Gamble VP, North America hair care and multicultural brands, created a brand-building framework called the 4Rs—for reach, representation, relevance and resonance. It’s available not only for P&G brands, but open-source for any company that wants it.

The idea came from seeing some brands hesitant to speak out because they weren’t sure they could back their words with action, Coffey says. The framework “is very simple in its inception, but it’s comprehensive enough where brands can do an assessment of where they sit and build plans for the future.”

While that could help lots of brands, Coffey is definitely giving P&G an edge too. Her work on Pantene, launching a product line under the My Black Is Beautiful platform and building the Form Beauty megabrand within recently acquired Walker & Co. are among steps helping P&G hair care return to strong growth after a decade of decline.

See all of Ad Age's 2021 Leading Women U.S. and Europe here.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Relax. Find something you’re passionate about doing and go after it. I was, when I was younger, so driven, and I’ve been able to temper that a bit. The reality is this whole career thing is a marathon, it’s not a sprint. But my younger self probably would not have understood that.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

Moving into the multicultural role that I did as a director. Alex Keith [now P&G CEO of global beauty] had created that position for me so that we could accelerate our progress.

And I was like, OK, what if the company is not truly committed? Are we going to back up our intent with action? Would I get pigeonholed as a multicultural marketer? And so I thought hard about it.

And it turned out to be an absolutely wonderful experience. I had full latitude to define my vision. I was able to build up probably the most diverse cross-functional team in the company, because it’s super important that we’re mirroring the consumers we’re trying to serve in this multicultural business. I got the resources that I needed. I was able to, within the span of three or four years, build a portfolio of multicultural hair brands that didn’t exist and are almost entirely incremental sales to us. I acquired a company. I created some new brands. So, leaning into what was really, really a big risk for me turned out to just be probably one of the best things that’s ever happened.

If you were not doing your current job, what would you be doing, and why?

OK, you have to promise not to laugh. I’m sure most people say, “I would go solve world peace or hunger, or I’m going to volunteer for a nonprofit.” But the first one is mowing lawns. You get to see the results immediately. You can improve efficiency on how you’re mowing it. The lawns don’t follow you home at night or wake you up in the middle of the night. So much of the work we do, you don’t see the benefit, sometimes, for months—or it could be years.

The second one is CSI—a crime scene investigator. I would literally love to solve mysteries ... The dead bodies would be problematic for me, but I love the solving of a mystery.

What should the industry do to encourage more women and people of color into its ranks?

That’s going to take being very purposeful in things like hiring and promotions and mentoring and sponsoring and actively seeking the talent out.

Probably even more importantly, how do we create that culture of inclusivity? Many times I think people think that diversity is just about getting people in the door. But if people don’t feel like they are being included, if they don’t feel like they can bring their whole selves to work, without that level of inclusivity, you’re going to put yourself in a vicious cycle.

Which campaign or other piece of work from outside of your own company have you seen in the past year that you wish you had done?

This work has been out there for a little bit, but it just hit my radar. It was a piece that Coke had done in Europe, “Open like never before.” They did it in the fall. It was done by 72andSunny Amsterdam. And it’s a spoken-word piece that talks about the new normal, and how we don’t have to go back to what was normal. We can be bettered by what we’ve learned.

See all of Ad Age's 2021 Leading Women U.S. and Europe here.