Sony Music Group’s Tiffany R Warren on gratitude, New York City and stewardship
Though she considers herself to be a diehard Bostonian, Warren says that winning this year’s New Yorker award from the Ad Club “is a full-circle moment.”
Tiffany R. Warren is the winner of the Advertising Club of New York’s 2024 New Yorker award . / The Advertising Club of New York
The Advertising Club of New York recognizes five marketers each year with its prestigious Advertising People of the Year awards. This year’s New Yorker award went to Tiffany R Warren, executive vice-president and chief diversity and inclusion officer at Sony Music Group and founder and president of Adcolor, an organization that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion in the marketing industry
Throughout her career – 25 years of which has been spent in New York City – Warren says she has made it a professional point not only to celebrate her own personal brand, but also to help others do the same. In a recent conversation with The Drum, Warren reflects on the long road that has led her to the present moment.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was your first entry point into the marketing industry?
My first official entry point was as a Most Promising Multicultural Student honoree through the American Advertising Federation. I was as an intern at the time at Ingalls Quinn & Johnson, which is no longer in existence, but it was an [ad] agency in Boston, and I was a traffic intern. ‘Traffic’ doesn’t exist any more, but essentially I worked with account management, creative, finance... like, traffic did everything. OGs will recognize it and be like, ‘Oh, I totally remember traffic.’ That was a great place to start because I got to touch so many aspects of the agency and I really loved account management. My first official job [after the internship] was as an account manager at Hill Holliday.
Do you remember having any mentors or people you really looked up to during those early days of your career?
Someone I emulated who also ended up becoming an early mentor was Elizabeth Talerman, who at the time worked at Ogilvy & Mather. She was just so sharply dressed and well put-together and I was like, ‘That’s who I want to be.’ I followed her out to her car one day – a little bit of stalking – and ended up scoring an interview while I was a senior in college to come work at Ogilvy & Mather. She was the person that put that spark in me that I could actually have a career in advertising.
What are some of the most important professional lessons you’ve learned throughout your career?
The first is to always say thank you. Anytime I had an interview, I would follow up with a thank you note. The second, and probably most pivotal, lesson for me is to celebrate your own brand. I created a media kit for myself at the age of 21 or 22 and that really opened a lot of doors for me. But I think what that’s evolved into is that I really am someone who speaks not only up for myself but for others … my favorite job is to talk about others and to help them be seen.
How did you end up finding your way to New York and what’s going through your mind as someone who started their career in Boston but is now receiving the Ad Club’s New Yorker award?
In three months, I will have lived in New York for the same amount of time that I lived in Boston, so it’s interesting to get this award because I’ll be literally 25 and 25 [years in either city]. I’m a diehard Bostonian: I bleed green [as a Celtics fan], my favorite band is New Edition – I love everything about Boston. When I got the call about winning the ‘New Yorker’ award, it was kind of unbelievable because I dreamed about living in New York when I was in Boston. One night in Boston, when I was 25 years old, I told my friends that I could feel in my bones that I was going to end up in New York; when I thought about my future in Boston, it was completely blank. And on my actual 25th birthday, I heard that I got the job of manager of diversity programs at the 4A’s and that started my New York advertising career. I manifested being a New Yorker way before I actually became a New Yorker. So [winning this award] is a full-circle moment for a lot of reasons.
We’re living through a historic moment of rapid transformation – socially, economically, technologically, culturally. How do you maintain a sense of optimism and enthusiasm for your work through stressful or difficult times?
The human race didn’t make it to 2024 because there was a bunch of negativity in the world. I just try to remember the fact that those who have come before me have set the stage for me to be a steward for this part of the timeline. I just recently visited the Museum of African American History in Washington DC with my kids, and seeing it through their eyes, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I really have to take care of this part of history that I’ve been assigned to, however long that may be because I’m giving it to them.’ That’s what motivates me and keeps me going.
Find out more about the Advertising People of the Year awards.