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Arya Davachi, senior experiential producer, The SpringHill Company // programming director, Do the WeRQ (he/him)

As Arya likes to say, his day job at the SpringHill Company is to manage, resource and execute against all of the company’s experiential work. His “gay job” at Do the WeRQ is to showcase the organization’s values and ideals through “engaging and thought-pushing programming,” while pushing for change and progress within the industry for LGBTQ+ people.

Arya’s mix of agency and in-house experience—spanning the aforementioned, plus VMLY&R COMMERCE, TBWA/Chiat/Day, SAG-AFTRA and others—helps bring his clients’ ideas to life. That commitment to pulling double duty shows how far he will go to make sure the LGBTQ+ community is felt and seen in all the work that he does.

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Chloe Stokes, visual senior designer and illustrator, Block (they/them)

Chloe’s work is bright, exciting and handcrafted, across branding and identity, illustration and graphic design. Their instinct to showcase those around them may come from their time spent as both a journalist at The GW Hatchet or while working at the Human Rights Campaign as an editorial and digital media manager. At the HRC they helped organize and curate pieces around the LGBTQ+ community.

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James Sorton, executive producer, Magna Studios (he/him)

According to Sorton, being “out” at work is his superpower: “I’ve enjoyed feeling different and as I’ve gotten older, have learned to embrace it, and feel empowered by it. Having an outsider view can make you better at your job, and it sets you apart from the mainstream.”

He uses this superpower to ensure the work that he and his teams create is never a “box-ticking exercise,” but a message delivered through authenticity. Sorton has also used this thinking as a judge on many panels throughout the years, most recently on this year’s Cannes Lions panel for Film Craft.

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These are all amazing individuals who are producing work in Adland at the intersection of talent and authenticity. But what organizations are specifically focusing on upholding that same level of care when it comes to infusing LGBTQ+ points of view with the work? And what groups are helping to organize such talent for folks to find them? Let’s dig in…

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Do the WeRQ, a platform dedicated to the creative potential of the LGBTQ+ community

Their mission: Increase queer creativity and representation in the marketing industry. This means inclusion, connection and brand experiences that drive sustainable, visible change for those still left out of the field.

Whether it’s through panel discussions, campaigns, thought pieces, judging panels or general outreach, Do the WeRQ brings its full self every time to enhance creativity through the community’s experiences. Most recently, the organization hosted a town hall discussion around bisexual representation in advertising and media.

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Queer Design Club, a directory for talent

The Queer Design Club helps coalesce profiles in order “to promote and celebrate all the amazing work that happens at the intersection of queer identity and design worldwide—from LGBTQ+ designers’ contributions to the industry to design’s role in queer activism throughout history.”

In the vein of Blacks Who Design, Latinxs Who Design and Women Who Design, the Queer Design Club puts the spotlight on LGBTQ+ designers from the branding, UX/UI, illustration, graphics and experiential spaces.

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Queer Ad Folk, an ongoing series from Campaign U.S., highlighting and interviewing queer members of the advertising and marketing community

The brainchild of John Osborne, group creative director of Cossette, and Oli Rimoldi, creative director of Mother, the Queer Ad Folk interview series and social pages were developed to “showcase LGBTQ+ talent out there thriving in adland so that everyone can see people like themselves in the boardroom and beyond.”

Not only does this wonderful series spotlight talent, but it fights the self-doubt many new LGBTQ+ folks in the advertising industry face about their role within their chosen industry—or even their own agency. Hopefully these stories that continue to be shared are enlightening for those individuals and for non-members of the LGBTQ+ community.

From producers to copywriters and agencies to organizations, these people and places are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tapping into a rich tapestry of experiences, talent, and creativity that this community has within it. 

And if you’re still a bit lost, then ask! These and many more resources (including myself!) are available to help advertisers looking to focus on LGBTQ+ storytelling to deliver their projects and missions in the most truthful way possible.

Find a queer creative today, and let’s advance our story.

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BMO – ‘Rainbow Deposits’

BMO for the third consecutive year invites folks in the U.S. and Canada to “deposit” photos of rainbows on the bank’s custom web app. All IRL and online rainbows count, with BMO donating $1 (up to a maximum of $50,000) to Rainbow Railroad, which helps members of the LGBTQ+ community escape violence and persecution. FCB Toronto developed the campaign.

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‘It’s Giving Space: Celebrating Queer Event Curators’ – BLK Dating App

The campaign amplifies Black LGBTQ+ stories within and beyond the community by focusing on Black event curators in cities across the country. Three LGBTQ+ party collectives are featured: Party Noire (Chicago), Global Warming (Brooklyn) and Lesbians in Houston.

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‘Mission Every One’ – Macy’s 

During Pride Month, the retailer, in partnership with The Trevor Project, is hosting an in-store and online donation campaign—benefitting The Trevor Project—to support youth across the country with critical resources, including 24/7 crisis services, advocacy and peer support. This PSA chronicles the journeys young LGBTQ+ people have made to find self-acceptance.

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Pride Lingerie – Bluebella

The luxe lingerie, nightwear and swimwear brand features a bevy of queer talent to showcase its swimwear collection in rainbow colors. Participating are BMX champion Shanaze Reade, comedian Rosie Turner, singer Benedetta Atti, Olympic rugby players Celia Quansah and Megan Jones, and @lesbiansupperclubpod podcast hosts Freya Evans and Scarlett Plott. For a second year, Bluebella is partnering with Outright International and donating 10 percent of the swimwear collection’s June profits to the organization.

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‘This Is Love’ – Calvin Klein

Jeremy Pope and Cara Delevigne appear in CK’s campaign, wearing pieces from the brand’s new Pride collection. The work celebrates families in the LGBTQ+ community. CK continues its partnership with PFLAG National and the Transgender Law Center to support LGBTQ+ education, inclusion and justice. Also, CK Australia is working with BlaQ Aboriginal Corp. to support the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQ+ community.

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‘Love Unites’ – Major League Soccer

The league partnered with Brazilian drag queen and singer Pabllo Vittar to create pre-match Pride Tops. MLS is donating to Athlete Ally during Pride Month, whose mission is to end homophobia and transphobia in sports.

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‘Proud to Be’ – Converse

The sneaker brand calls its 2024 Pride collection a love letter to those who pioneer a space for the queer community, past and present. A dedicated website includes members of the LGBTQ+ community, who express what queer joy and love mean to them. 

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‘Pride is Universal’ – NBC Universal

Universal Pictures All Access Channel on YouTube is running the spot below, which says: “We have many truths to speak. Our truths are vast. They are unique. They are always evolving. Most of all, our truths are universal.”

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‘Love Wins’ – MoveActive

Socks sport embroidered rainbows and festive grips, giving wearers a “touch of Pride” to celebrate the month “with every step.” MoveActive will donate $1 to Minus18, which promotes education and inclusivity across schools in Australia.

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Pride Profile Sticker Collection – Chispa

The dating app for Latine singles partnered with queer artist and activist Julio Salgado to create a collection of five Pride-themed in-app stickers exclusively for Chispa users: “Fluid,” “Rainbow Rebel,” “Panamor,” “Bisexy” and “Gender Explorer.” They are designed to foster inclusivity and self-expression. For each sticker displayed by a Chispa user on their app profile, the company will donate $1 per sticker to the Human Rights Campaign during Pride Month, with a minimum donation of $5,000 up to $10,000.

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‘High on Love’ – Gotham

The NYC cannabis dispensary, in partnership with Drew Martin, rolls out a month-long campaign featuring queer love stories.

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‘Grindr Rides America Tour’

The dating app inaugurates a Pride bus tour connecting Pride celebrations across the U.S. marking “the great gay American road trip.”

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‘SEA-Worthy Celebration of Love’ – Visit Seattle

Marking the 50th anniversary of Seattle’s first Pride celebration, Visit Seattle, alongside long-time agency partner Copacino Fujikado, created the initiative. LGBTQ+ couples across the U.S. renewed vows on Puget Sound. The event set a World Record for the largest vow renewal of LGBTQ+ couples ever.

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‘It Gets Better’ – Pride Village x Minecraft 

The global non-profit that focuses on uplifting LGBTQ+ youth through storytelling launched a “Pride Village” in Minecraft. Collaborating with Carper Creative, the effort kicked off with an unofficial Minecraft build relay across Twitch channels.

You can’t change someone’s sexual orientation through conversion therapy. And there is no need to even try doing so, because—as legit medical practitioners insist, sane human beings know and gay people like myself prove every day—there is absolutely nothing wrong with being LGBTQ+.

Still, the “treatment” is employed in many places throughout the world, including the United States, according to this disturbing report from The Trevor Project. Conversion therapy is also prevalent in Brazil, as we see in an eye-opening short film called “The Cure.”

Created by São Paulo’s Africa Creative and directed by Santeria’s Rafa Damy and Nicole Cruvinel, the film exposes the horrors of conversion therapy. It begins with dramatic depictions of the physical and psychological torture endured by LGBTQ+ people in Brazil decades ago.

“All the accounts within the film are real, stemming from situations experienced within the Pinel Institute in São Paulo during the 1930s and 1940s,” says project manager Thays Miranda.

Cutting to the present, “The Cure” reveals an astounding statistic—in 2024’s Brazil, one in every three therapists tries to convert LGBTQ+ patients.

The investigative work of journalist Marcos Sergio Silva inspired the team, along with Jean Ícaro’s book Gay Cure: There Is No Cure for What Is Not a Disease.

Editora Taverna, the publisher of Icaro’s book, produce the project.

“In the book, we come across an absurd number of psychologists who still apply the ‘gay cure,’ as well as reports from people who survived this torture,” says copywriter Chiarina Costa. “It was the book that started the entire research process for the film and the project that aims to denounce, raise awareness and criminalize the practice.”

Right now, there are bills in the Brazilian National Congress that would criminalize conversion therapy, but they are “held back by political bureaucracy and lack of supporters,” according to Miranda.

That reality impressed upon the entire team “how important it would be to bring this issue to the general public,” Miranda says, and to let them know “how this torture disguised as therapy still happens today.”

If you want to help, you can sign the film’s Change.org petition calling for the criminalization of conversion therapy in Brazil.

Nadya Tolokonnikova, artist, activist and creator of the global feminist protest art movement Pussy Riot, has devoted her life to pursuing social justice—no matter the consequences.

In 2012, she was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in staging Pussy Riot’s anti-Putin performance piece “A Punk Prayer” at a Moscow cathedral. She spent much of that time in a remote penal colony before she was pardoned in 2013.

More recently, “Virgin Mary, Please Become a Feminist”—a piece featuring artwork hand-drawn on a digitized copy of her 2012 prison sentencing documents—and the short art film “Putin’s Ashes” landed her on the Russian Interior Ministry’s wanted list for 2023.

Here, Nadya, who is headlining a sold out benefit for New York City’s American Folk Art Museum on May 16, discusses Pussy Riot’s origins, her upcoming museum show at Austria’s OK Linz and what gives her hope.

Muse: Why did you want to headline the American Folk Art Museum benefit?

Nadya Tolokonnikova: I love the idea of uplifting self-taught artists, so AFAM is a very cool fit. In my early art action days with [the art collective] VOINA and early Pussy Riot, we raged against the “wine and cheese” openings of galleries and museums. We wanted to show more raw expression, so we did art in the subway, the streets, courtrooms, released things on YouTube, and generally got kicked out of fancy galleries and museums. But what came with that was a self-taught and DIY ethos. Of course, we honored the lineage of artists who came before us and inspired us. But there were no graduate programs at the time on how to upset the government so much with your art that they threw you in jail one day.

AFAM displays and champions the work of self-taught artists like yourself. What do such artists have to offer?  

We always joke that in early Pussy Riot days, the only thing we had to offer was the chance of getting arrested. We had no money, we had no support from galleries or museums, we were on our own. If you wanted to take part you were welcome. If you hesitated at all, or asked for too much, you were out. We were very serious about our mission and our vision.

 

 

 

 

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Can you tell me about your new art series “Dark Matter,” which will be featured along with some of your other work at an exhibit called “RAGE” opening in June at OK Linz?

This new series is a reflection on what I’ve lost. 

My upbringing was in a snowy town north of the Arctic Circle. It was so polluted that the snow was black and the rivers were red. These pieces are a nostalgia, a trauma bond with those places, of which I still have visions that remind me of the things I’ve lost.

Not everyone may think a power plant next to an orthodox cathedral is the subject of warm nostalgia, but it is my experience. These are still part of my identity, and I explore those things in this series. They are based on photographs I took while in my country, or things that spiritually remind me of it, engraved onto wood, black with ink and inlaid with calligraphic work. It’s an old Slavanic language and style used in icons/churches known as Vyaz. Yes, the same church that accused me of religious hatred or blasphemy. So, again, this is a reclamation of an identity. 

The OK Linz exhibit marks your first solo museum exhibition. What does it mean to have your own show in a museum?

We won’t be having wine and cheese. We will open the event with black metal and rage, and, of course, imagery of Putin burning.

It was heartening that the curators and director Alfred Weidinger were not afraid of being political or for taking a stance against Putin and against the war. In fact, he encouraged me to lean in. I wish more people in positions of power in the art world encouraged political art, promoting feminism and freedom and all those good things, even if it might upset some people.

In a press release, you are quoted as saying, “Politically and culturally, we’re entering the new Dark Ages, but I believe that better times will come—I believe, because it is absurd.” Part of me was surprised to read that you believe better times will come. But then I thought, why should I be surprised? A person who has devoted their life to resisting an oppressive regime wouldn’t do so if they didn’t have hope. What gives you hope?

On a broader scale, it’s hard to find. But on a personal level, when people can come together, united against a common enemy, that can bring hope. We did a fundraiser for Ukraine at the beginning of the war, which people from all over supported. Then, when I was planning the “Putin’s Ashes” action and video, I was joined by women from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia who felt an acute hatred towards Putin. We came from different places, but we were united in our symbolic resistance. This meant a lot to me.

Beyond your art about fighting for social justice, do you make personal art that you don’t share with the world? Art that is just for yourself?

I’m very self-critical, so some art I do never sees the light of day. But in my practice, sharing art is as essential as creating it. In that sense, those pieces that I never shared are dead because they failed to inspire others. 

How can art change the world?

By inspiring others to not self-censor, show you can be brave and loud and scream against oppression. Hopefully, someone else will see that and say, “I can do that, too.”

Oberland developed the quirky, likable approach, and BJK aces her performance.

Of course, King’s cultural bona fides are exemplary, ranging from the famous 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” vs. Bobby Riggs to her fight for women’s tennis reforms. It’s inspiring to see her take a swing at hot-button issues here in 2024.

For this campaign, e.l.f notes recent surveys showing that women make up 27 percent of corporate boards, which are on average 88 percent white.

The company describes its own board numbers—⅔ women and ⅓ diverse—as “a big step in the right direction.” Still, outreach is needed because “most people aren’t aware that there is so little equity in seats of decision-making.”

Debuting on AsianAmericanMovies.com today, and timed to AAPI Heritage Month, the short film/PSA “Kit DeZolt Story” presents a lyrical portrait of the Los Angeles-based actor and dancer. It probes how being Asian, queer and an adoptee have shaped his life and art.

Quentin Lee is the director/producer behind the project; he also developed the AsianAmericanMovies platform. Lee has been making AAPI and queer content for three decades, first gaining notice with the 1997 film Shopping for Fangs, a cult classic he directed with Justin Lin. More recent credits include the feature Last Summer of Nathan Lee, the TV series Comedy InvAsian 2.0 and the LGBTQ+ comedians documentary Laugh Proud, which is being released theatrically in Los Angeles for a one-week run on May 17.

Lee made his debut in the advertising world in 2022, working as a producer on “The Myth,” a PSA by Wieden+Kennedy that debunked the myth of Asian-Americans as the model minority.

Below, Lee leans into the making of “Kit DeZolt Story.”

MUSE: How did you discover Kit, and why did you think there was a film to be made from his story?

I met him through the industry. I am in L.A., and I’m a filmmaker. We’re Facebook friends, and he’s an actor. He’s adopted from Hong Kong. I grew up in Hong Kong, and I wasn’t aware there were actually adoptees coming out of Hong Kong. I just thought, “That’s a really interesting story.” So, then, this year, I was thinking maybe we should do something for AAPI Heritage month. I wanted to do something like “The Myth” but based on a true story. He was like, “Yeah, sure, but we have to do it now because I’m leaving in a week on a dance tour.” I found my DP, and we shot the piece.

How did working on this compare to working on ‘The Myth?’

When I was making the spot for Wieden+Kennedy, it was a really big budget. This was a literally zero budget situation. But I feel like we were still able to tell a very unique story that celebrates the diversity of being both queer and AAPI.

You devote a lot of time in the film to Kit dancing. Why give us so much performance?

I connected with Kit because he’s a dancer, and I am an amateur dancer. I’m not a real dancer, even though I’ve been taking hip-hop classes forever! Kit is a more classical dancer—ballet and jazz. I have always admired that about him. I wanted him to be the one to lead the story. So, basically, I told Kit, “Whatever form of dance you want [to perform] is fine, but I want you to pick a piece of music that we can get the rights to, and I want you to choreograph the whole thing.” So, I actually built the whole story around his choreography, which is something I wanted to feature because there’s so much you can tell through dance and movement. There’s a story that’s told within that dance piece.

What kind of creative relationship did you build with Kit while making this film?

With lack of any money to pay him, I just said, “Co-own this movie.” So, I basically gave him 50 percent of anything that I make. I think it’s a more equitable [way to do things] going into these highly personal projects. That’s what I’ve seen doing with a lot of the collaborators I work with on their stories. I would feel bad if I just said, “I’m going to pay you some money and take 100 percent of the rights.” So, I always share the copyright, or share the revenue at least 50 percent. I think that’s fair.

What do you hope people get out of watching ‘Kit DeZolt Story?’

I just want to increase the diversity of storytelling in the AAPI and the queer communities. It’s such a unique story. It’s just having another story out there, another viewpoint. It’s really all I want this film to accomplish.

Cyber attacks, vengeful angels and an irate White House play into DDB Paris’ print and OOH campaign promoting a product some governments and organizations seek to discredit or destroy.

That would be Amnesty International’s annual report, which details human rights abuses worldwide across its 200+ pages.

Its publication puts intense pressure on the NGO, making it “the target of criticism, threats and attacks,” per campaign materials. “But these attempts to silence Amnesty International are also the best evidence of the impact of its independent investigative work.”

DDB said it strove for “catchy slogans with a grating tone,” designed to intrigue viewers and explain that “attacks that come from all corners of the world and all political sides.”

The ads cover topics including:

• The vandalization of Amnesty’s offices.
• Calls by the Vatican to stop donations to the group.
• Hacks on its computer systems linked to a group associated with China.
• Amnesty’s expulsion from Russia.
• Harassment of its staff by authorities in India.

It’s a sad, sobering but unsurprising reminder of our intolerance and inhumanity.

But there’s hope here, too. A watchdog stands guard, risking life and limb, bringing transgressions to light.

Over 30 years ago—before Melissa Etheridge and k.d. lang came out, lesbian chic became all the rage and mainstream brands started celebrating/co-opting Pride—Franco Stevens had a grand plan to launch the first glossy lifestyle magazine for lesbians.

But neither the banks nor the wealthy lesbians that Franco approached were interested in backing such a publication.

So, the determined entrepreneur, 23 at the time, took a big gamble. She took cash advances on a dozen credit cards and headed to the racetrack. Some well-placed bets yielded the cash to launch Curve. (At its founding in 1990, the magazine was dubbed Deneuve, but a lawsuit filed by French actress Catherine Deneuve necessitated a name change.)

Ahead of the Curve, an eye-opening documentary, tells the full story behind the birth of the groundbreaking magazine. The film features interviews with Stevens as well as Etheridge (the first major celebrity to appear on Curve’s cover), poet Jewelle Gomez and actress/singer/comedian Lea DeLaria.

While Stevens reflects on the past, she also explores whether there is a need for a print publication like Curve to exist today and how the current generation of queer women feel about the word “lesbian.”

Co-directed by Jen Rainin (who is married to Stevens and also appears in the film) and Rivkah Beth Medow, Ahead of the Curve, first released in 2020, will make its Netflix debut on April 22, kicking off Lesbian Visibility Week.

Here, Rainin and Medow discuss the importance of visibility, the brands that supported Curve in the early days and how they landed their independent film on the world’s largest streaming service.

MUSE: Before we get into Ahead of the Curve, tell me about Frankly Speaking Films, the Oakland, Calif.-based production company you two run.

Jen Rainin: We’re totally mission-driven. What we do is very specific. We are genre agnostic, but we make films that tell mesmerizing stories about strong queer women. That’s our frame.

Why was it important to make Ahead of the Curve and get Franco’s story out there?

Rivkah Beth Medow: I saw this film as an enormous blessing and opportunity to help tell a phenomenal story that would build the lineage for LGBTQ+ women and help fit a huge piece of our history back into the frame. Deneuve and Curve played a huge role in building the culture that we have now.

Rainin: I’m in love with her, she drives me bananas, and she inspires me every single day—Every. Single. Day. I feel like at this moment, we all need someone to inspire us. We need those stories of people who have persevered, who met their own needs, and in doing so, met the needs of their community. Visibility continues to be a North Star, and it’s something that was a big driver for Franco in creating Curve and continues to be a driver through what Curve has evolved into, which is The Curve Foundation, the only national non-profit that’s dedicated to championing queer women’s stories and culture.

Bud Light was Curve’s first national advertiser. Were you surprised that the brand, which famously turned its back on trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney after backlash from transphobes, dared to support the lesbian community at the time?

Medow: I don’t think we were surprised at all, because they were expanding their brand into a market, and it was a pretty low risk. Not everything was connected. Not that many mainstream people were aware that Bud Light was advertising to lesbians because things were more siloed. There were a handful of advertisers back in the late ’80s/early ’90s who started to think, oh, maybe there is a market here. You had Subaru, you had Skyy Vodka, and you had Bud Light. It was a business decision to expand into a market that they thought they could capture.

In the film, Stuart Elliott, a gay man who, for years, was the ad columnist for The New York Times, is seen in archival footage talking about how the right used gays and lesbians as demon figures. It’s disheartening to see this still happening today and how some brands are giving in to these smear campaigns.

Medow: I think it points to why historical perspective is important to include in a film like this. Brands have journeys as well, and they’re based on the decisions of the people who are sitting behind those brands, and who sometimes make very bold moves—and sometimes make moves in response to the fear of losing a segment of their purchasing population.

Franco also questions whether a print magazine is needed in the digital era, which sparks a larger discussion about how print in general is collapsing.

Rainin: Print media has always been challenging, and it feels like it’s at an inflection point right now. I know how journalists are struggling. If there’s a lesson to take away from this film, it’s the impact of journalism on so many people’s lives—the power of reflecting a marginalized group back to themselves and the wider community. I feel like journalists already know that. So, if anything, the message for the rest of us is: we need to be supporting our journalists. We need to be subscribing to newspapers and magazines.

Getting an indie film on Netflix is a huge accomplishment. How did you make it happen?

Rainin: We have the extraordinary privilege of working with a wonderful distributor, Wolfe Video, and [CEO and founder] Kathy Wolfe and [EVP of distribution] Evan Schwartz. They are fantastic. This is actually a rare, really positive, feel-good lesbian story, and we pushed them pretty hard to go pitch it at a high-end streamer because we thought, especially for Lesbian Visibility Week, it would be a perfect fit. Things just came together. So, they were able to make the deal.

Her favorite projects include #NoConditionsApply for the Times of India. It makes the case that the Bengali Hindu tradition of Sindoor Kehla, a 400-year-old celebration for married women, should be open to all women, including those who are single, divorced, widowed, gay or trans.

The campaign hits home by depicting a wider sisterhood that is “uninvited” from the ritual. “The moment you use that word ‘uninvited’—from Korea to Japan to Germany, everybody knew what I’m talking about,” she says. “Yes, in our business we are seduced by craft. But if you’re not delivering on the emotion… your story won’t resonate.”

Other standout work: the “Nominate Me Selfie” campaign for the Times and Shakti, a collective advocating for women in politics. It used the power of the selfie to promote women as candidates for India’s Parliament, where they are greatly outnumbered by men. Bhattacharya spearheaded the initiative after Tara Krishnaswamy, a software engineer and founder of Shakti, reached out.

About 300 women, all volunteers, hit the ground in the state of Bihar with their smartphones. They photographed women and helped them create profiles sent to party heads, making it impossible for the elites to ignore female candidates.

“The Mirror,” a short film for UNAIDS designed to encourage trans visibility, also ranks among her groundbreaking efforts. It centers on a boy playing dress up with bracelets, scarves and makeup. When his mother and grandmother “catch” him in the act, instead of shaming him, they join the child in dressing up, dancing and having fun.

Bhattacharya became close to members of the trans community while working on the Sindoor Kehla campaign and learning how horribly they are treated. “In India, they have to leave home, or they are thrown out into the streets,” she says. In talking with trans people, she was struck by how many of them as young children began hiding who they truly were. These conversations inspired “The Mirror.”

Talking to Bhattacharya about the powerful work she did at FCB, it’s surprising to learn she had concerns about taking the job seven years ago.

“There had never been a woman CCO in India. You always worry whether you are the right one. If you don’t have a spectacular run, then everybody’s going to just think that you are a little diversity doll,” Bhattacharya reflects. “So I was a little nervous, but I finally said yes to the job, and the next seven years were a blast.”

What assumptions do you make about people with Down syndrome? That they can’t order alcohol or enjoy a night on the town? That they shouldn’t live independently? That they can’t learn boxing or appreciate Shakespeare?

Well, meet Madison. This 22-year-old member of the Down community delivers a powerful message in the spot below: Change your way of thinking. Assume that they CAN!

The work breaks today from Italian nonprofit CoorDown, developed with creative agency Small, Indiana Production and director Rich Lee.

By helping folks with Down syndrome grow and experience life, we help them reach their full potential. Otherwise, they’re doomed to sheltered half-lives … and a genetic condition won’t be to blame.

“Our negative assumptions about people with Down syndrome can shape our behavior towards them, thus reinforcing these stereotypes,” Small co-founder and ECD Luca Lorenzini tells Muse. “Through this initiative, we aim to shift the paradigm. We wanted to diverge from the typical sombre tone of PSAs. Our approach involved crafting a film infused with energy, thanks to a dynamic blend of acting, editing and music.”

Small and CoorDown have collaborated for a dozen years, crafting accessible, category-defining work that includes, most notably this 2021 video with an original song from Sting. 

“Through different campaigns about different topics, we’ve been trying to dismantle prejudices about people with Down syndrome,” Lorenzini says. “Some of our campaigns have had exceptional results.”

After the Sting campaign, which dealt with Down syndrome and the labor market, 900 companies applied for a program matching employers with community members. Last year’s “Ridiculous Excuses Not to Be Inclusive” push generated 60 million views in 10 days.

Lee lenses the new work, “Assume That I Can,” with a light yet insistent touch that feels in sync with the material. But the spot wouldn’t work without a knockout performance from Madison, who exudes determination plus a sharp sense of irony and comic timing.

Lorenzini praises her as “probably the most talented actress with Down syndrome we have worked with in all the years. Funny, energetic, versatile and extremely talented.”

“Do you want to know how she manages to be so intense when addressing the camera in an open space? During that scene, she decided to take off her shoes to feel more comfortable and perform better. All actors have their tricks.”