Icons, RockStars, & Innovators: Arnetta Whiteside
You’re gaining momentum in your field and you’re on fire! Your hard work stands above the crowd and shines bright. By being engaged and curious, you are a producer of excellence.
As Associate Director of Research and Planning for Publicis Media’s multicultural practice, Cultural Quotient, Arnetta Whiteside wears many hats. Arnetta’s responsibilities span across developing and distributing research and thought leadership, developing training materials, and working with external (vendors and partners) and internal (Publicis Media & Groupe leaders and employees) to increase visibility of the significant work that PM’S multicultural practice achieves both within our organization and on behalf of our clients. Arnetta reports directly into Lisa Torres, President, Cultural Quotient at Publicis Media – which has held the #1 spot in AdAge’s Hispanic Fact pack in the “Largest US Hispanic Media Agency / Agency Group” category consecutively since 2012.
This year, Arnetta completed an overhaul of how relevant content and Multicultural research was distributed to employees across the 7,000+ PM employee base, simultaneously increasing visibility of Cultural Quotient’s (CQ) accomplishments through a newsletter and consistently over-delivering open rates and CTRs against industry averages. Additionally, she built an in internal CQ webpage as a resource tool for strategy teams.
A thought leader, Arnetta is in the process of developing a multicultural training program in order to teach Publicis Media’s general strategists the basics of multicultural marketing/planning & strategy. She is also developing speaker series that will introduce brand teams to new multicultural partners and discuss topics relevant to the MC audience. All the while, Arnetta has made it her mission to change the narrative around Multicultural from Hispanic only, to include a wide spectrum of cultures including Black, Asian, LGBTQ and differently-abled people.
Additionally, Arnetta is an active participant and part of the planning team that executes Publicis Media’s Multicultural Talent Pipeline (MCTP), which is an immersive educational experience committed to creating a more diverse workforce by engaging and identifying students to join the media, advertising and marketing industries. The two-day event is hosted at the Publicis Northyards campus in Atlanta and with representatives from Publicis Media and Publicis Groupe agencies and Clients. Last year, Arnetta was integrally involved in executing the event, which hosted 148 students from 26 universities around the US (over a quarter of those MCTP attendees received offers from Publicis Media or one of its partner companies).
Perhaps Arnetta’s most significant accomplishments are the tangible strides and progress she has made as the Co-Chair of Publicis Groupe’s Business Resource Group (BRG) VivaWomen of Color. In this role, she has contributed to increasing active markets (participation) by 233%; and increasing employee membership by 267%. With Arnetta as co-chair, VivaWomen of Color has transcended its position as purely an employee engagement/cultural group – it has come to be known as a true business partner within the agency, having worked with a major global CPG client to create website content for one of their recent initiatives that highlights and celebrates “all that is beautiful about Black culture, from shape to shade to self-expression”. Arnetta also helped VivaWomen of Color develop a national partnership with a global digital platform to bring self-advocacy workshops to multiple VivaWomen of Color cities. This partnership has helped the global digital platform extend their Inclusion and Diversity initiatives – as well as explore the creation of ERGs within their own walls.
Arnetta is an actively involved and engaged rising star – she is a Member of She Runs It and ColorComm, and was hand-picked to participate in Publicis Media’s “YouXplore” International Work Abroad program.
Arnetta leads by example and has become a model of career reinvention and advocating for oneself. She is indeed leading VivaWomen of Color, Cultural Quotient, and Publicis Media into the future, with a strong eye on further diversity initiatives across the board and creating a more inclusive industry today, and tomorrow.
Arnetta got her Bachelor of Business Administration, Marketing Management from Pace University and her Masters of Science in Management & Leadership from Pepperdine University and recently completed a certificate program with the Gestalt Center for Organization and Systems Development. She is one of eight siblings, loves to travel and once took a ride down the Olympic bobsled track in Salt Lake City.
Follow Arnetta on Instagram and Twitter; and find her on LinkedIn!
The ACNY Foundation is proud to recognize outstanding industry professionals, during our 3rd Annual Black History Month recognition series titled, “Icons, Rock Stars & Innovators”.
It is our way of shining the spotlight on exemplary talent, integral to the evolution and growth of the advertising industry. Each day during Black History Month we profile a selected “Icon, Rock Star & Innovator” across all our digital platforms. In addition, our partnership The Gradient & Mixed Company podcast, allows for our programming to further extend throughout the industry; introducing and promoting these luminaries to new audiences. Follow the series on Instagram, Meta, Twitter, and LinkedIn!
Meet our illustrious lineup of “Icons, Rockstars, & Innovators” on February 26, 2020. RSVP here: https://bit.ly/31q13Pc
Take a peek at last year’s event.
P.S. Check out our other content from previous years
2019 – Online Exhibition