Rockstar — Candace D. Queen
Rockstar — Candace D. Queen
Guided by a vision for racial equity and cultural authenticity, Candace D. Queen is an interdisciplinary creative and entrepreneur who leverages branding, design, and art as tools for social impact.
Through her consultancy, Tabernacle, Candace crafts culturally robust brands, initiatives, and content across a range of sectors—each project driven by a consistent mission to create work that matters with brands that care.
An award-winning creative entrepreneur, Candace is an inaugural Estée Lauder x Vital Voices VV Visionaries Fellow and alum of the LBJ Campaign School for Women. She served as a member of the SnapChat U.S. Creative Council and is a 2020 fellow of the NAACP’s NEXTGEN program.
Candace has been recognized as one of the 4A’s 100 People Who Make Advertising Great, a 4A’s MAIPer to Watch, a Bill Sharp Award Honoree, an ADCOLOR FUTURE and recipient of ADCOLOR’s Unsung Hero Award. She’s a part of the 3% Movement’s Accelerator’s inaugural class and a 2020 winner of Create & Cultivate’s Small Business Pitch Competition.
Candace champions inclusivity through her work with the American Advertising Federation as the EVP of the Mosaic Center, steering initiatives to promote authentic representation in advertising and talent pipeline programs that introduce multicultural professionals into the advertising industry. She builds spaces for growth and elevation through her efforts with ADCOLOR as the FUTURES Brand Manager.
A native Texan and Afro-Creole, Candace infuses her work with the vibrancy of her heritage, celebrating diverse narratives that resonate in both local and global contexts. She remains deeply committed to cultivating restorative leadership practices, mentoring individuals to thrive in corporate environments, and exploring innovative ways to empower underrepresented voices through her work with her newly launched platform, Bright Road.