My first advertising interview was with Tiffany R. Warren which led to my first internship in New York. The Multicultural Advertising Internship Program (MAIP) was the catapult that started my career. Back then my goal was to get some experience and land a job at a full service agency. I decided early on I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed into a Hispanic advertising role because I thought it would limit my potential.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to attend the ADCOLOR awards in Los Angeles. Hearing and seeing successful multicultural people in the industry and the change they created and inspired was amazing. My goal used to be to fit in, be like the masses and that would mean success. After hearing each person’s story and how attainable their impact was, I’m not doing enough to push change in our field. We are all not doing enough.

What if we all rose up to the challenge of creating a more diverse workforce? It’s not about meeting agency goals but rather stepping out of our comfort zone of sea of sameness and reach out to someone different. I don’t know what my career would have been like without that interview. Why not give someone different the chance to say the same thing. Who knows how it will change their life and yours. I urge everyone to be an agent of change. No one is looking for a handout–just a hand up.