Why Me? A Day Inside the Head of a Female Creative Director
Havas launched Femmes Forward Frida in 2020, its name inspired by artist Frida Kahlo. It was developed with a specific audience in mind: female creatives.
Enlisting the insights and advice of women who’ve risen to senior creative leadership roles, along with support of Havas’ Global Creative Council, the program ensures that change is driven from the top.
With about ten participants per cohort, the selective 6-month experience offers leadership development, expert-led skills workshops, access to Chief Creative Officers from around the world and the opportunity to attend the prestigious Cannes Lions Festival. Participants gain a clearer view of their goals and put together an action plan to guide them moving forward, support from CCOs from around the globe and a community of women creative peers.
Last year, Daniela De Seta, Creative Director at BETC Paris, was selected to attend the program and shares her perspective on the experience below.
It was a very busy, normal day when my boss casually said, "I forgot to tell you that I nominated you for the Femmes Forward Frida program. You've been selected.”
I was so grateful and happy, even though I didn't really have a clue what this program was about.
At the time, I was still pretty new to BETC, new to the Havas Group, and even newer to such a thoughtful boss - thank you again, Antoinette Beatson.
But before I could even start researching the program, one question popped into my head.
WHY ME?
And then I discovered that's what Femmes Forward Frida is all about. About the "WHY ME?
It's not just a whole week at the Cannes Lions Festival to get inspired and recharge your creative batteries, it's also a program to recognise your strengths.
A programme to overcome imposter syndrome and help you grow as a leader.
They say it's a program for up and coming female creative directors, but I think it could be more than that.
During the program, we used the Lumina Spark Portrait, which is an amazing tool that measures different aspects of your behaviour - your strengths, but more importantly your weaknesses - and tells you about your leadership style and how to improve it.
And that's when I went from "WHY ME?" to "WHY JUST ME?"
Don't men need to become better leaders too?
Wouldn't it help if your male boss was a better boss?
