ORIEL DAVIS-LYONS
“It took me 12 weeks to get into advertising.
One brief and two-night classes a week until I had enough work for a book. I drew most of the ideas by hand. The course wasn’t free, but I could pay for it with one part-time paycheck. Then I came to the states. Where two years of ad school costs nearly $40,000. I couldn’t believe it. Who can afford that?
Who can do multiple internships in the country’s most expensive cities until they land a job? The road into this industry is one with many tolls that only the most privileged can pay. And until we remove those tolls, creative departments are going to stay looking much the same. So, if you’re a young Black art director or copywriter who needs some help putting together a dope book, reach out. I’ll help.
I promise it won’t take two years or cost $40,000.”
Linkedin, June 2020
Spotify Creative Director, New York City
The post from Oriel popped up on LinkedIn, towards the end of the research for this book, which spoke so clearly to me about how we need to remove the barriers for people coming into the workplace. His desire to help others, to serve up-and-comers with information he has learnt along the way really struck a chord with me as it did hundreds of others, judging by how quickly it was being shared.
Oriel has taken a different approach to become one of the most successful creatives in the industry with time under his belt at Droga5 and now at Spotify as creative director. With this project being focused on helping younger people and their career path, grabbing time with Oriel to learn about his creation of the One School was an absolute honor.
Jonathan: So in your LinkedIn post you mentioned a course you took to get into advertising, could you explain to me a little bit about that course?
Oriel: So I did a course called Award School and it’s been running for a long time in Australia primarily. I did it the first year it came to Auckland, New Zealand. It has a really good reputation in the ad industry down there. David Droga did it along with a bunch of other people who are at the top of the industry now.
You said it’s a night course, right?
It’s 12 weeks, you get one brief a week over two nights. One night is your tutorial, so you’re focused on something, then the second night is a guest lecture. So, an executive creative director, or a creative director from different agencies will come in to lecture. The goal is to get you a book that gets you a job, so it really focuses your energy. At the end of 12 weeks you have a couple of weeks to put the finishing touches to your book and then they organize a show, which at the time was just a room above a pub in Auckland. You put your work up on the walls, they put a tab behind the bar and they invite a few ECDs. From that I got a couple of interviews and one of them turned into a placement.
What were you doing during the day if this was a night course?
I was at university. I went back later in life thinking I wanted to be a journalist, because up until that point, I didn’t have any qualifications as I kind of messed around at school, then tried and failed at college a few times. So I was working as a chef for a while as I had given up on traditional education, but eventually I went back to studying. I found out about the course in my second year and when I got offered that placement I initially said no to, because I wanted to finish my degree. I was like, “I have to get some sort of qualification, I can’t just drop out again,” but my tutor at uni just said, “Take it, take the placement. This is the job that you’re studying to get anyway. So just do it.”
What do you think about the relationship between experience versus qualification?
I mean, I still enjoyed being at uni, but I think because I went later on I got a lot more out
of it than I did when I went the first time. I was just so much more invested in it going slightly later. I’ve managed to make a career without any formal qualifications, you know, but I wouldn’t automatically say to everyone don’t bother about university. However, we have the luxury in the more creative fields where you can teach yourself as you’re judged mainly on your output, not on the certifications you have coming in.
I was talking to someone about that yesterday and saying that we should be treating creative jobs more like the trades. Like, if you want to be a plumber or an electrician, you will study for maybe a year to learn the basics, but then you’re really expected to learn on the job. I think it would be good for the marketing, advertising industry to take on a little bit more of that ap- proach so that we’re not expecting people to come out of three or four years of education fully formed and perfect and ready to hit the ground. It becomes our responsibility to bring them on and use those couple of years as an apprenticeship to teach them the process, which could be a big change.
How much did the award class cost?
The course at the time was about $1,000 NZD, which, yes, you have to be able to find that kind of money, but it’s not crazy. It’s great to be able to start your career without being in debt, especially psychologically.
Do you think that is one of the biggest barriers in terms of bringing in more of a diverse culture in the creative space?
Yes, you just need to look at the pipeline. How many people are deterred from going to portfolio school just by looking at student debt levels of $30-40,000k? There are so many great, talented young creatives who just look at that barrier then see an industry that has very few people who look like them in it anyway. So it’s even harder for them to imagine themselves in a position to be able to pay off that debt. It’s just another construct created to say, ‘this is not for you.’
Not long after your LinkedIn post you announced you were starting One School, a free, online portfolio school for black creatives. How did that come about?
I had so many responses from that post but one of the most consequential was an email from Bob Isherwood, an ad industry legend and now global head of professional development at One Club. He really understood what I was trying to do and offered the One Club’s help get the idea off the ground. Two weeks after our first phone call, we had a website live and were accepting applications. The goal is really to create a new pipeline for creative talent of color that isn’t dependent on whether they have the money to pay to put a book together.
Do you mentor people currently?
Yes I do, but it’s not like a formal thing, it’s really just making sure I’m checking in on young creatives who I’ve worked with and who are looking for advice. Mentorship doesn’t have to be super structured, it’s really just about making yourself available to people and letting them know that you are there and willing to help.
Have you had any mentors along your path?
Not really. I mean, there are obviously people that I’ve learned from working together, but I wouldn’t say there’s been someone who’s looked out for me specifically as my mentor. I think that’s a big issue, because it’s hard for creatives of color to find mentors in senior positions who can say, I’ve been where you are, here’s how you navigate it. That’s something that I think, hopefully, will start to change.
What would you tell your teenage self ?
Yeah, don’t be such a little shit, you know. Don’t put your parents through so much stress. Don’t be so hard on them because I think that’s something you probably realize when you have kids. It’s like, oh my God, please don’t let them behave like I was when I was a teenager.
What advice would you have for someone who’s trying to make it as a creative?
It would be that even if you don’t go to school or haven’t got the resources to go, all that information is still out there. Surround yourself with great work, it’s all out there, and absorb as much of it as you can. I was studying all the D&AD annuals, looking at every winner from Cannes and One Show and just scouring design blogs. That doesn’t cost any money, it’s just time and a willingness to learn. The main thing is to just commit yourself to your portfolio and invest in yourself. If you feel like you’re lacking in a certain area, go out there and learn it. Give your evenings to it, give your weekends to it, and really craft your book as an extension of who you are. You want to be proud to show it to people.
Thank you for your time Oriel and all your work.
Thank you!
Heres a link to original linkedin post. 10,000 likes and 350 comments later you’ll realise why the work Oriel is doing is so vital.