Candace Queen has joined the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Mosaic Center as VP. The AAF Mosaic Center implements all of the AAF’s multicultural and diversity initiatives, ranging from its Most Promising Multicultural Students program to Mosaic Awards, HBCUs for Advertising, APEX Multicultural Speakers Bureau and more. In her role, Queen will oversee all of the Mosaic Center’s activities, helping to deliver on AAF’s promise to serve as “the unifying voice for advertising.”
“This appointment is an example of how well the AAF develops professionals and provides valuable leadership opportunities that lead to impactful roles that help shape our entire industry,” said Steve Pacheco, AAF president and CEO. “Candace has held leadership roles within the AAF at the Student Chapter, Ad 2 and Local AAF Chapter level. She has participated in judging, facilitated workshops, and presented keynote presentations across a large portfolio of the AAF DE&I programs. Those experiences have given her a valuable perspective into the AAF’s evolution and insights on how to take the Mosaic Center’s work and visibility to the next level.”
Queen has championed diversity, equity, and inclusion through her work with the AAF as the chair of the Mosaic Next Generation Leadership Council, ADCOLOR as the co-chair of the ADCOLOR Advisory Board and serving on the SnapChat U.S. Creative Council. She’s infused DEI in advertising curricula as an adjunct professor and lecturer for several universities and portfolio schools. Most recently she founded Tabernacle in 2019–a branding and design consultancy where she’s guided agencies and brands in building and maintaining a community-centric ethos and equity-first approach in their brand’s DNA. Queen 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 alum and recipient of ADCOLOR’s Unsung Hero Award.
“The AAF has not only served as an integral foundation for my pivot into advertising over a decade ago, but has supported my growth and development in many ways. So, to be able to contribute to the organization in this capacity is an exciting opportunity and one that’s close to my heart,” commented Queen. “I truly believe the Mosaic Center’s work is more important than ever and am excited about the opportunity to be a part of its continued elevation.”
Queen starts at AAF on June 1.
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More