The team behind the Creative Mentor Network aim to help young people from diverse backgrounds overcome the obstacles to creative careers
“Getting into advertising was the hardest part of the job”, says Emily Stewart, an account director at a major creative agency.
“When I started out, it seemed like a mythical industry – one in which you had to know someone to get in.”With an estimated 60 per cent of jobs going unadvertised, the creative industry can indeed be tough to crack. Entry points are often limited to the well-educated, the well-connected, the well-off – and the white. Many people who do find careers do so through existing connections or unpaid internships, which exclude young people from low-income backgrounds.
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This struggle is one of the reasons why Stewart signed up as a mentor in the Creative Mentor Network. For four months, she was paired with Esme Kontoh – a sixth-former from London with aspirations to work in the media. The pair met for an hour a week, discussing the roles available in advertising, the skills needed, and potential routes in.
Kontoh says: “I learned that there were a range of different routes you could take to get into the industry, and realised that it was more diverse than I once thought.”
That said, while diversity may be a buzzword in creative circles, the statistics are revealing. In design and fashion, under 9 per cent of employees are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, and in film and TV…
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