Lisa Torres wants to be remembered for her work helping people with diverse backgrounds enter the ... [+]
Lisa Torres dreamed of becoming Wonder Woman. In her industry, she did.
As President of Publicis Media’s Cultural Quotient, the New York native oversees a crew of 140 multicultural experts—collectively the top-ranked spender in culturally targeted campaigns in the US. The latest AdAge Hispanic Fact Pack estimates her team’s total revenue for US Latinx media activities alone—not including African American, Asian American and LGBTQ—at over $71 million.
Torres is a much sought-after speaker and has been honored with numerous accolades, including the Hispanic TV Summit’s Executive Leadership Award (2018), as well as being selected as both the Culture Marketing Council’s Hispanic Executive of the Year (2012), and one of Multichannel News’ Women to Watch (2019).
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
You’ve recently gone through a battle with stage 2 breast cancer. How are you?
I’m doing well. By all accounts, I’ve beat it. I still have some time and scans to do before I can officially say I’m in complete remission, but I have full confidence that I will get there.
How has the experience of overcoming cancer affected you?
It’s been life changing in big and smalls ways. I had chemo, surgery and radiation—in all eight months in active treatment. I continued to work through most of it. Not because I wanted some badge or recognition, but because I wanted other women to see that you can still thrive in the face of a diagnosis.
You can choose how you respond to this kind of thing, and this is how I wanted to handle it. Everyone’s journey is different. No two cancers and treatments are the same, but we need more examples of women who thrive while in the midst of it.
You grew up in New York City’s Lower East Side. What was your childhood like?
It was the quintessential New York Puerto Rican childhood: factory-working family, rent-stabilized apartment, paycheck-to-paycheck. The apartment was like Grand Central Station—everybody in my family lived there at some point. It was fun and loud and dramatic, at times. A very Latino household.
What were your parents like?
They were the hardest working people I’ve ever met. Supporting the family was everything.
You started at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and then graduated from CUNY, the City University of New York. What did you study and how did you start working in advertising?
I started as an accounting major because that’s what my grandparents would allow. Later, I switched my major to business. I ended up in advertising by coincidence. I needed a full-time “real job,” and I was able to get my foot in the door at [ad agency] Ogilvy & Mather. They hired me into their finance department as a biller.
Your first position at an advertising agency wasn’t even in media?
It wasn’t traditional media planning. I inputted the invoices from the [television and radio] stations to match the media buys. My first exposure to the industry was in the buying realm.
Torres is a frequent public speaker, such as at this CES event.
Why did you leave Ogilvy & Mather, a general market agency, to work at Conill, a Hispanic shop?
I left O&M because I didn’t want to be a buyer forever, and it seemed like that was my only option for advancement there. I never really thought about the fact that I was going from general market to a Hispanic shop. It was really about expanding my experience and changing my role at the time. Looking back though, it was definitely a turning point in my career and set the stage for my career trajectory.
How did you get to Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s largest communication companies by revenue?
I held roles at [multinational media agencies] Carat and MPG [now Havas Media] before I found my way to Publicis. In 2011, I led what was known as ZenithOptimedia Multicultural at the time. When Publicis Media came together in 2016, Tim Jones, CEO for the Americas, gave me the opportunity to lead all multicultural across the agency brands from the center of the organization.
What's the worst day in your career?
It’s particularly tough whenever someone leaves my team. I know I shouldn’t take it personally, but my team is my family, so when people leave—that hurts. At the end of the day though, I know they’re doing what’s right for them and I know I’ll be able to watch them prosper.
What’s the best day in your career?
Whenever we win a new account or piece of business. That’s a great feeling.
What advice can you share about breaking into the ad business, especially for women or historically marginalized groups, such as people of color?
My biggest piece of advice for young diverse people hoping to break into the business is this: the industry needs you more than you need them. You are in a position of power—that’s how you should walk into the room.
We speak a lot about this at our Multicultural Talent Pipeline program, which is Publicis Media’s proprietary multicultural talent engagement and education program. Once a year, through this event, we bring college and university students from all over the country to one of our office locations—Atlanta during the past two years—for a multi-day program. We teach them about everything from why they might want to work in media, to what goes into client campaigns, to networking, to body language, to interviewing skills and more.
Last year was our biggest event yet—with over 143 students from more than 30 schools—many of which we interviewed and extended employment offers to. It’s so important for young people to hear from executives of diverse backgrounds in our industry and to see that they, too, can one day be in positions of power at companies like ours.
What do you want to be your legacy?
I want to be remembered for the fact that I do—and have done—everything I can to even out the playing field for those of us who do not come from privilege.
