Hello friends, welcome back to another episode of the podcast! This week I’m so excited to sit down with the lovely LaToya Shambo, founder of Black Girl Digital. Black Girl Digital is a premier influencer-marketing agency geared towards a black female audience that has worked with VH1, MTV and a whole host of other brands. In their five years in business, Black Girl Digital has earned more than 100 million impressions and during COVID-19 launched a digital platform where they can carefully vet all influencers and manage the campaign relationship between brands and black female influencers.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Houston, LaToya originally intended to go into the music business and while that may not have worked out as planned, what did happen was even better. She went into marketing and advertising and from there planned to move into radio sales. While in school, LaToya heard the director speak and was excited to make her move. She reached out to him and asked about applying for a position – the stop was that she was still a few months out from graduation and the position required the candidate be a graduate. Transitioning again, she began working as an intern and when graduation finally rolled around and it came time to start finding a job she landed at an agency doing media buying for McDonalds. This was new for LaToya. She didn’t know anything about the world of advertising from that perspective. Her experience began on the agency side of the marketing world and from there skyrocketed.
LaToya now knew she didn’t want to follow the traditional path of TV or radio advertising. She knew she wanted to be in the digital space. She shifted gears to pharmaceuticals and learned about being meticulous in media planning, especially in the realm of product launches.
Eventually, LaToya received a call to work at Spike Lee’s agency, DBB, and after dabbling there she decided it still was not far enough into the digital space for her. Once again, it was time for a pivot. She then landed at Complex and after 7 years and working in 3 departments she had helped to build a lot of the processes and protocols across the functional departments. She knew she was working in the direction of her goals and was finally seeing what the digital world looked like, just didn’t know yet the full scope.
As an entrepreneur at heart, LaToya had dabbled in starting businesses here and there but still didn’t really understand or realize her full purpose yet. She knew she wanted to be in the business of advertising, but she also knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur. But what did that actually look like? Complex was an eye opener and she decided that this was what she wanted it to look like. But does she just stop there, or should she keep going?
After a series of unexpected events, LaToya realized she was still standing for a reason and it was time for her to start operating within that reason and discover her true purpose.
“I know what my purpose is; I'm going to create an agency just like this.”
One thing I absolutely love about LaToya’s journey is that she is so unapologetic when she realizes its just time to move on. She doesn’t let her thoughts keep her from moving closer to her dreams. She also doesn’t allow herself to get mentally stuck and does allow herself to explore different roles and avenues. The vulnerability and transparency LaToya shared about her journey, and all of the obstacles she pushed through, is absolutely inspiring and beautiful. She learned how to navigate through problems and not let them stop her from achieving her goals. Her journey is such a beautiful reminder that we can't change our circumstances, but we can change how we react to what life gives us.
To learn how you can work with Black Girl Digital, find them on Instagram (@BlackGirlDigital) or connect with LaToya personally (@LaToyaShambo).
Until next time friends, keep doing it your way!