Saturday Morning, the award-winning creative collective, announced the expansion of its board of directors beyond its four founders – Keith Cartwright, Geoff Edwards, Jayanta Jenkins and Kwame Taylor-Hayford.
The group is bringing in five outside leaders who add broad business, educational, and entertainment industry experience to provide expertise as Saturday Morning pursues its mission to create ideas beyond advertising that bring awareness to, and shift perceptions, on racial bias and injustice.
Joining the organization as outside directors are rap impresario David Banner, filmmaker/director/producer Marta Cunningham, real estate and education executive Gary Grant, creative leader Amber Guild, and entertainment executive and activist Talitha Watkins.
“We have ambitions to bring new ideas and solutions to impact culture, and having guidance from leaders that extend into other creative business sectors will help us put these ideas into action,” said Keith Cartwright, co-founder of SATURDAY MORNING and founder of creative agency CARTWRIGHT.
The Board Members include:
● David Banner (born Lavell William Crum) is a rap musician, record producer, actor, activist and philanthropist. The Mississippi native received a bachelor’s degree in business at Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA before starting his musical career. As a rapper, Banner has released seven studio albums and his music has appeared in numerous video games, movies and television series. He has also appeared as an actor in several films and television series and has a brand of clothing and merchandise under the David Banner brand.
● Board member Marta Cunningham is an Emmy-award nominated director, producer, filmmaker and founder of Sugar Sky Pictures. She has worked across numerous entertainment entities in film and television. Her feature length documentary Valentine Road, premiered at Sundance, is streaming on HBO, has won 13 film awards and appeared at over 200 film festivals. She has worked as an actress, writer, dancer and choreographer before focusing on directing and producing.
● Gary Grant is President of real estate firm Grant Global Development. He is also the founder and principal of Parkway School in Brooklyn, one of the top private schools in the borough serving a small group of students in grades PreK through 8th grade.
● Amber Guild is President of T Brand at The New York Times. She has led and grown creativity-fueled companies as a leader focused on transformation and innovation. She has worked in numerous creative agencies including The Martin Agency, COLLINS and others. She is a founding member of Chief, and is on the board of the VCU Brandcenter and the 3% Movement.
● Talitha Watkins is President and Head of ColorCreative Management, a management and production company founded by Issa Rae and Deniese Davis focusing on building opportunities for diverse, emerging writers in film, tv and digital channels. She has held a variety of leadership roles in the entertainment field including Motion Picture Agent and Executive at CAA and VP, Multicultural Marketing at Universal Pictures.
In commenting on joining the Saturday Morning board, Amber Guild said, “I couldn’t be more honored to be a part of the work that Saturday Morning is doing. They believe, as I do, that creativity has the power to change the world. And I know they won’t stop until they do.”
“To be able to attract such proven leaders across business sectors to be part of the Saturday Morning movement is an honor to all of us and we are excited by the positive effect these individuals will have on extending the impact of Saturday Morning,” said Saturday Morning co-founder Geoff Edwards, and Executive Creative Director at Gale Partners.
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As a creative organization built on purpose, Saturday Morning has created award-winning work that has been recognized around the world.
This includes Emmy-nominated film The Look, for P&G, to raise awareness around unconscious bias. It also created “Peace Briefs,” underwear designed to save lives with waistbands carrying such messages as “I am not armed, “I am a Father,” and “Please Don’t Shoot.” In 2020, the group produced the film (title).
“We believe we can have broader impact on society and uplift the lives of the Black community with work that has greater cultural resonance across the worlds of entertainment, education and industry. Our expanded Board will be an important resource in helping us further our goals,” noted Saturday Morning co-founder Jayanta Jenkins, who was recently named, Head of Content Marketing at Disney+.
Kwame Taylor-Hayford, Saturday Morning co-founder and co-founder of purpose-driven agency Kin noted “Since our founding four years ago, we have been fortunate to work with leading companies and brands who understand they have a role and power to be a voice for real change. As we look ahead to what we as creative individuals can do, we see an opportunity for Saturday Morning itself to bring real change to the opportunities and experiences of the Black community through initiatives in education, entertainment and more.”
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In addition to the new board, Saturday Morning also named Deja Cox, partner lead as an officer of the organization serving as Treasurer.
Reel 360 wishes all of the new board members the best of luck.
SOURCE: Saturday Morning
