Carol Watson

Carol Watson is the senior director, global member engagement for Diversity Best Practices. She is responsible for member acquisition, retention and engagement through advising, consulting, event participation to support members in leveraging proven, innovative diversity programs, and sustainable culture change strategies.

Carol most recently founded and was CEO of Tangerine Watson Inc., a talent consultancy firm specializing in talent acquisition and retention strategies and inclusive leadership development for multicultural digital, advertising, media, and marketing talent since 2006. Carol has worked with top agency, marketing and media firms including: Ogilvy, IPG, Y&R, McCann, Saatchi, Wieden & Kennedy, FCB, General Mills, Lifetime TV, UMBWW, American Airlines, and Microsoft.

In 2012, Carol orchestrated the debut of the Tangerine Watson Impact Study, a groundbreaking national study of diverse advertising professionals. Her firm launched ThriveV.com, a cross-cultural career hub underwritten by Microsoft and viewed by thousands monthly. ThriveV.com provided original and curated multi-channel video content and resources from culturally diverse industry thought leaders to insure coveted access, solutions, and connections to diverse professionals globally.

Carol has coached senior executives in the industry on career transitioning and leadership strategies and is a frequently requested speaker and moderator at conferences and client sites such as Linkage Institute, WICT (Women in Cable and Television), IPG, Wunderman, and AWNY events. She was also a Bluepoint Leadership Development and People Development Team facilitation consultant on leadership, culture, and unconscious bias.

A noted trailblazer and a 25-plus-year veteran in the advertising and media industries, Carol served as a sales and marketing executive at The New York Times, and Essence magazine, and publisher of Vibe Media Group. She has been featured in The New York Times, Crain’s Business, Black Enterprise, “AgencySpy,” “Mediabistro,” and Ad Age. She served as president of the board of directors of Advertising Women of New York and an AAF Mosaic Council member.

Her training and education include: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Energy Leadership Master Practitioner (ELI, MP), Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), Emotional Intelligence (EQ), Emergenetics (table facilitator), iPEC Core Energy, ICF Certified Coach, MSOD (Master Science in Organizational Development), and Pepperdine University where her master’s thesis was on embedding cultural inclusion throughout the marketing communications process.

And just a helpful hint, if you don’t see her at one of the Diversity Best Practices events, you may want to look for her on the slopes snowboarding, in the ocean scuba diving, or on the open road motorcycling!