5 Minutes with… Allison Knapp Womack

As CEO of the Effie LIONS Foundation, Allison Knapp Womack is focused on one of the industry’s most pressing challenges: ensuring the next generation of marketing talent actually has a way in. Designed to close the gap between education and opportunity, the foundation, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary, is building global pathways through programmes like Effie Collegiate and partnerships across markets including Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Allison brings deep experience to the role, having previously served as chief operating officer of Effie Worldwide and held leadership positions at agencies including Doremus and Ogilvy.

Speaking with LBB’s Addison Capper, Allison reflects on the early momentum behind the initiative, what it takes to build a truly global talent pipeline, and why expanding access is essential to the future effectiveness of the advertising industry.

LBB> One year in, what has surprised you most about building the Effie LIONS Foundation?

Allison> The groundswell.

It’s still early days, but leaders across the industry immediately understood the urgency. We’re in a moment of massive change – in media, technology, global markets – and without intentional pathways, access to this industry will narrow.

What’s surprised me most is how many leaders recognise that if we want a more innovative, culturally fluent industry, we must widen the door now, not later.

LBB> How would you describe the role and aims of the organisation?

Allison> We exist to build a marketing industry for everyone.

Our job is simple but ambitious: close the gap between education and opportunity. We create global programmes that give emerging talent real briefs, real tools, real mentorship that ultimately result in real pathways into the industry.

If we want a more creative and more effective industry tomorrow, we must expand access today.

LBB> You sit at an unusual intersection of creativity, marketing effectiveness, and philanthropy. How has that shaped how you think about the future?

Allison> It’s reinforced a few truths for me.

Talent is everywhere. Access is not. Cultural relevance drives stronger creativity. And opportunity doesn’t expand on its own – it has to be intentional.

Investing in talent isn’t separate from performance, it’s foundational to it. The more globally aware voices in the room, the better the work – and the stronger the business results.

LBB. When you talk about giving the next generation a ‘seat at the table’, what does that actually look like? Where is the industry still falling short?

Allison> A real seat at the table requires two things happening at once.

First, we equip students. Through programmes like Effie Collegiate, students work on live brand briefs judged to the same standard as the Effie Awards. We are launching another new programme that brings a global cohort through an eight-month experience with tools, mentorship, and paid placements. Through these programmes, our goal is to ensure that these students are ready to enter the marketing industry and hit the ground running.

Second, we build the bridge to industry. We make sure that brands and agencies know this talent exists, trust that they can contribute from day one and have created the necessary pathways into their business.

We’re not just preparing students, we’re preparing the industry to receive them. That’s what a real seat looks like.

LBB> There’s a lot of conversation around talent shortages, but also barriers to entry. Are those two sides of the same problem?

Allison> They are the same problem.

When companies say they can’t find talent, often what they mean is they can’t find talent through the channels they’ve always used. The talent exists. The access points are narrow.

At the same time, students face real systemic barriers – unpaid internships, geographic concentration, limited exposure, lack of networks. Those barriers filter out extraordinary people before they’re ever seen.

This isn’t a supply issue, it’s an access issue, and access is solvable with the right intervention.

LBB> How do you ensure programmes like Effie Collegiate don’t just create awareness, but actually change career trajectories?

Allison> First, Effie Collegiate has over a decade of proof behind it. The Foundation was built on a programme with demonstrated impact.

Students work on real briefs from brands like Amazon, BMW and Claro in Latin America. The stakes are real. They’re judged using the Effie framework – the global benchmark for marketing effectiveness – which forces them to connect creativity to measurable results.

And we’ve seen the outcomes. A finalist in Chile was hired by the brand she pitched. Today she runs the Effie Collegiate programme on the brand side. That’s the virtuous cycle we’re building at scale.

When students prove themselves in a real-world environment, trajectories change not just for them, but for the next generation that they support as well.

LBB> As you expand into Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, what have you learned about building culturally relevant pathways rather than exporting a Western model?

Allison> The model works best if it’s locally led.

While we are headquartered in the United States, we operate through local partners across 10 countries – with more on the way. Our partners understand the local cultural context, educational systems, and economic realities. We don’t parachute in with a playbook. We provide the framework and global standard, and partners bring the authenticity.

What works in New York won’t automatically resonate in Bogotá or Johannesburg. Relevance must be built locally.

That balance – global standard, local leadership – is what makes the model powerful.

LBB> How should global brands think differently about cultural relevance today?

Allison> Rather than activating cultural relevance at the campaign level, global brands should do so at an organisational level.

You can’t research your way to belonging. You build it by having the right voices in the room before the brief is written.

Who writes the brief matters. Who challenges the strategy matters. Who can say ‘that won’t land here’ matters. Fragmentation isn’t the problem. Homogeneity is.

The most resonant work often starts local and travels outward. Specificity creates connection, and that is what makes work feel human.

LBB> Has the industry genuinely moved forward on access and inclusion?

Allison> There has been real progress. Conversations that weren’t happening 10 years ago are now mainstream.

But we’re also in a moment of disruption. Budgets are tightening and we see AI reshaping workflows daily. At the same time, priorities are shifting, and as a result, urgency can quietly soften.

But the reality is that tomorrow’s talent crisis is forming today. If access narrows, curious, creative people will choose other industries.

We exist to keep the door open – and to make choosing marketing an obvious, exciting option.

LBB> What does meaningful investment in the next generation look like right now?

Allison> It starts with honesty. Does your team reflect the audience you’re trying to reach? Does the strategy room look like the world outside it?

From there, investment can take many forms: funding access programmes, creating paid internships, mentoring, judging, opening networks.

Hesitation often comes when companies jump straight to ‘what can we afford?’ instead of ‘what are we missing?’

Clarity drives investment and the fastest-moving organisations are the ones willing to look honestly – and then act.

LBB> If you could give one piece of advice to someone trying to break into marketing?

Allison> Be endlessly curious. And always ask WHY.

The roles five years from now don’t exist yet. Platforms will change. Tools will evolve. That’s the opportunity.

Develop a growth mindset. Learn broadly. Become fluent in AI. Understand culture beyond your own. The best ideas rarely come from inside the building.

In a fast-moving, global industry, adaptability is your greatest asset.

LBB> What gives you the most optimism about the future of marketing?

Allison> The students.

Spend an afternoon with Effie Collegiate finalists and any anxiety about the future disappears. They compete to be there. They show up prepared. They bring ideas shaped by real lived experience.

Many are navigating financial pressure, limited networks, real barriers, and they still deliver breakthrough thinking.

The talent is there. It always has been.

Our job is to ensure global marketing talent has a clear and credible pathway into the industry.