Just 1.6 percent of minority women exercise leadership roles, and according to the Movement of Three Percenters , only 29 percent of positions of authority are occupied by women. Flor Leibaschoff, co-founder & chief creative officer, and Salma Gottfried, founder & chief brand officer de BeautifulBeast, are optimists about the figures and think they serve as inspiration for other sectors, though they admit there’s a long way to go to reach gender equality: “We ought to set an example of change into what we want to become. And for that purpose as agency leaders, we will raise our voices with organizations whose goals include empowering younger women and offering more opportunities in the industry to those who are underrepresented. Without mentioning that this also takes advertising to fairly represent those marginalized groups,” Salma said. As leaders of an independent agency that is minority certified, Flor and Salma speak of the importance of diversity being the focus that helps enrich their ideas and make them relevant. “Equality is part of the DNA of our agency. We are committed to the causes where we can help raise people’s voices as we did with We Are All Human and Circulo Creativo last year to speak of the unfairly low paychecks that normally go to Latino women,” Flor said.” Women are owners of less than one percent of ad agencies in North America. There’s a big gender gap, but we believe we can close that gap by supporting and celebrating agencies whose owners are women,” Salma said. Outside the advertising sector , Flor sees more progress in the sports world. She pointed to how the national women’s soccer team in the U.S. finally reached an equality of pay, and in the Super Bowl , the NFL put all eyes on a Mexican female athlete.”Things are seen now In winds of change, and that ought to be an incentive for all, no?” she asked.In the commercial sector there are few brands that reach progress on gender inclusion and equality. “A recent article published on March 15, the day after Equal Pay Day in the United States, noted that Target was the only company with an A+ qualification in several categories, including the racial salary gap and the gender salary gap. Other companies were mentioned that had also made progress in the categories of finance, technology and healthcare, but even that improvement leaves a lot of work to be done before real equality will be achieved,” Salma said. It’s always good to see more committed clients, Flor said. “We have the good luck to work with clients who believe in diversity in every aspect in order to drive the best work, the most relevant work we’ll ever see. And while Salma noted that the actives of the agency positioned her with other players, “Our clients also look for agencies that have members of different teams. They understand that diversity breeds culture and produces the best ideas,” she said.