Congratulations to W+K Portland creative Emma Barnett and W+K Amsterdam creatives Zeynep Orbay and Ane Santiago Quintas for being selected as honorees on the 2021 One Club + 3% Next Creative Leaders list.

We sat down to do a fun Q&A to learn more about them and their stories.

MEET ANE SANTIAGO QUINAS

1.) What's your favorite project you've ever worked on and why?

‘The Land of New Football’, the Euro 2020 campaign Güney Soykan and I did with Nike, for lots of reasons. It was an incredible opportunity, it was truly representative of the diversity in football. It celebrated the people and the game, it made progress look fun, the team was absolutely amazing and empowering, and we had the best time working on it. Personally, I came out of it with a new type of confidence that I really needed to find. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it truly was a 10/10 experience.

2.) What is something you're passionate about?

I always struggle to answer these types of questions because I am passionate about way too many things, ha. If I had to pick two, I’d say I love words – that includes reading anything from a shampoo bottle to a good novel, and writing anything from very intense love poems to articles about diverse film crews – and dancing, which I’ve been doing since I was a kid. It brings me so much JOY and it makes me feel powerful.

3.) What are three things you couldn’t live without?

The people I love, my dog Kobe, and music

4.) If you weren’t a creative in advertising, what is a profession or industry you would consider being in?

If I could start my career from scratch knowing what I know now, I would either choose to study psychology and become a therapist, or I’d go to film school to try and get into direction for documentaries and/or music videos.

5.) How does your hobby allow you to express your creativity?

I find dancing really powerful because there are only so many things we can express through words, but our bodies can help us tell other stories that maybe are more complex to channel. It also helps me explore my identity and different sides of myself by emotionally going to certain places or “characters” maybe I don’t access all that often. As women, I feel like our anger and sexuality have been historically repressed, for example. What I love about dancing is that you can release those emotions but most importantly OWN them and have a better connection with them and yourself, then bring that into your everyday life.

6.) What advice would you give to other creatives?

Don’t try to be cool. Be kind to yourself and others. Be critical but don’t be mean. Exercise often, drink water, and care deeply about whatever it is that you’re doing, inside or outside of the agency. Find things you give a fuck about and put time into it. That will hopefully keep you happy and sane.

MEET EMMA BARNETT

1.) What's your favorite project you've ever worked on and why?

It's a tie. The first is Nike’s “Together” (we called it the Huddle). It was my very first production and although I was extremely stressed out, it was a really unforgettable experience. The second is Nike’s “Dream Crazier,” It came from personal experience and I was really amazed to see how many women the film resonated with.

2.) What is something you're passionate about?

Lately, I’ve been making time to take care of myself.

3.) What are three things you couldn’t live without?

Donuts, water and exercise.

4.) If you weren’t a creative in advertising, what is a profession or industry you would consider being in?

Something with movies or a pony trainer.

5.) How does your hobby allow you to express your creativity?

I started skateboarding during the pandemic and I'm so new at it that I really have to let go of trying to be perfect and just embrace whatever I can do on a particular day. With work, it's easy to get caught up in being a perfectionist so doing something I'm bad at allows me to just let go and have fun.

6.) What advice would you give to other creatives?

No one else knows what they're doing either and don't be afraid to ask for help.

MEET ZEYNEP ORBAY

1.) What's your favorite project you've ever worked on and why?

I am very proud of ‘Happy Birthday Mr. Vice President’. My former creative partner and I (Macie Soler-Sala) had an idea about creating a political piece of work for Mike Pence’s birthday, which happens to fall at the beginning of Pride Month. To ‘celebrate,’ we reinvented that iconic moment from 1962 when Marilyn Monroe sang a sexy rendition of, ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ to JFK - with a 2019 twist. We then partnered with six LGBTQIA+ organizations to encourage people to donate to an organization that supports the community on his birthday.

I think we are very lucky to work in an industry where people with similar passions can come together to create a provocative piece of work without the backing of a big budget. This project is an example of that. We were so lucky to have W+K believe in us, a production company (Somesuch) that went all in, and an amazing director, Abteen Bagheri, who shot it pro bono.

2.) What is something you're passionate about?

I’m most passionate about creating work that challenges archaic political systems and hope to create more work that addresses some of the issues facing my home country Turkey right now. I’m also quite proud of a project about the climate crisis, which just launched, for our new client Fortescue Future Industries, ‘The Power of Now’. The more work that provokes us to do better is what I would love to keep doing.

3.) What are three things you couldn’t live without?

My phone, wine and coffee (basically Sundays).

4.) If you weren’t a creative in advertising, what is a profession or industry you would consider being in?

There are three things I could have been: a bad pianist, a bad doctor or an architect.

I tried playing the piano for a few years when I was young but there wasn't much hope. My mom is a pianist and it was probably driving her crazy to hear how bad I was. I also thought about being a doctor, as my dad is one, but my grades weren’t high enough to go to a good medical school. And architecture...well, I'll never know. But fortunately, I feel it's quite close to what I do now.

5.) How does your hobby allow you to express your creativity?

I recently picked up cooking. It was forced on me because of WFH. It started as a way to keep us alive during lockdown and it’s now something I actually enjoy a lot.

Note to self: stick to recipes, you’re not a chef.

6.) What advice would you give to other creatives?

Take time off. Take more time off when you have your baby, don’t rush back. Work will be there, you won’t miss your chances. Learn how to say NO. Don’t wait for the perfect brief, write your own about things you care for. Lastly, as Anthony Burrill would say, ‘Work Hard & Be Nice To People’.