50 People & Companies Inspiring the Working Not Working Community Right Now
WORKING NOT WORKING
Back in 2014, we started surveying our community and sharing an annual list of the top companies where Working Not Working members want to work. Every year, our members, comprised of some of the most sought after talent in the world, delivered a consensus on places that prioritize creativity and belong on the radar of creative professionals.
After six years, culminating in a year like 2020, the idea of putting out the familiar ranked list just didn’t sit right. Many of the companies that make the cut are mainstays. Creatives should know them and other companies should study them. You don’t need us to remind you that companies like Google, Nike, Apple, Wieden+Kennedy, Netflix, Disney, and Droga5 are all at the forefront of creativity. Instead of releasing last year’s list in a slightly different order (though we encourage you to check it out), we’re tearing up our playbook. We just wanted to know…what else?
Creativity can often thrive in restraints. We saw it in organized protests, low-budget ads, balcony concerts, and luxury brands making hand sanitizers. Some people and companies managed to pull off miracles, but we commend anyone who was able to be creative. Actually, we commend you even if the past year hasn’t been remotely productive.
Last year was tough. Even though our commutes were measured in yards instead of miles, they often felt just as exhausting. It was hard enough just to get dressed in the morning. Every moment of humanity, connection, and creativity felt like a breath of fresh air. Whether it was a meme that spoke directly to our souls or a bold commercial asking “But Do You Love Me?”, the creativity that stood out didn’t just keep up with the times but offered a way through them.
We asked WNW members to tell us about the creative people who most inspired them, the companies whose projects most impressed them, and their under-the-radar discoveries who deserve to be household names. On behalf of our community, comprised of almost 100,000 of the world’s most talented creative people, we’re excited to introduce you to 50 People and Companies Inspiring the Working Not Working Community Right Now.
People
Derrick Adams
Leandro Assis
Tishk Barzanji
Caterina Bianchini
Jade Purple Brown
Mona Chalabi
Jeremy Cohen
Lisa Congdon
Oriel Davis-Lyons
Kwasi Fordjour
Thibaut Grevet
Sai He
Joyce N. Ho
Eric Hu
Deun Ivory
Lia Koo
Melina Matsoukas
Carissa Potter
Hassan Rahim
Eli Rezkallah
Pablo Rochat
Amber Schaefer
Gabrielle Shirdan
Michelle Watt
Edward Yeung
Note: This is not a ranked list. This is an inspiration board. If you want to reinvigorate your faith in the state of creativity, dive into the work of any, some, or all of these names.
Meet the People
Derrick Adams, Visual Artist
His critically admired work spans painting, collage, sculpture, performance, video, and sound installations. Adams is deeply immersed in questions of how African American experiences intersect with art history, American iconography, and consumerism. Most notably in his Floater series, he portrays Black Americans at leisure, positing that respite itself is a political act when embraced by black communities.
Leandro Assis, Lettering Artist & Art Director
“Lebassis” is known for super bold letterings, colorful palettes, and playful illustrations, often addressing black culture, gender topics, and LGBTQ+ rights. As of late, Leandro has collaborated with Studio Moross (featured below) for season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, created posters for Netflix’s Tudum Festival, and worked with clients like Nike, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, and more. Young Gun 18.
Tishk Barzanji, Visual Artist
Barzanji’s work touches on the modernism movement and surrealism. Inspired by his childhood in Kurdistan, his process is about space, color, deconstruction, breaking boundaries, understanding the living space in this fast-moving world, and human interactions within these spaces.
Caterina Bianchini, Designer
In early 2020, Bianchini relaunched as Nari. Their practice focuses on giving brands life, character, and spirit, through artistic technique, conceptual thought, and brand literature. “Not Always Right Ideas” is at the core of everything they do; drawing the focus away from the ‘do’s & dont’s’ of textbook graphic design, practicing a humanistic and artistic approach.
Jade Purple Brown, Artist
Brown’s work uses strong figures, vibrant colors, and messages of optimism to create new, dynamic worlds of individuality and empowerment. Clients include Sephora, TikTok, and Apple. Brown’s art is currently showcased as Adobe’s splash image for Illustrator 2021.
Mona Chalabi, Data Journalist
Chalabi garnered attention in 2020 with visualizations addressing COVID-19 and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, She is also a writer, appearing in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and The Guardian. She has written for radio and TV including NPR, Gimlet, Netflix (The Fix), BBC, and National Geographic. She is also an illustrator whose work has been commended by the Royal Statistical Society.
Jeremy Cohen, Photographer
During quarantine, Cohen started photographing and filming all of the activity on a neighboring rooftop: yoga, working out, kite flying, book reading, and dancing. But one neighbor stood out. His ensuing drone-involved romantic gesture snowballed into "The Quarantine Cutie" romance, which took over the internet. It was a great distraction for all of us, and a reminder of our shared humanity. He also landed his first magazine cover for New York Magazine. Listen to our conversation with Jeremy Cohen on the Overshare podcast.
Lisa Congdon, Artist
As one WNW Member puts it, “Her illustrations were honest and vulnerable and helped give me permission to sit in my feelings.” Congdon’s colorful, graphic drawings and hand lettering have appeared in books, self-initiated projects, and for clients including Method, Facebook, MoMA, Harvard University, REI, and Chronicle Books.
Oriel Davis-Lyons, Creative Director
A former chef and current Creative Director at Spotify, Davis-Lyons co-founded ONE School with The One Club for Creativity in 2020, an online portfolio school for Black creatives. “16 weeks. 10 briefs. 1 dope book.” Students are taught by the industry's top creative talent and the program is supported by the best agencies and brands in the world. “Lyons’ initiative looks to become an important part of the industry that hopefully sets a standard for what’s to come.”
Kwasi Fordjour, Creative Director
Fordjour has worked his way up at Beyonce’s Parkwood Entertainment since 2011, from intern to creative director to co-director of Black Is King in 2020. Fordjour was recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie.
Thibaut Grevet, Director & Photographer
“Some of the most beautiful visuals I’ve seen in a long time.” Grevet has directed for brands like Honda, Nike, and Vans, and has done photographic campaigns for Carhartt, Rimowa, and more. “His subject is subcultures, but his audience is the culture at-large. He brings us dispatches from the underground.”
Sai He, Copywriter
His branded films, PSAs, and viral social ideas are internationally awarded for their subversive thinking rooted in human behavior. He is also notorious within the ad industry for his “Dong Draper” alter ego, through which he fosters connection and self-reflection within the advertising industry through funny memes, mental health initiatives, and overall support for working creatives.
Joyce N. Ho, Motion Designer
A Hong Kong-born, Australian designer and Young Gun 17, Ho recently joined Buck as an Associate Creative Director in New York. Ho is known for mixing animation techniques to create unique outcomes and frequently gravitates towards a darker vibe. She's done work for Apple, The New York Times, Syfy, HBO, and Nike to name a few clients.
Eric Hu, Creative Director
Hu has an international reputation for producing striking visual identities and imagery in fashion, music, architecture, and technology. He is a co-creative director for Mold Magazine, a publication about the future and science of food. Previously Eric was Global Design Director at Nike Sportswear and the Director of Design at SSENSE. “His design and art direction approach feels familiar but looks like nothing else out there.”
Deun Ivory, Artist
Ivory is a traveling wellness creative, inspirational speaker, influencer, and multidisciplinary artist whose works celebrate black women. Widely recognized for her striking portrait photography in the creative and wellness industries, Ivory has partnered with brands like Apple, Glossier, Nike, and Netflix to create visual experiences through visual storytelling. Her nonprofit, the body: a home for love, is a wellness and healing space for black sexual assault survivors.
Lia Koo, Creative Director
Koo is an award-winning Creative Director, currently at Apple. With 17 years of experience, she’s developed campaigns, products, platforms, and experiences for some of the world’s most iconic brands, like Google, Nike, and Converse. Koo’s most passionate about projects that create meaningful awareness for gender, equality, and social change. In 2020, she helped launch Black Queer Town Hall, a platform committed to celebrating excellence by cultivating community, sharing knowledge, and uplifting voices in culture.
Melina Matsoukas, Director
Matsoukas’s brand of provocation comes from a unique, inherently multicultural point of view that flips existing narratives to normalize the inclusion of women and people of color in spaces where they previously were not represented. She’s directed Grammy and MTV VMA-winning work for artists like Jay Z, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Beyonce, global campaigns for Adidas, Stella McCartney, Coca-Cola, and Nike, and episodes of Insecure and Master of None. In 2019, her feature film debut Queen & Slim earned her a DGA nomination in the First-Time Feature Film category. In 2020, Matsoukas directed Beats By Dre’s “You Love Me.”
Carissa Potter, Artist
Speaking both humorously and poignantly to the human condition, Potter’s work is a gentle nod of recognition, a shoulder to lean on, and a comforting arm around the viewer— it’s a celebration of human connection. In 2011, the Oakland-based artist started People I’ve Loved, a small printmaking workshop that is built around connection and difficult conversations, two things that have never been more necessary.
Hassan Rahim, Art Director
Rahim’s aesthetic deals in stark, esoteric imagery; it doesn’t recoil from darkness. His direction and design have appeared on and ranged from magazines, gallery walls, record sleeves, concert stages, hats, street corners, and of course online. In 2016, Rahim founded 12:01, a full-service creative studio. Clients include VSCO, Nike, Sony, Sennheiser, Warp Records, Commonwealth Projects, and Urban Outfitters. Young Gun 16.
Eli Rezkallah, Visual Artist
Born into “a secluded oasis in the middle of war-torn Lebanon, Rezkallah is the Founder and Creative Director of Plastik Magazine and Plastik Studios. Launched in 2009 as Middle East’s first visual publication, Plastik quickly established itself as a platform for young talents to showcase their work and served as a medium for Rezkallah to share his uncompromised vision with the world.
Pablo Rochat, Creative Director
According to the WNW Magazine in 2018, Rochat’s hilarious Instagram hacks are works of postmodern art. In the past three years, his Instagram follower count has ballooned from 46k to 906k. The San Francisco-based creative’s timely, intelligent, and ever-viral work, embraced by a range of brands, captures the mischievous side of creativity. Give him a rule and he’ll bend it, break it, put it back together, and then break it again.
Amber Schaefer, Director
Schaefer is a Los Angeles-based award-winning comedy director with a background in writing, acting, and producing. A 'Jane of all trades', she has also acted in spots for brands like Smart Water and Stella Artois and written and produced content for clients such as Expedia and Amex. Read our interview with Amber on the WNW Magazine.
Gabrielle Shirdan, Creative Director
Shirdan is VP Creative Director at McCann NY. Armed with a passion for crafting authentic and emotionally provocative work, she strives to construct creative that moves culture forward — the work that both keeps us up at night and also helps us sleep. In 2020, she founded equALLY speaking, a platform for ALLies to take on racial equality.
Michelle Watt, Photographer
Watt’s fashion and portrait work contain a surreal narrative style, often addressing themes of freedom and restriction within presupposed conventions of female grace and beauty. Her editorial work has been published in The New York Times, USA Today, Vogue Italia, and Blanc Magazine. She has worked with commercial clients such as Cadillac, The North Face, Capture One, LG Electronics, Scotch & Soda, and Arc’teryx.
Edward Yeung, Creative Director
A multidisciplinary creative, Yeung specializes in conceptualizing and creating visual expressions spanning creative direction, branding, campaign, and photography styling. Young Guns 18 winner. Currently, an ACD at Spotify on the Artists Marketing team.
Meet the Companies
Arts & Letters Creative Co.
Advertising Agency
Working in advertising and technology, Arts & Letters Creative Co. is designed specifically to work alongside the evolving infrastructure of modern clients. Since 2017, the agency has continued to grow, even during the pandemic, landing it at #1 on AdWeek’s “Fastest Growing Agencies”. Arts & Letters’ clients include Google, ESPN, and NBC News.
Ben & Jerry’s
Ice Cream & Activism
“Everything Ben & Jerry’s. In such a challenging year it was great to see a brand speak up and not be afraid to.” They make ice cream. But they also consistently set the standard for a company taking a stand. “There are moments in the course of history when it’s important to stand up and be counted,” says Ben & Jerry’s global head of activism Christopher Miller, who believes that statement to be true of individuals and brands alike. The self-described “rabble-rouser” previously worked for Bernie Sanders and has also worked as a climate activist for Greenpeace. “Peace, Love, and Ice Cream” is their motto. In that order, it seems. You love to see it.
FISK
Design Studio
FISK is a highly collaborative art and design studio, with clients including Alicia Keys, Toro y Moi, Nike, and Google. While FISK primarily operates as a graphic design studio, it's also a community hub, a contemporary art gallery, and a cultural instigator at large. They’re design-focused generalists with little distinction between art and commerce.
The Futur
E-Learning
The Futur is an online education platform loaded with content, courses, and tools to help you build better design skills and better creative businesses. They have a bold mission: to teach 1 billion people how to make a living doing what they love. “[Founder] Chris Do keeps pushing his audience to be better, to value themselves more and helps everyone around him make it to that next level of the design industry.”
Headspace
Health & Wellness Company
Reaching more than 65 million users in 190 countries, Headspace was one of the first meditation apps in the world and remains a leader in mindfulness and mental training. Founded in London in 2010 and based in Santa Monica, the company has spent the last year branching out well beyond its roots as an app. Headspace launched a new streaming series on Netflix and appeared on Sesame Street to encourage children to practice meditation and mindfulness to combat stress and anxiety during these challenging times.
Highdive
Creative Agency
Founded in 2016, Highdive is an independently-owned, full-service creative agency headquartered in Chicago. The agency has a simple mission: to create the healthiest client and agency relationships in the world. Highdive was named AdAge’s Small Agency of the Year in 2020, delivering award-winning and legitimately funny work for Boost Mobile, Jeep, and Rocket Mortgage.
illo
Motion Design Studio
illo is a design studio with focus on motion design, illustration and set design, known for colourful aesthetics and clear storytelling. Founded by Ilenia Notarangelo and Luca Gonnelli in 2012, illo operates from Turin, Italy with a very diverse team of 15 people of different nationalities and educational backgrounds.
JOAN
Full-Service Agency
A full-service agency founded in 2016 by Jaime Robinson & Lisa Clunie, JOAN believes in modernizing legendary brands using the weapons and cultural IQ that have made modern brands sensations. They filmed a series of cheeky spots for Virgin Hotels, created a Womanikin to address a terrifying CPR statistic, and helped boost The Economist’s appeal among US subscribers.
Liquid Death
Beverage Company
Liquid Death’s totally evil plan since 2017 is to make people laugh and get more of them to drink more water more often. Self-described creative weirdos, they’ve put together a collection of real internet hater comments set to the sound of punk, launched #DeathtoPlastic, and offered to name your child with its Killer Baby Namer. As a WNW member puts it, “I'm attracted to brands that like to have fun and are a bit rebellious. I've really enjoyed all of the work being done for Liquid Death this past year. They 100% understand who they are marketing to.”
Mamag Group
Creative Agency
Helmed by founder and CEO Sylvia Zakhary, Mamag has expanded into Mamag Group, which includes seven subsidiaries, all run by people of color. Its employees all have non-advertising backgrounds. Mamag’s client list includes Adidas, Amazon Music, Google Pixel, and Donald Glover Presents. Last year, the company’s Los Angeles headquarters doubled as a meal prep and delivery station for COVID-19 relief efforts, an office for organizations trying to bail out protestors, and a design studio for a black-owned fashion label.
The Martin Agency
Advertising Agency
The Martin Agency is a Richmond, VA-based full-service agency with unified capabilities in advertising, strategic planning, direct response, digital, media services, data analytics, design, and branded content. They released a campaign for DoorDash encouraging people to keep their favorite restaurants open, and a five-minute documentary about Krazy Hog BBQ, a Black-owned restaurant in Chicago that was impacted by Covid-19. The film has over 3 million views on YouTube. The Martin Agency was named Adweek’s Agency of the Year in 2020.
Maximum Effort
Entertainment Company
Founded in 2018, Maximum Effort makes films, TV, and content for the personal amusement of Ryan Reynolds. “They put the fun back in this business.” Another WNW Member adds, “Ryan Reynolds is crushing it every time they do an ad. It's refreshing to see a brand have fun during a period of time where everything is so serious.”
Mischief
Advertising Agency
Following his high-profile pandemic layoff from BBDO, Greg Hahn launched Mischief at No Fixed Address. Since launching in June, the shop has done work for Kraft, OKCupid, and most recently, a COVID-19 vaccine PSA campaign led by Pfizer. “Greg Hahn and cohort’s relentless pursuit of creativity and immediate success amid a pandemic was inspiring and encouraging.”
Mojo Supermarket
Creative Agency
Mojo Supermarket is an award-winning creative agency that has had an extraordinary run of acclaimed campaigns for the likes of Adidas, Netflix, and Savage x Fenty. Founder Mo Said created "The Last Pack" campaign for CVS that replaced all cigarettes in CVS stores with tobacco quit-kits, and was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2020. “Mo Said is a fucking legend. Nicest guy on earth and genuinely committed to making interesting, innovative advertising in new ways.”
Mouthwash
Creative Studio
Mouthwash playfully describes themselves as “an offbeat experiment,” exploring stories through print, apparel, objects, and conversation. The adjoining MOUTHWASH Studio offers a variety of services for both startups and large brands, including—but not limited to—creative strategy, brand strategy & positioning, art direction, photography, video & film, web & graphic design.
Not Impossible Labs
Committed World Changers
Not Impossible Labs is a one-of-a-kind, award winning technology incubator and content studio dedicated to creating life-changing devices and delivering inspiring content that compels action. They provide open-source, DIY solutions that help people. Headquartered in Venice, CA and founded by Mick Ebling, they’ve created an Eyewriter for a graffiti artist with ALS (named one of Time Magazine’s Top 50 Inventions that year) and launched the world’s first 3-D prosethetic printing labs after designing prosthetic arms for a young double amputee in South Sudan. Their latest project? Vaccine: Not Impossible. Can improving one life change the course of humanity? Not Impossible Labs believes the answer is yes.
Palette Group
Creative Production Haus
Founded in 2014 by Nate Nichols in Brooklyn, Palette Group is a commercial creative agency focused on producing content for campaign activations both online and offline. Their experience is rooted in producing, directing and developing product, lifestyle photography, and video production. Their production haus develops, produces and writes branded and original interview, docu-style series, and narrative-based shorts. Over the summer, Palette Group rose to the occasion and launched Allyship & Action, a creative summit to hold the creative industry accountable.
PASSERINE
Creative Agency
PASSERINE is a creative agency and production company crafting impactful stories that power the connection between our partners and the people. They’ve worked with Netflix, Nike, and The Movement for Black Lives. They’re a Black-owned family business and came in at #8 on Adweek’s Fastest Growing Global Agency list.
PLAYLAB, INC.
Creative Studio
PLAYLAB, INC. is an extremely multi-disciplinary Los Angeles-based creative studio founded in 2009. With no particular focus, they explore themes using art, architecture, and graphic design to initiate ideas for themselves and others. Like + POOL, an initiative to build a water-filtering floating pool in New York’s East River. "We don't have any goals as an office that are that specific. There's no financial goal. There's no size goal. There's a happiness and quality of life goal." Listen to founder Archie Lee Coates IV on Working Not Working’s Overshare Podcast.
Porto Rocha
Design & Branding Agency
Porto Rocha focuses on developing creative and strategic work that engages deeply with the world we live in. Founded by Brazilian duo Felipe Rocha and Leo Porto, their latest projects include Netflix Tudum, Airbnb Tyrus, Nike’s “From the Grounds Up,” and Samba, a contemporary publication that shines a light on Brazilian queer culture. Read our interview with the creative couple and see their year in review here.
Pulse Films
Production Company
Pulse is an award-winning production company with offices in London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, and Milan. Dedicated to creating moments of culture through innovative storytelling, Pulse Films operates under the following divisions: Film, Television, Branded Entertainment, Music and Commercials.
Semplice
Website Builder
It’s where the designers you admire go to build their portfolio. A website builder based on Wordpress, Semplice allows you to create your custom design portfolio with responsive case studies and fully branded pages, with no coding required. Founded by Tobias van Schneider in 2011.
Studio Moross
Creative Studio
Founded in 2012, Studio Moross directs and designs for a broad portfolio of clients including MTV, Spotify, VH1, Nike, Warner, and the BFI, with work that includes live show direction, broadcast design, and festival campaign direction. The team finds themselves at home working with music talent, with creative direction for artists such as Kylie, Disclosure, Sam Smith, The Blessed Madonna, and Jade Bird. They also ran promotion for Season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Translation
Marketing & Technology Company
Translation creates ads in every shape and form, as well as full-length films, one of the biggest music festivals in America, TV shows, a line of Air Jordans, and far more. All with a singular goal in mind — to push culture forward. Translation’s work with director Melina Matsoukas (listed above) for Beats By Dre was explored in the WNW Magazine here. As one WNW Member puts it, “‘You Love Me’ spoke to this moment better than almost anyone.”
Uncommon
Advertising Agency
Uncommon London, an indie agency founded in 2017, has landed projects with PepsiCo, H&M, Allbirds, and Bumble over the last year. Last March, in just 3 days, it helped its client BrewDog become one of the first breweries to reorganize its production to make hand sanitizer in order to help deal with shortages from traditional suppliers. Uncommon was named AdAge’s International Small Agency of the Year in 2020. Their latest? An erotic novel for Habito, an online mortgage company. Yes, you read that right.
Additional Insights
After the uncertainty and intensity of the past year, priorities have shifted. Creative professionals are open to hitting the open road in pursuit of creative enrichment. 72% would relocate for the right job. Are offices vital or is remote work more efficient? The answer, according to our community, is “yes.” When the pandemic ends, 58% want a hybrid of working from home and going to the office. 38% are perfectly fine with staying remote, while only 4% want to return to the office full-time.
Who Makes Up the Working Not Working Community?
The Working Not Working community features creatives all over the globe across multiple industries in a variety of roles: Animators, Art Directors, Composers, Copywriters, Creative Directors, Designers, Developers, Directors, Editors, Illustrators, Photographers, Producers, and many more.
Who Makes Up the Working Not Working Team?
Despite LinkedIn saying Working Not Working has 1,806 employees, most of those are our members sharing the fact they’re WNW Members with their network. And we’re all for it. As for the team at WNW HQ, we’re Adam, Alex, Ibukun, Joe, Jon, Justin, Liz, Manda, Mike, Sarah, and Taylor. Wanna join us?