I am Maria Diaz Diaz, a Honduran Art, and Creative Director.

Since I was very young I always had an artistic background, I got my first bachelor's in Advertising, my first job was in BBDO Honduras I was in charge of Social Media Production. While working in BBDO I pursued my second bachelor's in Graphic Design which led to my second job as an Art Director in Kazara, a boutique agency. My third job was as the Digital Marketing Manager of the Honduras Tourism Board.

I can say that the class that made me pursue creativity and made me fall in love with creative ads was Creative Advertising, my professor Mauricio Medina did daily drills, and somehow almost every day I was on top of the class, which made me realize. Hey! I might be good at this, and then my passion was to do that for a living.

I am a recent FIU/Miami Ad school Grad student, I will soon start a new position as a Brand Creative Director in Lerma Advertising.

The meaning that the word creativity holds to me is more like a requirement, I try in everything I do to add that "special touch", "boldness", "those extra minutes of brainstorming that lead to THE IDEA", "not settling and always digging deeper".

It has to be insightful and to echo emotions, surprise, and make something spark in the mind of the audience.

Whenever I get a new brief this is usually how it goes:

1. I read the brief, re-read it, highlight it, make it my best friend!

2. I write down whatever ideas spark while reading the brief

3. I do research, I go online and research, see similar problems and how they were solved.

4. I write again more ideas, I share them with the team

5. We read the brief again and see which of all the ideas will most likely solve it

6. We choose one idea we like the most and start developing the campaign from there

7. Pitch it to get feedback from peers and team members

8. Work on any feedback

9. THE REAL PITCH

I love brainstorming, I like thinking of weird and crazy ideas and then just seeing them evolve, have more legs and actually bring them down in order for them to solve the brief. An extra factor, I love it when the idea is done, it is time to pitch and the reactions!

I would say that my graphic style is very colorful, in fact, my personal branding has a lot to do with pink. I pay close attention to the overall aesthetic, I try for everything to be cohesive and meaningful.

I would say my creative style is going for the "crazy ideas", there is something about boldness that just calls my name.

Yes, it has had a great impact because it was in my country where I discovered my passion for creativity. Although including my heritage in all of my pieces may not be the ideal solution, because every audience is different.

It is an incredible honor, seeing how this idea started and how it evolved and became what it is now is truly amazing. This idea could not have come to life without the team, each of us was able to elevate the idea more and more.

This started a class assignment Aditi Sobti and Jamal Means had, then as a team, we gathered with Cecilia Minashes and me and discussed how can we elevate this idea even more? After brainstorming and working on the idea, we came up with Oreo Braille.

I think that one of the biggest challenges was that all of us were in different locations, we could not meet in person and had different time zones and schedules.

I think that winning an award gives you that recognition, many times we know our ideas are amazing but having that extra validation is what makes us feel even more confident. This prestigious award also gives us as creatives a validation in the field that our work was submitted and judged and it won.

Innovation. Creativity. The use of creativity for social purposes

I think that technology will have an even bigger impact on advertising. With Ai in design and even in copywriting, we may get to see more of that.

Give it your all, go the extra mile, have a good network of creative professionals, and try to get their feedback.

Always keep yourself updated, Google, Adobe, Linked In, and many other companies have workshops and learning gateways creatives should explore and get the most out of them.

I do jingles! Yes, in a very non-professional way but that was one of my skills in Creative Advertising Class. I pitched a jingle by singing it in front of the whole class, in the end, I won the client which was worth it.

My family and friends have inspired me, my parents have taught me to dream big, and they dream big with me. My friends give me their support and celebrate each of my milestones.

Never lose your muchness! Yes one of my favorite quotes from Alice in Wonderland, always keep that special factor that defines you and makes you stand out, go the extra mile, and dream big.

Yes, my team, Aditi Sobti, Cecilia Minashes, and Jamal Means, I am very thankful for them and to know that we won this award together, also our mentor Federico Giraldo was amazing support and guidance throughout this process.