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Never heard of Rich Russo sry
I am a white woman with two decades of experience. I had a bizarre interview with Rich Russo as well. He told me that he would like to hire me but that would upset the male creative directors on his team to have me come in with more experience and talent than them and for me to have a higher position than them. I had no idea what he was talking about. I then had to listen to him name drop and brag about his fabulous career for 30 more minutes. He then hired me as a freelancer and put me on a pharma brief with about eight other teams. The (male) writer I was to partner with was out of town so is came up with a campaign on my own. When we presented the campaign in a conference room with Rich Russo and 7 other men, I was interrupted multiple time’s by both the men and my writing partner. I was told the campaign Art direction was “too Target” and I defended the work by stating that pharma does not need another senior couple walking on a beach while holding hands and with a golden retriever. The pharma client loved my campaign and bought it. Rich Russo then had me rotated onto another piece of business and then laid me off. When he called me to lay me off “due to covid” I reminded him that out of all of the campaigns presented, mine was bought and is being produced. In which case, he should be replacing his hacks with me and my actual talent that produces revenue for the agency. I was completely cut off and now I have to see my campaign on the air 24/7. It is an exact copy of what I presented and what I have proof of in my time stamped boards. This unethical behavior bastardizes freelancers and I am grateful for this forum to share these hideous experiences. These toxic leaders derail careers for women and minorities.
Don’t believe this ever happened
Run.
I'm really sorry you had that experience that and I can see how it is disheartening, but I just figured I'd drop my 2 cents here for anyone else that stumbles onto this thread in the future. I just interviewed with Rich, and I totally didn't get any of these vibes from him. I am a Latina creative professional, my culture, ethnicity or gender was never a part of the conversation. Sadly I read this right before the interview and I was pretty discouraged but was pleasantly surprised after our conversation.