Afshan Nasseri, Founder & CEO at Aam Creative

Kerel  00:04

Hi everyone, we want to welcome everyone to another episode of Minority Report Podcast with Erik and Kerel. This is Kerel. I'm flying solo today as Erik is out. We miss him and he'll be back for the next episode. But today I have an awesome guest with me. I'm going to actually pass it over to her and let her introduce herself. And then we'll jump into the conversation.

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Afshan Nasseri  00:29

Thank you so much. Hi, everybody. My name is Afshan, Afshan Nasseri and I am the Founder of Aam Creative, which is a multicultural marketing agency.

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Kerel  00:38

Afshan, again, thank you for joining me. Really looking forward to this conversation and learning more about your creative agency. But before we get there, let's take it back a little bit. Tell us about where you were born and raised.

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Afshan Nasseri  00:52

Sure. I was born in Montreal, Canada, and I was raised - so when I was one, I moved to a small suburb of Boston called Sharon, Massachusetts.

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Kerel  01:04

Awesome. You were born in Canada moved to Boston. Right? Tell us a little bit about your family background. Where are your parents from?

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Afshan Nasseri  01:11

So my mom is from India from a city called Lucknow, probably haven't heard of it. And she moved from Lucknow when she was seven to Canada, to the north of Montreal, a small town called St. Jerome, which is super, super, not diverse. And then my dad moved from Iran in 1977, right before the Iranian Revolution, and he moved to Montreal as well. So they met in high school, or what we call CEGEP in Quebec, fell in love. And then out came me and my sister. (laughs)

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Kerel  01:30

(laughs) Gotcha. What was the experience like growing up with parents from two different countries, two different parts of the world, living in Canada growing up in an area, to your point, that wasn't very diverse.

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Afshan Nasseri  01:58

Yeah, so that's where my mom was from. But then I was one, we basically moved to this town, Sharon, in Boston, in Massachusetts. So Montreal itself, actually, I would say, is a very diverse city, which is actually what led me to go back for my university. And Sharon is diverse in certain ways. But honestly, I didn't get to feel it too much, because I went to a private school since the second grade. But growing up, like in a multicultural family, I mean, it's interesting, there's a lot of overlap in certain ways, between Indian Muslims, because I'm Muslim on both sides, Indian Muslims and Iranians. There are threads, like even the language that we speak. In India, Muslims typically speak language called Urdu. And that has similarities to Farsi. So it actually stems from Farsi. So in my house, we had multiple languages being thrown around. And if you didn't understand one, you could kind of feel it out if you understood another. Then we had like French because my parents grew up in Montreal in Quebec, which is  a French speaking province. And then they moved to the Dominican Republic later. So there was always a lot of languages, but I think otherwise, it was a really kind of seamless harmony. And I think it's because my parents moved when they were really young. So it wasn't the typical immigrant experience. And I'm not the typical, like, what is it first gen? I am technically the first born, right, in this side of the world. But my parents moved when they were so young, that, and their parents also were very open people. So I really was able to kind of find a balance that I loved. And it allows me to like shift into different spaces really nicely, I think.

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Kerel  02:11

Gotcha. Okay. As I was doing my research for this conversation, I had read an article about you on creating a life around your passions, right? Tell me what that means.

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Afshan Nasseri  03:57

(sighs) I don't even know if I like that title very much. (laughs)

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Kerel  04:00

Well, I didn't write it. (laughs)

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Afshan Nasseri  04:02

You know, it wasn't meant to be like that. And I mean, I think that you should do what you love. My parents always look at that and say, my parents are brown, they still needed us to be extremely high achieving people. But they didn't force us into the doctor pressure, even though my dad is a doctor, my mom is in the science and healthcare fields as well. But they didn't pressure us into that, or the engineer or the lawyer. But they basically were just like, you need to be really good at whatever you do. And from, I mean, I was very comfortable grinding it out and climbing the corporate ladder. I respect people who do that. And honestly, I envy them to an extent because I never got to do that because I quit my job very prematurely and the pandemic hit. So I never was able to get into the corporate world. But I think now that I'm kind of on the other side, you know, a few years out and my path has kind of like, has some structure to it. I can look back and say, I mean, that would have been a good route, you know, to do things things that are a little bit less passion filled, and still gotten, you know, amazing corporate network or names of companies to attach myself with, I had to go an extremely difficult way and get thrown into like, entrepreneurship at a young age. And that is a privilege 100%. But it makes my journey a lot more zigzaggy I guess, than a lot of my peers that, you know, went into consulting, and then they're earning X amount, and now they're starting their startups. And they're able to reach out into their networks and say, oh, I need VC funding or, you know, so building a life around your passion is really nice, and it is a privilege. But there are a lot of drawbacks that can come from it.

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Kerel  05:41

Mm Mm. Well, before, I want to ask you more about the drawbacks, but before I get there, tell everyone about Creative.

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Afshan Nasseri  05:49

Sure. So Aam creative is a multicultural marketing agency. And we really started calling ourselves a multicultural marketing agency, actually, this January, because for a long time, I kind of hinted that I was really thrown into entrepreneurship. So I wasn't really sure, you know, should I be narrowing in so much on my expertise within these diasporas? Or am I missing out on other like market opportunities, and I think now, practically three years into the business, we really have narrowed in on it. So essentially, we are an agency and our team is fully comprised of women of color from around the world, we tend to be either Gen Z, or millennial, and Gen Z. And we work on everything from branding and brand design. So we kind of have like a mini studio within our agency. And then we do paid media, social media management and strategy, influencer marketing. And this new kind of thing that we've developed in 2024 is called cultural consulting, where we are trying to work with larger entities to bring in our expertise on certain diasporas and the cultural insights of those diasporas. So let's say if Walmart decides they finally want to talk about Ramadan, or Eid, we would love to, you know, help them understand what it is educate them, educate their marketing teams, make sure they're aligned internally on those values, and then help them potentially with a campaign. So that's what we do.

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Kerel  07:12

I want to stay on multicultural marketing for a second there, there's a lot written about multicultural marketing. It's been, I would say, a trending topic over the last four years, let's just call it. From your perspective, what is the state of multicultural marketing today? Do you see more and more brands sort of leaning into that and understanding the importance of not only reaching diverse audiences, but building relationships with those audiences as well?

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Afshan Nasseri  07:42

So we'll talk about the status of the state of affairs first, and then what I've been seeing has been changing. So the state of affairs is sad, it's sad. And I think you really notice how sad it is when you start to go into different markets, and you realize how little the United States is doing. So as you guys have heard, now, I have like a lot of experience in the Canadian market as well. I also did my undergrad there. And I go back very often. And then I actually did my masters in London. So I had some time in the UK as well. So I was able to kind of experience all three of these markets. And I would say the UK is definitely way ahead in terms of really talking to these different audiences. And that means that like, whenever any big holiday coming up for any of these larger minority groups, they are talking about it, Diwali, Eid, holy, etc. Like from the South Asian diaspora, at least, most of the big grocery stores are doing something, some kind of activation. And that's really nice to see. And I think they've really mastered the fact that you don't have to always put so much budget in and so much lift. If you want to try it out and you want to show your investor team or financing team, great, there's ways that you can be innovative and still make people feel seen and heard, right? So state of affairs, for now is sad, you basically see nothing about these larger diaspora groups, especially the Asian American population, and then like Muslims, and things like that, as well. So that's where we're at right now. And I think over the past, I would say in the last three years, in particular, definitely after BLM Movement, we've seen traction, and I think I've seen similar conversations in the black community as well, right? We saw a lot of traction and a lot of companies, you know, scrambling and saying, oh, we need to do something, or we're gonna get cancelled. I mean, we don't know their intentions, but we have a hint that they think that they're gonna get cancelled, so they have to do something. And we saw, you know, budget being poured in, initiatives happening, but then things slowing down. And I think for the Asian communities, there wasn't the same urgency because nothing was really pressing on them. But I think I've started to see for sure post, what was it, 2019,  2020?-

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Kerel  09:57

2020

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Afshan Nasseri  09:57

Yeah, I've seen more. It's not like a complete ramp up. But even, you know, right now Ramadan is happening and Eid is just around the corner, we're seeing Eid parties and Ramadan Iftar parties for the first time in the city, like a lot of big entities are throwing them. In fact, I'm even like helping put one on and with big people. There's budget going into these events essentially. And even like KitKat, for example, has put out a campaign for Ramadan. So we've seen these bigger brands, Ikea, Ikea has been touching on Diwali, they touched on Holy and they're touching on Eid. So these brands are starting to listen to these groups and pay attention to the need, I think, for sure.

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Kerel  10:41

Gotcha. Okay, well, it'll definitely be something very interesting to watch in the months and years ahead to see, you know, how brands continue to try to market to the diverse consumer. So how long has your company been around? When did you found the company or launch it?

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Afshan Nasseri  10:57

Yeah, officially founded in 2021. In June of 2021.

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Kerel  11:01

Gotcha, okay okay. So take me back a little bit. What was the motivating factor for you to launch your own company?

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Afshan Nasseri  11:10

Well, I was jobless. (laughs)

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Kerel  11:11

(laughs) That's always a motivating factor.

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Afshan Nasseri  11:15

Yeah, quite motivating. But basically, so I graduated from university in 2019, I was super excited to start at a job in the skincare industry, it was a startup, and I was their second hire. And I think I was basically hired because of the brand was skincare inspired by Indian beauty. And that is my expertise. Like, you want to know what's happening in like the South Asian community right now in the United States, like, that's me, I know exactly what's happening at all times. And so it was a really good placement for me. But I think I basically quit prematurely for my own reasons. So after three, four months, like my first job, I felt like a failure because, like I said, I am the kind of personality type to say, I am going to grind it out, but I did not grind it out. And I thought, okay, you know what, I have to probably go into a corporate role, and climb my way up that way. And I think the main thing is that, that is where I officially got to work on things that had culture kind of infused in them. And where I got to see that, hmm, people actually kind of want this weird, like knowledge that I have, that I thought was absolutely useless, right. And even my internships, like throughout college, there was always some kind of pull in that direction. So I remember being at VICE media, and they were launching VICE India. I don't even know if that ever actually happened, but the conversations were happening, like on the desk next to me, and they were putting together the stakeholder list of people that they could activate with. And, you know, I looked at the girl and I was like, eh, I think I know probably a thing or two more about India than her. And so I said, "Hey, like, can I help you? Can I take a look at your list and see, you know what I think and if I can add any names?" And I looked at the list, and it was just all wrong, it was so so wrong. It was clearly not done by someone who had that like insider insight. So that was like my one, you know, note of me saying, hmm it could be really cool if I could find a job, or a space, you know, in the world where I could help with my love for marketing, and my weird knowledge about these spaces and my ability to like, embed myself into these little pop cultures. Then later on, I was at a PR agency in London, and Etihad Airlines, which is an airline based out of Abu Dhabi was one of our clients. And it was Ramadan. So everyone in the office is scrambling, oh my god, we need to do like an activation for Ramadan. What do we do? What can we say? You know, they're probably gonna have a daytime event and we can't even eat during the day. It's just like that basic knowledge that is missing. And again, that thing kind of came up where I said, "Wait, why is there no like cultural liaison?" That was the word I was kind of thinking in my head. Why is there no cultural liaison who's helping, you know, these marketers or brands speak to these moments and these people that clearly need time and care to be spoken to? We've seen brands mess up majorly. So that kind of thing just stayed in my head. And then when I was jobless, when the pandemic hit, and I knew I was definitely not getting a marketing job anytime soon. I just started freelancing and hustling. That thing stayed with me, there was like moments in my head. And I started with helping very small South Asian businesses digitize because it was a pandemic. And then from there, first, I was just desperate for revenue, right? And just building a portfolio. And as I started to gain that credibility, I was able to start working towards my goal of something that I knew was bigger and and more impactful.

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Kerel  14:43

Gotcha. Gotcha. And you mentioned a minute ago, I guess it was around the time where you lost your job, it was a low point for you, right? How did you get through that sort of period of time to and then, you know, sort of bounce back. What got you through that low point?

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Afshan Nasseri  14:59

Ughh, that was my first true test of resilience. And I was only like, I think 23. So you know, when you're 23, you might not go through that much, but I think that was the first time where I was like, wait, I can't calculate my whole life journey?! Like I was very type A, in that sense. I liked working hard. And I, I wanted to like get somewhere. And so it just like threw me to the ground, really. My mom describes it as I was like, something that got run over and she had to pick me up, like a Flat Stanley kind of thing. But I mean, I was home, there was not much else I could do. I'm really good at focusing on things and concentrating. So I just said, you know what, I just have to really focus and try. And I knew that if I tried hard enough, I could potentially do something. I started working for free. I started working for peanuts, I didn't care. I just needed something to show that, hey, I'm good at this. And to build my own confidence too, because I was very junior and I didn't know a lot. And so I had to do a lot of learning on my own. So honestly, how did I go from there to there? I had time during the pandemic, to do that and to focus and learn. But yeah, still learning.

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Kerel  16:16

Yeah, we all are still learning, right? We should never stop learning. What do you love about being a CEO?

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Afshan Nasseri  16:23

I think one of my favorite parts is that there's a lot of talent in these countries that I work with, in terms of like India, and Pakistan, Indonesia, a lot of my employees are from those countries, and they're all young women. And I think the coolest part is that you find a lot of talent in those countries, but sometimes they just don't get the opportunities, right? Or they don't even know how to like send an email sometimes. Not that this is the case for everybody, but they lose out on opportunities, essentially, is what I'm saying, even if their talent is like, amazing. And I think one thing that I love is being able to work with women in these places and give them opportunities of projects that they might not have been able to get previously. And that's because I really hunt for talent. I know where to look in these places, and the universities or schools or whatever it might be or through friends. And there was like, a few months ago, one of my employees from one of those countries reached out and said, you know, "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that through the money that I made from, I was able to buy a car." And that for me, just is awesome. You know, especially when you're in, not the United States. These are women who typically are never financially independent. So I just love moments like that. It makes me feel good and all the crying is worth it.

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Kerel  17:36

I'm sure there isn't a typical day, but what is a good day look like for you?

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Afshan Nasseri  17:43

A good day looks like me working from, me getting up early. That is a difficult one. So let's say I get up at eight, that would be amazing. I get up at eight-

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Kerel  17:52

(laughs) I got up at 4:30 this morning. (laughs)

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Afshan Nasseri  17:55

In the morning?

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Kerel  17:56

Oh yeah, I get up super early every morning. (laughs)

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Afshan Nasseri  18:00

I was up until six in the morning, also because of Ramadan, obviously like [inaudible] Yeah. Then I had to wake up at noon, I was like, noooo. But yeah, so getting up early. I wish I had whatever gene you have, so 8am. And then heading to a co working space, I love working out of co working space because we don't have an office and working from home sometimes gets pretty isolating. So go into a co working space, and maybe a networking call or two to ease in the morning. And then maybe a new business call to get me excited. That would be like a good day. And maybe an in person client visit. I always like to do those. I think they really energize me, especially in just this remote working world. It can get so sad. And you can sometimes never feel the impact of your work. But I feel like when someone sits down next to you and says oh, I love what you guys are doing, it's a really good feeling. Yeah, I'm a simple gal. Maybe an iced coffee from Mary Lou's and a good lunch. (laughs)

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Kerel  18:57

There you go. There you go. What gets you very excited. Now you just mentioned maybe a new client call, but you know, when you're in your day to day, maybe it's a new campaign, maybe it is a new client call, maybe it's something else, like what really gets you super excited?

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Afshan Nasseri  19:14

Cultural consulting, for sure. I mean, that is the main thing that we really have been pushing. And because I kind of have told you my my origin story, so to speak, that is really something that has been at the back of my mind since I was 18 or no, 19, my first internship. And I think whenever I can get some work in cultural consulting, the topics are just so cool. Like when would I ever get to talk about I don't know, a typical eve day in Boston, Massachusetts. What does that look like? What brands are we using? Like, those are just things that it's really about the way that I grew up and these weird insights that I have, I love being able to work in that capacity. So that's what gets me really excited, when I'm able to share insights like that with people who, you know, just thought that like, all South Asians were Indian, and we're all only, let's say, Hindu and Punjabi, you know, like, just to show that there's so much complexity to our worlds, I think that's always really fun for me.

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Kerel  20:13

Yeah, I realized that a lot, too, is like when you talk to brands, and you have to have those conversations, I mean, you can take any group of people, and there are all so many sort of different layers and nuances, we are not all the same at all, no matter what group of people you talk about. And I think the more and more marketers and brands realize that I think the better they will be at, you know, reaching diverse consumers and building those relationships with them.

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Afshan Nasseri  20:41

Yeah, and it's difficult, right? There's not going to be a campaign that makes every single South Asian person happy. Within our own communities, like a lot of the times, you know, we're gonna say, hey, but why didn't you show this, you know, and I get that too. And finding that balance to keep everyone happy is important. But I think we just have to start somewhere, and like, do the work and, and make sure that work is not just performative as well, right? You don't want to just put on a campaign for a big brand, you want to make sure that you're educating them from the inside out. So that's what also gets me excited, too.

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Kerel  21:12

Awesome. Awesome. What type of content you consuming these days?

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Afshan Nasseri  21:16

So, okay, the one book that I've had on my nightstand forever, that I want to finish reading is a book about. their stories from partition, that partition between the Indian subcontinent, so India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, technically. And it's just like, accounts of people on both sides of the border. So I just love learning about history through people's stories, I think it's like the best way to learn. And in terms of other content that I've been consuming in this space, I've really been loving this podcast called Girls That Invest. It's by Simran Kaur. She's become quite big in the last like, few years, but she's amazing. And I think financial literacy is something that's so important. And investing in stocks is something that scares me, I do it, but I want to, I need to learn more. And so yeah, I love hearing someone like me, you know, talking on the other side of the podcast and teaching me all these fun things.

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Kerel  22:09

Awesome. Awesome. You've got a pretty big social following yourself. I think on Instagram, you're over like 30,000 followers. How did you do it? What advice do you have for anyone that wants to build a social following?

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Afshan Nasseri  22:22

So that was actually my first thing into marketing, is that I actually did that when I was in college. And then I stopped because I was just like, I can't dress up anymore and get ready every day. I got out. But I think the one thing that I realized, and I wish I had more time to put into it sometimes is talk about what you want to talk about. I was talking about my mom's hometown of Lucknow, it's something, it's a place that I'm just very passionate about. Ten years ago, I remember having a conversation with someone and telling them I was from Lucknow, and they're like, oh, my god, like you're backwards. It's that kind of place. Okay. And I think, from the kind of stories that I've been able to tell through content pictures, so many people reach out to me and say, wait, I want to go to Lucknow, like, can you give me a tour? Or can you do this? Or like, what should I do? Send me your itinerary. And this is such a neglected place. So I didn't think anyone would care. And I just started talking about it. And that was just like, a fun thing for me to do, just to discover it. And that was also like, as I was growing up a little bit and understanding what my culture meant to me and how I relate to it. So yeah, that was how I built the following is just talking about what I was really good at talking about.

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Kerel  23:39

Gotcha. And consistently putting out content, too, I think is key.

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Afshan Nasseri  23:43

Yeah, back in the day, not anymore, which is why it doesn't grow anymore.

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Kerel  23:48

What's something you wish you were better at?

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Afshan Nasseri  23:51

Being assertive. As a CEO, and Founder and Manager of this team, I think, because, again, I started the company when I was like, 23. So I had never managed someone. There's also a lot of just nightmare stories that come out of companies where you know, their women run and women look at those companies and they say, oh, I want to work there one day, and this horror story comes out and you're like, what?! I thought that person was amazing. So I just always have been so cautious to maybe give more. Maybe it's not been the best choice for me all the time. And I think you're respected more when you're assertive. Especially as like a young woman. I think that was something that was difficult for me to learn to not get pushed around. So yes, I definitely wish that I was more assertive. And I'm working on it.

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Kerel  24:39

Gotcha. Gotcha. Alright fun question. What's in your music rotation these days?

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Afshan Nasseri  24:45

God guys, I mostly listened to Indian music. So I won't share those ones with you. But I think I was, because I came back to my hometown and I was listening to the radio because I was driving for the first time in forever. And I really liked this song called Saturn, I think it's called by Sza. Is that how you say her name?

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Kerel  25:03

Okay, I don't know the song. (laughs)

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Afshan Nasseri  25:06

Okay it's really good. I really liked it.

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Kerel  25:08

Yeah. Awesome. Any other choices? Or that's the one that's top of mind for you right now?

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Afshan Nasseri  25:14

That's top of mind.

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Kerel  25:18

Well, thank you for joining us today, really appreciate it. If anyone that's listening wants to reach out and continue to conversation with you, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you? LinkedIn?

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Afshan Nasseri  25:30

Yeah, you can LinkedIn me or email me.

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Kerel  25:32

Gotcha. Gotcha. Well Afshan, thank you for joining us today. Really appreciate the conversation. And for those of you listening to the podcast, thank you for tuning in to another episode. You can find more Minority Report podcast episodes wherever you find all your audio and video. Thanks and talk to you guys soon.

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Afshan Nasseri  25:52

Thank you.

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