Maria Teresa Hernandez, Head of Supplier Diversity at Mirriad

Erik  00:00

Music. Welcome to all of our listeners. Welcome to another episode of MRP, Minority Report podcast with Eric and Kerel. Each episode, we talk with real operators in leaders in media, tech and business. And today, joining us is Maria Teresa Hernandez, head of supplier diversity at Myriad. Let's jump in and get to know Maria. Maria, welcome. How are you?

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  00:27

I'm good. I'm good. Thank you so much. I'm excited.

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Erik  00:30

We're excited to have you too. I can't wait to ask you to talk a little bit about myriad, actually, let's just do it now. What do you say for those that don't know what myriad is, can you tell us about Myriad?

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  00:43

Yeah, so myriad, well, I'm biased. It's special. It's different than probably anything that really most folks have heard about in the ecosystem of advertising specifically. And we're a little unique because we straddle advertising, technology, entertainment. And so the easiest way to think of it is, it's a technology powered by AI that's turning what we've historically known as product placement into a digitized ad format, the idea to be able to buy as media integrations into TV shows, music videos, influencer content, you know, at scale. And so when I joined myriad about six years ago, it was actually a technology they've been around for quite a few years, actually 15 years at this point. But when I joined, it had been around, but it had lived for many years as a post production visual effects company. And we did a lot of work in post production. You know, visual effects in major motion films like The technology earned an award for an Academy Award for the work we did in the Black Swan. So Natalie Portman, her arm swings. That's, you know, myriad kind of genesis of Hollywood and taking, you know, the ability to essentially use technology to manipulate moments within on screen. So the tech was there, yep, yep. So we took this technology and brought it into the marketplace that we've created today, and so now we're able to essentially bridge brands into content in a way that's never really been possible. What's a little unique in the technology, and why I say it's so special, is that when I joined we only had really two supply partners, media partners, that we were working with, so a lot of folks didn't really know we existed. We were white labeled, and in the last few years, last six years, I've been with the company, I realized it was an opportunity to take this technology, and while it was empowering suppliers right, creating revenue streams, or new revenue streams for supply partners, really prioritizing diverse, owned and targeted. And so it started as something I was passionate about, and really evolved into a marketplace, you know, and working with black, owned, Hispanic, Asian, LGBTQ plus owned suppliers, and, you know, enabling them to leverage this technology to create a new revenue stream for themselves. So it's been really exciting. A lot of great work has come out of it, and, and it's still good work. It's purposeful, intentional. And I'm really excited, you know, in terms of what we have ahead of us still that's

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Erik  03:01

exciting. I want to come back and talk a little bit more about that, because it's really cool, and I think it would be great to unpack that a little bit more. But Maria, tell us a little bit about you. Where were you born and raised? And tell us a little bit about your family. Yeah.

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  03:17

So I am Shy Town, through and through. Born in Chicago and raised on the north side a community part of Chicago called Lake View, for those folks who are familiar with Chicago, and I grew up in Lakeview, you know what it wasn't what it is today. Then again, Chicago is a very beautiful town, but you know, segregated? You know communities are you got your black communities, your Hispanic community, or, you know, Polish community. And growing up, I felt that I saw that, I recognized that. And it was interesting because I also being raised by a mom, a single mom, who was struggling to get through school, to go through college, but also dealing with so much of her own identity that had been as a Mexican American woman in Chicago almost suppressed. So, you know, she is a fourth generation American. You know, US born Mexican American. And so, you know our roots in this country really are deep. And so living in Chicago for her, you know, years and years and generations of essentially being stripped of your identity and and the nuances of being Mexican American in this country really weighed on her. So for myself, growing up, I saw how conflicted she was with her identity and her latinidad, and as I started researching my own, you know, identity and wanting to be proud of being Mexican American and digging in deeper in terms of my history and where this all came from, and why my mom always was so just weird about her latinidad and her identity as a Mexican American woman. It took me a lot of understanding and really pain to uncover and unpack the history of the Mexican American diaspora and. How we had been taught and trained through generations to acculturate and to strip your identity as Mexican Americans, even though we really built so much of the infrastructure and the fabric of this country. And so I started digging deeper and realizing that I can track our roots, you know, on my mom's dad's side in Texas for hundreds and hundreds of years, like they were Texan born, you know, for generations, and then on my mom's side, you know, going deeper into her history with her grandparents, and realizing I actually found a Marriage License in Oklahoma from 1918 and it was interesting, because my great grandfather's name was Leonardo and his new bride was Maria, but they were represented as Leonard and Maddie on the license, their marriage license in Oklahoma in 1918 and so it was such a like moment for me that here we are 120 years later, and I could relate to them in This kind of sad way of this constant stripping, you know, in Anglo, you know, izing the culture. And here we are, you know, it kind of carries into the industry that we even work in, where we're still kind of fighting for culture and heritage to stand up and to be proud of it. So full circle, going back to my my upbringing in Chicago, you know, seeing my mom growing up in Shy Town, which was going through so much, you know, the 1970s the Black Power movement, Civil Right Movement, really reaching their peak and really influencing communities beyond just the black neighborhoods. And so at the same time, the Chicano movement was also taking place in cities like Chicago, and it inspired this sense of pride and solidarity among marginalized communities. And so for both my parents, who were tied to being Mexican American and growing up in a city at the peak of these cross cultural movements, it did open them up to that idea of cultural pride and resilience, you know, and even resistance right against those dominant forces of assimilation. And so as I, you know, grew up as a teenager, seeing my mom struggle with that like it was like within closed doors, we were proud. We walked out. I wasn't taught Spanish, so I had to kind of take that ownership of my culture and kind of relearn it in a way that stripped away, that shame that sadly, through generations, we have been trained to kind of own. Maria,

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Kerel  07:25

thanks for sharing that. I'm curious to know, how did sort of that upbringing and the part about your mom and assimilation, how do you think that has impacted or influenced you as a parent today,

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  07:41

tremendously. You know, it's crazy how you get to an age where you realize you want to, like, release the chain spiritually again, almost like it feels so real that you almost feel that chain on you. And I felt for so long, I even carried some of that shame because I was so confused. A lot of my friends are also first generation and second generation Latino, and so their cultural heritage and pride was so strong because, you know, their parents had just gotten here, and so, you know, for them, it was just kind of a no brainer to feel this sense of pride in your culture. And then for me, I didn't know anybody that lived in Mexico, right? I didn't know anybody my family had been here for so long, and even in Chicago, and even my growing up, it was so segregated. And not just within, you know, white and Latinos. It was even within our own internalized Latino communities, right? Mexicans against Puerto Ricans against Cubans. And so it was always the running joke. I was one of the only Mexicans in my crew where, ha, ha ha, Mexican joke. Haha, just kidding, and I would get defensive. And I finally got to the point where, as I started doing my own research and understanding my culture, going down to ancestry.com you know, reading stories from, you know, ancestry.com and the records that you could access, and suddenly just feeling this sense of pride of my heritage. And so with my kids now, you know, they have Dominican Mexican teaching them that. And I'll never forget, you know, when my daughter was about four years old, when Coco came out, and it was such a powerful moment of representation on screen and the music and the colors and the family story, and seeing my daughter just love it to the point of tears. Whenever they would come on, she'd get so emotional. And I really felt like it was a full circle moment of this pride. And so now my kids are super proud to be Mexican. I mean, they tell everybody, and sometimes I have to be like, Oh, by the way, you're also Dominican. No, it's amazing. And so I do feel like I released that sadly, you know, for so long, sense of shame, of, you know, Mexican American culture, and being able to instill into my kids now with pride has been, you know, definitely a full circle moment

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Erik  09:44

that's pretty cool and fascinating too. You know, I wonder, did you have a chance to talk with your mom about everything you just expressed? Because I feel like so much of the way you're describing it was you learning about it on your own and sort of like Re. Searching on your own and connecting all those dots on your own. Was there really a time where you could talk to her directly about that?

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  10:10

Yeah, I think, you know, even growing up, I always kind of push back and try to understand, but Mom, what are we really like? We're Mexican, but then it was like, you don't seem that proud about it. And it and it wasn't that, you know, and she would push back and say, no, no, you know, I am proud. And I almost feel like it was just that she was so disconnected to it. And growing up, the culture that really embraced her was the black community at the time, again, in 1970s were Motown and blues, and so all of that was so much of her identity. And she didn't, unfortunately, learn Spanish until later in life. So I think it's also as I was going through my journey, so was she, and kind of bringing my epiphany and my love for the culture and learning stories about our heritage, and, you know, meeting ancestors and family of ancestors, she was going down that path with me. So together, we really went through the journey of reconnecting with our heritage. And so it's been something that we've been able to explore collectively as a family, really.

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Erik  11:03

Oh, that's cool, Marie. I want to ask you, you know, we talked a little bit about what you're doing currently in kind of like the last almost six years, right? And as I was thinking about your journey and your career journey too, it all started somewhere very different. I'm gonna ask you to rewind all the way back to 2002 once upon a time, right? And one of your first jobs was almost in sales, right? Would you say it was starting off in sales? Yeah.

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  11:34

Listen, I went to school thinking I was going to be a marketer. I got my master's degree. I was so set. I was gonna, you know, my mind, I was gonna make commercials and make a lot of money. And, you know, work in advertising. And a friend of mine from high school, her father owned one of the biggest Latin, you know, experiential production companies that produced some of the biggest Hispanic concert tours. And so right when I was graduating, I was interviewing with agencies and even brands direct. And they called me in and he said, Hey, do you want to work for me and sell, you know, concert sponsorships for some of the biggest Latin talent? And of course, it's like, Absolutely, yeah. And so I went from thinking I was going to be a marketer to suddenly touring, you know, basically selling the touring sponsorships to someone, you know, like Daddy Yankee and Anna Gabriel and Vicente Fernandez. And it was an amazing, incredible experience. And actually that was also, you know, this weird journey of joining a company where no one looked like me, no one talked like me. Nobody had the same history as I did, and we were all Latino, right? So I think that was really interesting for myself as well, to learn, you know, and meet so many different Latinos from different countries and all the nuances that go with that, right? I worked there for several years, and it was exciting. It was at the start of reggaeton. And so I have just so much love for old school reggaeton. It was part of my early career, and that really was what kind of put my feet in, into multicultural marketing. And you know, those friends and those connections and those clients that I work with 20 years ago, 20 plus years ago, are still so much a part of my career journey, even today.

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Erik  13:10

Yeah, that's cool. I wanted to ask you kind of how you feel starting in sales has helped you in all of your future roles. You know, that's not always. Everyone's sort of Genesis story or origin story, right? How do you feel that learning sales early on and even having a successful sales career, how has that helped you in some of your later roles in your career,

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  13:35

being in sales and even to this day? I mean, listen, I've been in sales, business development and everything in between. They think sales has been such a special experience for me in shaping who I am, my resilience. You know, you have to have thick skin, and I think there's a difference between being a salesperson and being really a strategist, right? You're understanding where the gaps are, where the challenges are for your clients, and finding solutions. And so I've been really fortunate to work for companies and, you know, deliver a solution, being able to shape campaigns and opportunities for advertisers that are just so outside the box and so different. So what I've sold in my career has been fulfilling, you know, across the board for myself or my clients, whether it was sponsorships in Latin, you know, music, or going to a major holding company like IPG, and I was selling barter, you know, for Orion. And I did that for six years. And that was a game changer for me, because it was such an outside the box sell in really getting brands to understand the advertisers, to say, hey, you know some of your propellers, you know, United Airlines. And in exchange, I am going to give you media credits that you can now apply towards offsetting some of your advertising investments. And so, you know, I loved kind of using my brain and all kinds of ways, from, you know, shaping barter deals to being in the weeds of media and how you apply those credits. It was definitely, I think, Orion. Was a really interesting time being at a major holding company, working for a water agency,

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Kerel  15:04

Maria. What gets you excited about our industry and the work

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  15:07

that you do? Oh, man, you know, it just never stops. You know the listen, I'm a hustler. My nature is just I don't stop. I almost feel false.

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Kerel  15:17

I see I see you everywhere, right? We, just saw each other last week too, right? So I can confirm Rhea is a hustler.

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  15:25

I am always out there trying to make noise, but it's not just for me. I'm so passionate about what I do, about representation, about taking everything from my journey growing up in a very segregated town like Chicago that taught me so much resilience, but also so much love of alliances between the black and brown community, which, you know, was so much a part of my upbringing, and bringing that into this industry for my entire career, right? So figuring out how I can bridge the Latino community with the black community, because oftentimes there's this, you know, this weird energy where Latinos, especially first generation Latinos, are trying to figure out how they can help, how they can get involved, how they can, you know, support. And it really is something I'm just so passionate about because it's so much, you know, who I am. And so in every role that I've had while it was general market or did not have a, you know, diverse or multicultural lane. It's creating that, right? It's bringing it back to the, you know, really, the the heart of who I am. So that gets me excited, finding ways to champion and to drive change, to be purposeful and think outside the box, right? I love to go rogue while still driving revenue, but finding ways to really still move the needle and championing for marginalized and often underrepresented communities, even as it applies to our industry and advertising. Yep, yep,

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Kerel  16:51

we saw each other at Black week, which was last week, lot of great leaders in those rooms on stage. I'm sure you've had great leaders throughout your career. I'm sure you are a great leader yourself. What are some keys to being a great leader in leadership?

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  17:11

Yeah, I would say intentionality, empathy, really knowing your why and just making sure that every decision you make reflects that purpose. So you know, for me, again, it goes back to honoring my heritage, my culture, lifting others up, and not just talking about diversity, but actively creating it in the spaces that I work in. And so representation, again, is so important for me. And so even being a Latina in this industry, and there are not enough Latinas, especially the higher you rise in the ranks. And so being able to sit on panels, do podcasts, right sharing my story that's very different and nuanced than you know another person or woman of color. And so I think it is important to share the stories and amplify those voices within our community, here in the industry, and being available and open with your time as well. Gotcha.

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Kerel  18:10

Gotcha. What's something you wish you were better at?

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  18:13

Probably not taking things so personally. And I mean that in that in the climate that we're in today, with our industry, our country, the world, it feels heavy. It feels heavy every day. And so, you know, you go to bed at night and you just can't fall asleep. Because, you know, I'm thinking about what I can do, how I can drive change, how I can be purposeful, intentional, you know, reflecting on my day and starting my day right tomorrow, like, how can I kick off my day, hitting the ground running, and being, you know, intentional, and so it's almost to a fault, right? You know, you can't take everything personal. How this industry moves the systematic racism in this industry, right? It can't always be personal, and you don't always want to be the angry, loud person in the room. Always passionate, because culturally, we all live with so much passion, especially, I mean, Latinos are known for our passion and our conviction and still showing up, but not taking everything so personal, and being able to kind of, you know, step away knowing you're not curing cancer, and it's okay

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Erik  19:24

to take your bags. Maria, I want to ask you about something personal. And you know, I love seeing all the awards you've taken home a bunch top women in media. And I want to ask you about the working mothers of the year post where you shared something personal that I thought was really special, because you shared that around 15 years ago, you were told that it was going to be really, really hard for you to have kids, and that seems really personal. I. And then to see you share that really cool photo and image of your kids at your award with your image on stage, and they're taking it all in. I thought was pretty cool. Can you tell us about that moment and that time? Yeah, so

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  20:19

it's actually a little deeper than that. So around 2007 I was living in Chicago, you know, working, selling sponsorships, living the dream. I just bought my condo. I was single, I had no kids, and I didn't feel right, you know, something was off, and I was diagnosed with stage one ovarian cancer, it's actually something that women typically don't catch in time. So I was lucky and fortunate enough to listen to my body and during recovery, after surgery, I remember I was in the hospital, I was somebody bought me a journal, one of my best friends, and I was journaling, and on the 18th page, I still have the journal. I wrote on moving to New York City, and everyone thought I was crazy. I still had stitches. I was literally weeks out of the hospital, and something in me just told me that there was a bigger picture for me. And so I started reaching out to friends in New York City, and I was like, hell, give me an interview. Like, I'm gonna fly out there. I'm gonna spend a few days. Let's just see what happens. And I had lined up all these interviews. Mind you, I got to New York City, and I still have stitches in me, and I'll never forget, one of the gentlemen that I interviewed with called me back the day before I was about to leave, and he's like, Hey, can you meet me at this, like, pub? And I was like, Okay, I met him. And he's like, if you can start March 1. And it was like, February maybe third, you could start March 1. The job is yours. And I was like, whoa. And I remember getting home and I had, like three weeks to literally make this decision and move my life to New York City. And I did it. I quit my job, I rented out my condo, fully furnished, and I moved. And three of my best friends moved with me, and we were like the Latina Sexton city of New York City. But what I learned soon after was a doctor said to me, you probably won't be able to have kids like this is impacted you in a way that you know your chances of having kids is small. So fast forward, I get married, and sure enough, we struggled for years, and we finally did it with little love and science. And I remember that my boss at the time, Laura Ryan, she was the chief client officer at Orion, gave me her ticket to this award ceremony. And never been to a gal. I'd never been to an award cereal. I'm like, this is all new to me, and it happened to be working mother of the Year awards, and I'm sitting in that audience and just thinking, man, one day, one day, I want that to be me. And also because there were no women of color, right? So there was other reasons too, where I was like, Oh no, I need to be on that stage one day. And you know, 15 years later, to be able to be up on that stage and then have my kids, my two kids in the audience with my husband, was definitely a full

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Erik  22:55

circle moment. That's awesome. What a great moment to share. And thank you for sharing so much about you. And I have to ask, because I saw another great share of you, and what looks like a mommy daughter trip to Italy, a little bit about that, and what made that special for you.

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  23:20

Listen, my kids are so dope. I mean, I don't say that because my kids, I mean, I do, but both of my kids are incredible. You know, one thing I have this mom guilt of you know, I work a lot, I travel a lot, and God bless my husband, because he holds it down when I'm away. But my daughter feels it, you know, she's 10 now, and I love to say it, she's like, obsessed with me, like she just thinks I'm the coolest, and like, she'll smell me and she'll hug me, and I hope it lasts forever. But we were actually planning on doing like a mommy daughter trip, and my dad actually had said, let's do some things with the girls so his daughter. So it was like my two sisters and my daughter. So this was really, like his way of bringing us all together, but it got me out with my daughter, and we went to Italy, and we spent two weeks all over Italy, and I just kept saying, I hope she remembers these memories. But I think we just we made so many core memories. It was amazing. And then little brother, my son, got his trip to Mexico later on, so we were able to do two trips this summer.

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Kerel  24:17

That's nice. That's really, really, really good. And as you said, dope. Your kids are dope. I'm sure all of ours are as well too. But they, they all, they all drive us nuts at some point. Maria, what advice would you have for anyone listening to this that is thinking about a move into the advertising industry? Yeah,

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  24:40

I would say, build a network, network as much as you can listen. You know, when we were coming up in this industry, there wasn't LinkedIn, and you know, all the platforms and resources that we have now, like everyone is literally that you want to connect with at your disposal, on LinkedIn, on Twitter, on, you know, even nowadays, social media. Know, Facebook and Instagram, you could even find folks, but just be intentional. You know, one thing I always kind of will poo poo folks that reach out to me, and I'll respond, but I'll call them out, is, don't just send in, you know, an invitation or request. Tell me who you are. Tell me why you're reaching out. Be thoughtful. Look up my history. Look up whoever you want to connect with, you know, on Google and listen to their podcasts, you know, read their blogs. Just be very thoughtful and intentional when you are reaching out, but build that network, because really, that's what's going to help you. You know, connect. I love our industry. We're such a family and we're always willing to help. So I think that would be just a great piece of advice is just use your resources.

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Kerel  25:41

I love that because I tell people all the time, 25 years I've been in this industry, the only job that I ever got from filling out an application online was the first one. Every other one came from people that I know in the industry. Yeah. All right. Fun question for you, what's in your music rotation these

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Erik  26:02

days? Oh,

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  26:03

man, I'm all over the place. So okay, I'm Shy Town freestyle. I'm a hardcore freestyle head. I'm talking Lisa, Lisa and a cult jam Jorge. And so I just actually, my husband and I went up to Connecticut and we saw Lisa, Lisa and all classic Cynthia was amazing. So I've been going hard on freestyle these last few weeks, since another one. You know what? I grew up on the self titled album Tracy Chapman, and I'm trying to, you know, get my kids into her. So I was actually playing the album. We went up pumpkin picking, and we played some of her songs, and it was quiet. You know, my kids are really into lyrics. Love that. They were just enjoying that. But like I said at reggaeton, I'm hardcore reggaeton, especially the classics, hasta, COVID, you know, and then hip hop. So, yeah, I'm a little bit all over the place. Oh, Shy Town. I also have to say, you know, house music, DJ funk, little ratchet in there. So, yeah, so all that

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Erik  26:59

good stuff. Very cool. Well, Maria, thank you so much for hanging out with us today. A lot of our listeners like to figure out how to get in touch and then maybe sort of follow you. What are some ways that our listeners can can follow you? Yeah,

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Maria Teresa Hernandez  27:16

listen, reach out to me on on LinkedIn. I'm very active there, and I respond, so definitely hit me up.

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Erik  27:23

Excellent. Thanks again for joining us, and thanks everyone for listening to another episode of MRP, Minority Report podcast. If you're looking for more episodes, just look for more episodes wherever you find all of your audio. Thanks everyone