What does Black History Month mean to you personally?
Black History Month is deeply personal to me. It is a time to celebrate the people, stories and contributions that have shaped our communities, but also an opportunity to ask whose stories are still missing.
For me, it is particularly connected to my grandfather, Asquith Xavier, who challenged racial discrimination at British Rail in 1966. His story has shaped my understanding of what it means to use your position to create change. I have tried to carry that forward through my own work, from campaigning for his English Heritage blue plaque to creating cultural education opportunities through my Charity, Medway Culture Club, and amplifying underrepresented voices through my work at The Digital Voice.
I see Black History Month as a starting point, not a finish line. The real opportunity is to make representation, inclusion and cultural understanding part of everyday life.
How did you get into the industry, and what has your career journey looked like so far?
My career has definitely been a coily career path, rather than a straight line!
I started out in fashion, building a 15 plus year career across buying, e commerce, wholesale, marketing and commercial operations, working with high profile brands including Miss Selfridge, Jane Norman, USC, Sophia Webster and River Island. I loved the creativity and commerciality of fashion, but eventually I wanted a different kind of challenge and innovation.
That led me into B2B marketing and, ultimately, the adtech world. I joined The Digital Voice as a freelance Marketing and Social Media Director, where I now provide strategic and day to day leadership across Marketing, social & events, working with more than a dozen B2B client partners across the adtech and technology ecosystem.
Alongside that, I co-founded Medway Culture Club, so my career now sits across commercial industries and community development.
I think my biggest lesson is that a career pivot doesn’t mean starting again. You can take everything you’ve learned and apply it somewhere completely new.
Who have been the people, mentors or role models who have influenced you most, and why?
My late grandfather is probably the most significant influence on my life and work. Asquith Xavier stood up against racial discrimination at a time when doing so required enormous courage. Learning more about his story made me understand that ordinary people can create extraordinary change when they are prepared to challenge what isn’t right.
Professionally, I have also been fortunate to work alongside people who have trusted me with opportunities, challenged my thinking and allowed me to grow. At The Digital Voice, working closely with founder and CEO Julia Linehan has given me the opportunity to operate strategically while still being creative and people focused.
I also draw inspiration from the women and underrepresented leaders I meet through my work. Hearing their stories reminds me that there isn’t one route into leadership. Sometimes the most valuable thing you can do is create the space for someone else’s voice to be heard.
What moment in your career are you most proud of, and why does it stand out to you?
I’m proud of what we’ve created through Culture Chats at The Digital Voice. What began as a Black History Month initiative has grown into a nearly 50 interviews amplifying leaders from underrepresented backgrounds across media, advertising, marketing and technology.
I am also especially proud of the speaking opportunities I have personally delivered in the past year including speaking on stages about Employee generated content and how your ambassador squad is you most untapped resource, AI Bias and most recently at MAD//Fest on How To Hype Yourself.
What experiences have shaped the kind of leader or professional you are today?
My career in fashion taught me pace, commerciality, negotiation, creativity and how to manage multiple stakeholders and competing priorities. Moving into marketing and adtech taught me to apply those skills in a completely different environment and become comfortable with constant innovation and change.
My community work has shaped me just as profoundly. Building Medway Culture Club from the ground up has taught me about grassroots leadership, fundraising, partnerships, volunteering and, most importantly, listening to the community you’re trying to serve.
I think those experiences have made me a leader who is both strategic and practical. I’m comfortable developing the big idea, but I’m equally happy getting into the detail and making it happen.
What do you hope the next generation of Black talent coming into advertising and adtech will experience?
I hope they experience an industry where they don’t feel isolated, the only one in the room, or that they have to minimise parts of themselves to succeed.
I want Black talent to see a much broader range of possibilities, from creative and marketing roles through to leadership, entrepreneurship, technology and commercial decision making.
I also want them to understand that their career doesn’t have to be linear. My own journey from fashion into adtech is proof that the skills you develop in one industry can become incredibly valuable somewhere completely different.
And I hope those coming through behind us feel able to open doors for others when they get through them. Representation matters, but representation that creates opportunity matters even more.
What would you like your own impact or legacy within the industry to be?
I would like to be remembered as someone who created space.
Space for conversations that might otherwise not happen. Space for underrepresented voices. Space for people to see themselves in industries where they may not have previously felt represented. And space for the next generation to imagine themselves in positions they hadn’t considered possible.
I don’t necessarily need my name attached to everything I’ve contributed to. If someone tells me that a conversation, opportunity or introduction I created helped them take their next step, that is meaningful to me.
My grandfather left a legacy by challenging a system that told him he didn’t belong. I want my own legacy to be about helping more people feel that they do.
If people reading this interview took away just one message from you this Black History Month, what would you want it to be?
Don’t underestimate the power of your own story, and don’t underestimate what you can do with your position.
You don’t have to wait until you have a big title, a huge platform or permission to make a difference. You can start with the people around you. Open a door. Share someone’s story. Make an introduction. Mentor someone. Challenge something that isn’t right.
My own career has taken some unexpected turns, from fashion to marketing, adtech and community leadership. My grandfather’s story has taught me that progress often starts with one person deciding that something needs to change.
So use your voice, make space for others and, wherever you can, leave the door wider open than you found it.
Camealia Xavier-Chihota, Marketing & Social Media Director at The Digital Voice