Rebecca Williams

Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Officer
Uniworld Group Inc., New York City

When Rebecca Williams was a girl, she observed that her friend’s father had really great markers on his work desk. She recalls thinking that “any job that allows you to have such great markers must be really cool.”

Now, as senior vice president/executive creative officer at Uniworld Group Inc., Williams has a cool job, too. After graduating from Scripps College with a bachelor’s degree in English, Williams started her advertising career at Uniworld in 1986. She has been involved in advertising for AT&T, Burger King, Pillsbury and Walt Disney World.

During forays away from Uniworld, Williams helped start Rush Media, where she created a campaign of energetic new urban spots for The Coco-Cola Co. As creative director at Spike/DDB, Williams worked on projects for Fox Sports and Soft Sheen Products. She subsequently opened Hot Sauce, a boutique advertising agency that was instrumental in re-launching Soft Sheen’s Dark & Lovely hair colors and in creating a campaign for Bally Total Fitness.

The main thing she learned from all these experiences, she says, is that “with particular insights you can talk with many people, regardless of race or gender.”

Williams concedes that at times her family has to take a back seat to her work. “It has been difficult,” says the wife and mother of four. “It is almost harder now that the kids are older because I feel guilty about the things that I miss.”

At the same time, Williams recognizes that she has the opportunity to impact the lives of others. “It is really rewarding to be able to inspire people to say ‘you know what? I can do that too!’”

Indeed, she is looking forward to being even more involved in mentoring and inspiring younger people. “I feel like, after all these years of working, I am finally scratching the surface of being able to give back,” she declares. “Now I feel like I am really ready for service.”