About the speaker
Hiler took over ownership of CORNETT (100%) in 2020 after nearly two decades of team-building and changing norms. All along, she’s been devoted to building CORNETT's big vision and sharing the business plan to make sure everyone knows the company values and policies. When COVID emerged that year, she quickly pivoted CORNETT to a safe work environment and helped clients navigate this difficult time by adjusting their messages.
As one of roughly 0.5% of female-owned North American ad agencies—yes, you read that right, one out of every 200—she’s more than aware of the “boys club” nature of the industry and is dedicated to tearing it down.
She gives employees time and space to take care of their needs, which results in happy, loyal workers, and she's assessing salaries to ensure employees are fairly compensated. She wants female workers to feel they can have children and a career, so she devised a maternity policy that gives them time to set their family up for success.
But Hiler’s efforts to create a more equitable culture don’t stop there. She also co-created BLAC, an independent-agency collective that brings more young Black people into advertising and prepares them to thrive and lead through a paid, eight-week internship. Hiler is a founder and a board member and helped secure Procter & Gamble as an exclusive sponsor/partner.
CORNETT makes its diversity data public through the 600 & Rising industry movement (it was one of the first 30 agencies to do so and likely the smallest), commits employee hours each week to education on racial equality, and requires 50% of interviewees for new job postings are BIPOC.
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