Tracey Coleman is an award-winning entrepreneur, creative director and beauty boss with over 15 years of experience in creative marketing and advertising. Tracey began her career in New York City as an Art Director at Ogilvy, where she was trained on the fundamentals of traditional advertising by industry giants. Like a typical millennial, she soon grew weary of tradition and left the company for a hip, boutique agency that specialized in multicultural marketing, celebrity events, beauty and spirits.
That’s where things got interesting.
At Walton Isaacson, Tracey led creative teams for Clear Ultra Shea Hair & Scalp (Unilever) and Courvoisier cognac where she curated integrated campaigns and unique experiences. Over the years, her expertise and thought leadership on multicultural beauty has been requested at speaking engagements, agency pitches, and presentations for Fortune 500 companies.
After becoming an independent consultant in 2014, Tracey spent most of her time leading the growth of the Cantu hair care brand. As the global lead of brand activation, she relaunched the brand’s identity on social media, executed award-winning events across the country, and helped elevate the brand from #4 to #2 in textured hair care in the United States.
Somewhere along the way, she realized that women of color needed more than the beauty ads and influencer tutorials that brands were creating to attract their attention. They needed a place to connect, be seen and be celebrated. Curly Girl Collective was born to meet that need, by creating innovative beauty events for women of color. Their largest event, CURLFEST, which began in 2014, has attracted over 75,000 guests, and has become a destination experience attended by women from as far as Ethiopia, South Africa and Switzerland.
In between work, travel blogging, events, and speaking engagements, she finds time to serve underserved communities abroad through her award-winning nonprofit organization, Purpose Driven Passports.
Tracey’s work has been recognized by Forbes, The New York Times, ESSENCE, and Adcolor to name a few, but the common thread across these accolades is her relentless passion to be a champion for communities that need to be seen and heard.
AWARDS
2019
Adcolor Catalyst Award
Curly Girl Collective
IAC Humanitarian Award
Purpose Driven Passports
2017
We Work Creator Award
Purpose Driven Passports
2016
ESSENCE Festival Sponsor Awards
Rookie of the Year
Show & Tell Creative/Cantu Beauty
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS + PRESS
J.P Morgan Chase Currency Conversations Series 2019
ESSENCE Magazine 2019
How This Woman Added Purpose to Her Passport By Supporting Local Communities Abroad
The One Club 2018
Here Are all the Black People Multicultural Career Fair & Conference 2018
Side Hustle Pro Interview 2018
Ep 79: Queen of Side Hustles Tracey Coleman on How to Thrive as a Multi Passionate Entrepreneur
Blavity
EmpowerHer Conference 2016