The 2012 Posse Alumni Report - The Posse Foundation

Posse Alumna Profile
Monique Nelson
Vanderbilt University
Senior Vice President, Brand Integration, UniWorld Group
Monique Nelson is senior vice president of brand integration at
UniWorld Group, the longest-standing multicultural branding and
full-service advertising agency in the country.
Growing up in the Crown Heights
and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods
of Brooklyn, New York, Monique, an only
child, always looked to her parents—who
both hold master’s degrees—as strong
examples of the benefit of hard work and
education. Her mother was a junior high
school science teacher and her father
served as vice president of packaging for
both Johnson & Johnson and later Miller
Brewing Company, a job that moved the
family for two years from the ethnically
diverse comforts of Brooklyn to suburban
Liverpool, New York.
“It was probably the most raciallycharged
situation I have ever been in. I
was the only black kid in the elementary
and middle schools and they repeatedly
called me the ‘N’ word. Having come from
Brooklyn and being surrounded by people
of all colors and then going into a very
homogeneous situation and a very hostile
one at such a young age, it was terrible.”
The family soon returned to Brooklyn
where Monique attended Brooklyn
Friends School and later transferred to
LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and
Performing Arts, where she studied voice
and dance and excelled as a multi-sport
athlete and academic star.
“When I got the call that I had won the
Posse Scholarship, I was ecstatic. I don’t
recall being happier than that, ever. Going
to Vanderbilt, this prestigious university,
was such a huge achievement for my
mother’s family especially, who are from
Houston, Texas, and have vivid memories
of a segregated South. I can remember my
aunt just crying and saying, ‘I never thought
in my lifetime that I would know anyone
that would be able to go to Vanderbilt.’”
A member of the third Posse to enroll
at Vanderbilt, Monique studied human &
organizational development and became
the co-founder and president of Rhythm
and Roots Dance Company, which is
still thriving at the University today.
With Posse’s presence at Vanderbilt still
new, Monique recalls that her cohort felt
tremendous responsibility.
“I think we felt a lot of pressure to make
sure that we didn’t just go and exist. We
were expected to be opinionated, smart,
sympathetic, inclusive, aggressive, resilient,
nice, respectful and honest. There was a lot
of pressure for us to do something great.”
And indeed they did. From Monique’s
Posse came Vanderbilt’s first black
homecoming queen, second black Student
Government Association president and the
production of the first African-American
women’s play at the university.
“We all helped one another reach
our goals. When I wasn’t leading, I was
following and supporting. I think you
always need to do a little bit of both.”
After graduating from Vanderbilt in
1996, Monique took a sales and marketing
job at International Paper in Kaukauna,
Wisconsin, before joining Motorola’s global
brand strategy department, a role that
enabled her to travel the world. She spent
several months in Seoul, Korea and Sao
Paulo, Brazil, before settling in Milan, Italy,
as the advertising manager for Europe, the
Middle East and Africa. In her nine years at
Motorola, Monique was also responsible for
establishing the company’s partnership with
MTV and helping to launch one of its first
music-enabled phones.
“I absolutely fell in love with advertising.
I understand it and it was something I didn’t
mind working hard at. I think that has a
lot to do with my human & organizational
development studies, which really looked
at how people take in information and the
Photo courtesy of Carlos Lema
“I still consider my education
at Vanderbilt to be the most
enlightening experience of
my life.”
psychology of need, and that’s the core of
advertising.
“I still consider my education at
Vanderbilt to be the most enlightening
experience of my life. I learned how to fail
and how to achieve excellence. I think I had
my first failing grade at Vanderbilt. I was
devastated. I had never failed anything in
my whole life. But the amazing part was the
ability to be resilient, get back on, take the
course again and pass.”
Today, Monique continues to climb the
ranks and earn recognition as a leader in
her field. In 2011, she was named one of
Black Enterprise magazine’s Top 100 Black
Advertisers and received The Network
Journal’s 40 Under Forty Achievement
Award. She holds an MBA from DePaul
University in Chicago, where she became
involved with the local Posse chapter and
served on its advisory board.