A Leeds man has charted his journey from a "poverty-stricken council estate" in the city to working for some of the biggest companies in the world.
Jonathan Mildenhall, 55, has been head of marketing at AirBnB, vice president of advertising at Coca Cola, and now owns his own marketing firm. But he first started out on an estate in north Leeds.
Jonathan details his childhood in Leeds in his new book, A Colourful View From The Top. He writes how he was the only Black person in his family of five children, after his mum had him with his Nigerian father.
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He writes: "I also grew up on a predominantly white, poverty-stricken council estate in north Leeds. As a child, I faced abuse in different parts of my life: sometimes at home, occasionally in the classroom, often on the streets, and always in the playground. It was awful. That said, I don’t blame anyone specifically –racism was (indeed, it still is) a huge part of British culture."
Jonathan recalls being handed flyers for the National Front and being spat on by supporters as he left school in the seventies. They left him, the only Black child in his year at school, "a terrified little boy".
His mum would help comfort him after he suffered racist abuse at school - which Jonathan writes was a "turning point" for him in terms of how he wanted to be judged.
Jonathan went on to study Business and Finance at Manchester Metropolitan University, with advice that it would help him become an accountant. But he found the course difficult and hard to concentrate on, while at the same time struggling to come to terms with being gay.
Jonathan went to see a careers adviser, and after chatting, she told him "Jonathan, I can see it now; you were born to become a great marketer". He swapped some of his finance modules to study marketing and advertising, and finally found what he wanted to do.
His adviser told him the industry was very white, middle class, and recruited mostly from Oxbridge, but Jonathan was determined to succeed anyway. Jonathan ended up being one of the first people from an ethnic minority to join leading advertising agency McCann London on its graduate training programme.
From there, Jonathan's career skyrocketed. He became Vice President of Global Advertising Strategy and Creative at Coca-Cola in 2005, and joined Airbnb as Chief Marketing Officer in 2014.
He ran many successful marketing campaigns at both these companies and was ranked eighth on Forbes' list of the Worlds Most Influential Chief Marketing Officers in 2017. Later that year, he left Airbnb to found his own marketing consultancy firm - TwentyFirstCenturyBrand.
In his book's introduction, Jonathan writes: "When I reflect on my life, I have numerous moments of incredulity. It could have been very easy for me to have taken a different path. I haven’t had positive role models who look like me in such close proximity since my days as a high school athlete.
"Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think for one minute this has held me back in terms of my achievements and the impact my work has had on the brands and businesses I have served. That said, I know that if I had been able to follow others who looked like me then I would have arrived here quicker as I wouldn’t have endured impostor syndrome for as long as I did.
"I would have known that I belonged. Nonetheless, when I look back on my life, I still always have a tremendous sense of pride. I made it all the way to the top of my industry and now I do my part to ensure that it is a fairer and more inclusive place for women and minorities."
After George Floyd was murdered in 2020, Jonathan and Neil Barrie, his co-founder at TwentyFirstCenturyBrand, wanted to do something to address systemic racism. After two and half years of work, they've produced A Colourful View From The Top, a collection of stories from a diverse set of 21 people who have reached the top of their career fields and how they did it, meant to inspire young people of colour to pursue similar success.
Jonathan wants to get to get a copy of the book into every state secondary school in the UK, so the kids who need to read it most and won't be able to buy it are able to access it. He has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise the funds needed to do this, kickstarted with 10% of the £82,000 target funded by himself.
On the fundraiser, Jonathan said: "We want this book to reach as many people as it needs to. We’re not in this to make money: the royalties as Curator are 10% of the RRP (£20), and all profits will be plowed back into this initiative as we continue to scale. This isn’t about sales, it’s about impact. The young people that need this most, won’t be able to afford to buy a copy of the book.
"Thank you for reading this far. Together we can help inspire the next generation of leaders needed to create a fairer future for all."
Click here to donate to Jonathan's GoFundMe to get A Colourful View From The Top into schools and click here to buy the book.
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