OUR JUDGES

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AMERICAN ADVERTISING AWARDS

OUR JUDGES

Brenda Cortes doesn’t easily fit into one of the buckets that tend to define people in this industry. And she doesn’t really believe in that mentality anyway.

While her business card says Senior Producer, she is so much more than that. And as a first-generation Mexican American, she’s proud to be creating her own legacy and identity, on her own terms.

Brenda came to The Distillery Project from Leo Burnett & LAPIZ, bringing her big agency experience to grow TDP’s production group. She brings a unique perspective to every project and hopes to inspire other young Hispanic and Latinx creatives that they too can find and share their voices anywhere—not just within multicultural marketing agencies.

During her time at TDP, she has produced work for Fortune 500 companies like Caterpillar, Arrow Electronics, as well as family-owned businesses and local startups. And she gives her all to every assignment, from creative conception to the final edit. She produced 52 original pieces of content within her first year—a record for the agency.

Brenda is exceptional because of her empathy and her ability to grow and nurture relationships. Within a year at TDP, she was entrusted with the role of lead producer for the agency’s biggest client, Meijer. She produces work that shows instead of tells, which speaks volumes to her attention to detail.

Brenda’s drive for success, her empathetic approach, and genuine care for every member of the team adds so much to the overall culture of Distillery. Quite simply, she embodies the best of who we are as people and professionals.

Depending on the need Marshall L. Shorts shows up as an artist, designer, brand strategist, cultural organizer, or advisor. He is the founder and principal of Artfluential a brand & design consultancy working with people at the intersection of art, design, cultural strategy, and social justice. He is also cofounder of Creative Control Fest, a conference centering Black creatives. He serves as a founding board member of Maroon Arts group and serves on the board of GCAC (Greater Columbus Arts Council). Marshall has presented two TEDx Talks, spoken at multiple conferences, and won numerous creative and leadership awards. He takes the most pride in loving and being there for his family and community.

Before John Topacio majored in advertising at Michigan State, he was premed— for a week. However, he was able to fuse his initial passion with his current one at Evoke/San Francisco where he is a copy supervisor working on Bristol Myers Squibb and Coherus.

Prior to venturing to the healthcare side of the ad world, John held freelance and full-time roles at general-market agencies such as Campbell-Ewald, Doner, Euro RSCG, FCB, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Leo Burnett and Organic.

He worked on practically every vertical and project type you can think of, including Super Bowl briefs. The latter was actually his first assignment after graduating from the VCU Brandcenter and is still trying to recover from the experience.

Even though his day job is hectic, John still finds time to compete in endurance events, such as Ironman Wisconsin and the Antarctic Ice Marathon. He’s currently trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon and finish a marathon on every continent and the North Pole.

John judged more than 10 local ADDY competitions and will be a judge at the national level of the 2022 American Advertising Awards.