Grounded While Ascending to New Heights By Jan L Percival

							               Grounded While Ascending to New Heights
                                    By Jan L. Percival

ADCOLOR® recently sat down with the 2007 ADCOLOR® Awards Honorees to discuss
how the media, marketing and advertising industries have changed over the years and
how their lives have been impacted as a result of the recognition as the first class of
honorees. This is Part II of a series that launched on October 13.

Orlando Reece, SVP of Broadcast Sales at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and 2007
ADCOLOR Awards Innovator Honoree shares what keeps him grounded and looking
towards the future. Orlando was previously the Executive Director of Sales Strategy for
Yahoo! at the time of his award.


ADCOLOR: Tell me about your role at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
and why you decided the join the company.
Orlando: I’m SVP of Broadcast Sales, a role that encompasses selling the
Martha Stewart Show, Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius, Video On Demand
on Comcast and Cox as well as iTunes. I started in July 2008 and joined to work
with a company that truly works across a 360 approach to help our customers
reach their target audience no matter where they are: TV, print, digital or
merchandising.

ADCOLOR: How do you define success and what keeps you motivated to
achieve success?
Orlando: Success is defined by truly being “excited” about what you do. My
father taught us that as long as you do your best and enjoy what you do you are
successful…so I guess that I’m successful because every day I get up and am
excited about what my day has in store.

ADCOLOR: Who has influenced you the most throughout your career?
Orlando: My dad influenced me because he has helped keep my mind
grounded. I also have worked with truly talented people who have nurtured and
helped me grow. Cynthia Ponce, at ABC, Charlie Thomas and Mark McLaughlin
at Yahoo! and my current boss, Jacki Kelly, at Martha Stewart all have helped
me in my career.

ADCOLOR: How important is diversity in the communications industry and
why is it of relevance today?
Orlando: Diversity is extremely important in the communications industry. With
out diversity, programming content and commercials would lack the creativity that
many people bring to the table. Great ideas come from many places and any
company that wants to be relevant will make sure they have as many different
places to get ideas from.

ADCOLOR: What was your reaction when you found out you were being
honored as an ADCOLOR Awards recipient?
Orlando: I was a little shocked and wondered, “What is this?” When I looked at
all of the names of the people being honored, I was honored to be nominated. It
is amazing to have such talented diverse people in our business that have risen
to do amazing things.

When I was in the room with al the winners I was truly humbled to see all ages,
career paths and most of all such talent that the industry has created. Tiffany R.
Warren created something that was desperately needed in this community—a
way to honor the unsung heroes.

ADCOLOR: How has it impacted you personally and/or professionally?
Orlando: Besides having a beautiful award, it has gotten me back into mentoring
young people and back in touch with many of the youth I have mentored in the
past.

ADCOLOR: How have you seen the advertising industry change in terms of
bringing more people of diverse backgrounds into the business?
Orlando: Not much has changed since the 90’s. The agencies and
broadcast/cable networks still don’t have many people of color. I think we all
have done a bad job of educating the youth in college that this is a great career
to have.

ADCOLOR: What advice would you give to a young professional of color
who feels discouraged by the odds of succeeding at the highest levels?
Orlando: Be true to yourself and be true to what you do. Your work is going to
shine so keep yourself motivated and interested; that will bring good work out of
you. You’re in a very competitive role so always do your best and let that good
work speak for itself.