Gen Z Doesn’t Play by the Rules—And That’s the Opportunity

In this episode, we’re joined by Shaquana Joseph, Strategic Account Director at Group Black, a media collective dedicated to bridging the gap between today’s most influential consumers and the brands that want to reach them.

Shaquana shares her inspiring journey from college radio at Howard University to leading game-changing brand partnerships at Group Black. She unpacks how Gen Z is rewriting the rules of influence, why authenticity matters more than ever, and how brands can build lasting loyalty by showing up with purpose.

Episode Highlights

• How Shaquana pivoted from radio and agency life to leading culturally impactful campaigns.
• The mission behind Group Black and how it's reshaping the media and marketing landscape.
• Why Gen Z doesn’t play by the old rules—and how brands must adapt or fall behind.
• The rise of the nano-influencer and why peer influence now beats follower count.
• The role of experiential marketing in creating real, emotional brand connections.
• Shaquana’s experience at Twitter and the lessons she learned about being an entrepreneur.
• Why true influence means making a lasting impact—and how Shaquana defines success beyond the spotlight.

Shaquana’s insights are smart, actionable, and inspiring—whether you’re in marketing, leadership, or just figuring out how to make your voice matter in a noisy world.

Links and Resources:

Connect with Shaquana Joseph on LinkedIn

Learn more about Group Black

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

have a goal and don't be afraid to share it. And that doesn't mean like in your role right now, but like what's your ultimate goal. It's okay for it to change, but like what's your ultimate goal and say it to other people. You never know who they're talking to or what that might be a stretch project or an opportunity to be in a room. And if you harbor it in and you're like this is my goal, but I don't want to share it and someone's going to steal it, you're doing yourself a disservice.

Speaker 2 0:35

Welcome back to a brand new season of the she Speaks Women of Influence podcast. We have been on hiatus with releasing new episodes, but we have been very busy recording a great set of new episodes for you where we get to talk to inspiring women and women who are impacting the world of fertility products that we use every day Generation Z the generation that is just starting to work in the workplace. We are talking to people who are really on the forefront of internet privacy. We have a season that is chock full of exciting and interesting episodes that I think you will get lots of value from. We are going to kick it off today with our first episode that is featuring Shaquana Joseph.

Meet Shaquana: Bridging Brands with New Majority

Speaker 2 1:28

Shaquana is one of those people who you know that she is leading and on the forefront of how we are thinking of marketing and reaching consumers in innovative and different ways. Shaquana is head of sales for Group Black, which is a really exciting agency that works with a lot of big brands, and she talks to us in this episode about how she thinks about Gen Z. They are the generation that is now really kind of in the workforce and they are really impacting not only the workplace and how we think about work, but they're also impacting the way we think about influence and social media and a lot of different topics. I think you'll find this conversation with Shaquana very interesting and eye-opening. We talk through great examples of lots of fun projects that she gets to work on, but really get some great insights from her, too, about this generation that is rocking the world we live in now, and I think you're going to enjoy the conversation with Shaquana. We're going to jump right into it.

Speaker 2 2:45

Here we go, Shaquana, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Well, I'm excited to talk with you because you get to work on the coolest stuff. You get to work for a super cool company. Can you tell everybody who's listening? So you're the strategic account director for Group Black.

Speaker 1 3:04

What is Group Black? So, in the most basic terms, group Black is a media company. What we are here to do is make sure that brands Fortune 100 and beyond are able to reach that new majority, because we know that in order for consumers to purchase your product, you need to get in front of them. However, this new majority, they think different, they act different. They are not general market. They want to be spoken to in a way that resonates with them. They want to ensure that not only are they spending money with you, but they feel good about it, and so that is what Goop Black does. Goop Black is that connected bridge between advertising companies and this new majority consumer, who you need to ensure that you continue to grow as a company.

Speaker 2 3:50

So let's talk a little bit, then, about your role and I know you get to work on some really cool campaigns. So your role, as I understand it, you're partnering with brands. But tell us a little bit more about the day to day that you get to do the boring stuff.

Speaker 1 4:05

No, it's exciting. I love what you do I love?

Speaker 1 4:08

it. So, yeah, so for me, and truly why I enjoy it, is because it's not transactional Like some people believe. Okay, I'm going to this company, I need to put my ads there, they're going to charge me. I have to negotiate that. You know, like the back and forth sales car people, that's not what it is at all. I really enjoy it because it's a consultative approach to how to solve problems.

Speaker 1 4:32

So you take any brand I don't know sunshine, so we need more of that in New York, where I'm from, but hypothetically speaking, like if sunshine had a problem, you bring your problem to me and then I get to come up with cool, unique ways of how to solve it using the products that we have in our toolbox.

Speaker 1 4:50

So at Hoopla, the beauty of it is we're a media company and we do media really well. We have a partnership called Excellence on Peacock where we can take your ads, your regular spots and dots and put them there. But then we can go a little bit deeper. We create content, whether it's partnering with influencers to develop content on behalf of a brand or even beyond that experiences. So going around and creating experiences and bringing that in real life opportunity to consumers for them to touch and feel your product. It's like you came to me with this problem and now we created this whole marketing campaign that has solved the issue. You see return on your investment and now you understand the meaning behind why you should do it. The issue you see return on your investment and now you understand the meaning behind why you should do it. The audience you have several touch points and you have loyal consumers.

Speaker 2 5:32

So, in thinking about those consumers, you are an expert on the wonderful generation Gen Z. You're going to be talking about them at the conference coming up. Can you talk a little bit about like to educate people? What do you know about Gen Z that the rest of us should know?

Speaker 1 5:55

You know, what I know and respect about Gen Z is that they are not following any mold and I feel like so. I'm of the millennial generation and I feel like we're the middle children Like we came into the workforce and the generation before us hated us. They were like they do things their own way, they don't listen. Now Gen Z is coming up and they're like they're old, they don't know. So we've been like stuck in this middle where Gen Z they're old, they don't know. So we've been like stuck in this middle where Gen Z they're just like we are who we are, we're proud of it, and it's kind of like get on board or get left in the dust, which is challenging brands to actually figure out and understand this demographic, because they're not doing things in the traditional way.

Speaker 2 6:42

They're not necessarily than the generations before them, in the sense that they are demanding, of sort of the personalization for what they care about and they have principles, so to speak, that impact how they buy. I feel like I mean, I'm a Gen Xer. Impact how they buy. I feel like, I mean, I'm a Gen Xer. So I feel like my generation, we did not really think that much about what the brands were. We just were like oh, this is the brand, this is what it does. I think the millennials started to think about that and Gen Z seems to really care about that. How is that impacting bigger brands? Because you work with very big brands. How do you think that's impacting bigger brands?

Speaker 1 7:27

So it's a few things. One now before you used to go in, used to come up with a concept and then you would roll it out. It wasn't necessarily that personalized, but you would roll it out to general market and the commercial was a commercial, the campaign was the campaign. Now, in this hyper-personalized era that we're in, you have to do multiple iterations of that. You have to truly speak to them, but also you have to meet them on their level, while not missing out on your loyal consumers and others who are a, you know, a little bit older than Gen Z. So it's truly challenging the way that brands are going to market. It's allowing them to explore with multiple platforms, whether it's social, whether it's now. I felt like we were in the blog era. Now we're, we shifted away. Now we have Substack and we're pretty much going back to the blogging era. It's crazy.

Speaker 1 8:25

Yes, it just repeats itself.

Speaker 2 8:26

It's like everything old is new again, right.

Speaker 1 8:29

Yes, for sure. So how are you kind of like? Meeting them where they are, but ensuring that you're not isolating other generations as well with this hyper-personalization? However, given everything that we have at our disposal, brands can act quickly, and if something works, that's great, and if it doesn't work, you scrap it and you're on to the next. So that is the beauty of it.

Speaker 2 8:52

They don't care as much about brands in terms of like oh, I've always bought Poppy, so now I'm going to continue to buy Poppy. How much is that a problem for established brands? Do you think to hold on to the Gen Z audience?

Speaker 1 9:05

It's a huge challenge and I think it's what they're all battling with right now.

Speaker 1 9:09

Because you are used to that.

From Radio to Advertising Career Path

Speaker 1 9:11

You're used to my grandma purchased this Papers how brand, and so I'm just going to do it, because that's what I grew up on where you look at Gen Z and they're like, okay, what makes the most sense? Or their feelings involved, is this brand actually good for the environment, and so forth or they're also very influenced, more so by nano influencers than these large influencers, and so, like, my friend just purchased this and I saw it on their TikTok. So it has to be good versus someone who has millions and millions of followers. Yes, they still have a place in this, but to make a quicker transaction, how are you making sure that you're in their kind of like core group? And so, for larger brands who are used to large, a lot of scale and maybe selecting influencers for a campaign solely based on their reach and the total number of followers that they have, you have to switch it up and you have to make sure that you have a mix, because you need to again, I've said this multiple times already but you need to meet them where they are.

Speaker 2 10:11

Yeah, yeah, and it's so interesting that you said that, because I think brands sometimes assume that the biggest influencer is the one they should go with. Yet sometimes what people really want are the people who are just really good at telling the story, for sure, and you can be a great storyteller and not have a huge audience, right, right, and there is something about really being somebody who connects with their audience and is able to convey a message for a brand that can be so much more powerful than the huge influencer in terms of what the brand gets in return. For sure, you have had such an interesting career, but first I want to go back to the beginning, and I know you started even before you graduated from college, right in radio. Take me back and tell me what drew you to this industry and tell me about radio and where you see it fitting in, since I know you've got that radio background, yes, so when I went to college I wanted to go into like radio, tv, film.

Speaker 1 11:17

I listened to the radio all the time. I actually watched the local news. I'm from Philadelphia originally and any like. If you talk to any newscaster here, any newscaster that came through Philly, there's a deep connection with local news. Oh, interesting, yes, like, we love our local newscasters.

Speaker 1 11:34

So I wanted to go into radio, tv and film and then I chose the radio path and I am a graduate of Howard University and the beauty there is that on campus they have a student radio station and a commercial radio station and a com temporary and so you get real life experience. We at the student radio station sold advertising. We had it wasn't 24 hours, but it was more like a 12-hour slate of programming daily. And then, as you go through, in my junior year I became a manager at the radio station. So that automatically gets you an internship at the commercial radio station and what I learned there, especially in radio, is that it's beautiful. It's still the only truly free medium that is for and based in the community. But I love job security and if it was not to secure particularly, I'm in sales, like, on the sales side, you're working on commission and I was like you know, yeah, maybe not. And so fast forward. And I had a professor that oversaw a program called the Media Sales Institute, which they don't have at Howard anymore, but it brought together HBCU graduates and you go through a week-long intensive program and what it does is it introduces you to all aspects of advertising. So you don't really learn, when you study advertising, how ads are put on TV. We talk about it. When it comes to the Super Bowl, my family still doesn't know what I do, but you're like I get the creative aspect of it. I know you're spending a lot of money, but what goes on behind it? What's planning, what's buying, what's all of that? And so this intensive showed us that, and not only in the radio ecosystem but also the TV ecosystem and also the agencies, because agencies have these departments that are planning and strategizing, that are buying the media and so forth.

Speaker 1 13:25

So I was like, okay, I'm interested in this, this seems a little bit more secure. And I was very open. I was like I'll go anywhere. And then I started getting calls for like local places and I was like, let me change this, I will go to a major city. And then I ended up moving to New York and doing a training program which was half of it was a media buying and half of it was a media planning, and a part of it I got. I was taken in by the upfront season. If you're familiar with advertising, you know up TV upfront season it's parties, it's presentations, it's free food. I was like that's where I need to be. As a recent college grad, I'm like this is amazing, that's where I need to be. So that's how I ended up going and being at an agency and staying there for a few years. But that really opened my eyes to everything that's happening in the background that you don't see, that even when you do try to explain it, people are like we don't get it.

Speaker 2 14:23

Yeah, what great experience. I mean, I love that and you know that hands-on element and I think that's one of the things that, if I could give advice to kids in college, get as much hands-on experience as you possibly can get, for sure, I mean. And so smart that you understood that while you were still there, because you have to really pull yourself out and look more broadly to understand that. So you joined the agency world at a school and then the career path took you to one of the big social platforms back when it was called Twitter. What was that experience like when you started at Twitter? What did that kind of teach you about social media and media? That really kind of informed your experience?

Speaker 1 15:13

Yeah. So when I got to Twitter, I had a few friends that were working there, so I was definitely familiar with it and I was an avid user of it, and at that time I was very intentional. I took kind of a look at my life and realized you're spending a lot of time on social media Maybe you should pivot into social. And so landed at Twitter and it was wonderful and it was my first full time sales role. So, on the agency, the salespeople are coming to you. You're working in tandem with them. This is my first time being on the sales side and you know needing to ask for things and pitch for things, and all of that from our partners. But at Twitter we worked as a true team. So we were divided.

Speaker 1 15:57

You had your dedicated book of business and you were going after it, and what it truly taught me was like you can be an entrepreneur within a larger company, and so being in sales allows for you to basically run your own business. You're running it. I'm strategizing of how I'm going to hit my targets. I'm helping clients solve their challenges when it comes to advertising with the tools that I have, and also I'm pouring back into the system that we have because I'm sharing out information, I'm working in tandem. So I'm like, okay, I have my own little business here, I work at Twitter, but I'm operating my own little business and I love that, as well as the people who were there and being in that space where social wasn't new but we were still changing and breaking things to do cool concepts, to bring forth different things.

Speaker 1 16:51

So one of them that I constantly worked on was Super Bowl with PepsiCo. They were the Super Bowl halftime sponsor. They did the largest advertising on Twitter throughout my time, and so every year the challenge was like how can we do it better? How can we do it bigger? How are we, you know, getting in front of consumers to bring forth sweepstakes and ensure that the conversation is about us? Because at Twitter, people came to have a conversation and every brand wants the conversation to center around them.

Speaker 1 17:21

So, that was definitely the beauty during that time, and just being able to learn from some of the most greatest, smartest people in the business.

Speaker 2 17:31

I love that you talked about entrepreneurial spirit within a company and that you got to build your own book of business, because what a great opportunity for the future in terms of where your career might take you and what you might do. The future in terms of where your career might take you and what you might do. Having that experience of understanding how to run a business basically is such a valuable element in a career because, you can do so much with that.

Speaker 2 17:59

So tell us just if you can. I always love asking people like you, who've had so many opportunities to work with great different brands and do a lot of different campaigns. Can you give us like your favorite campaign you've gotten, you've had the chance to work?

HBCU YOU: Creating Meaningful Brand Connections

Speaker 1 18:14

on Favorite. I don't have favorites. That's like picking a kid. Well, maybe one that comes to mind that you like yes, one, actually that was. It brought back so much nostalgia and joy to me.

Speaker 1 18:26

One of the major campaigns that I work on at Group Black is called HBCU YOU, okay, and it's in partnership with Procter Gamble, and what we do is we go out on a college tour, but it's not just during those highlighted moments. So if you know anything about the HBCU community and culture, homecoming is the time Like everyone wants to come back. Now brands are really showing up on campus and showing up for the students and activating on these campuses, but then after homecoming they kind of disappear. Well, with Proctoring Gamma, we made sure that that wasn't the case. So we do a stint during back to school because you think about a CPG company. Extent during back to school, because you think about a CPG company when you go to college.

Speaker 1 19:13

That's the first time you realize, oh, I have to buy paper towel and toilet paper. It doesn't just show up in my oh, my God, it's so real. Like oh, my mom isn't shipping it to me. And those are the. That's the time where you're like oh crap, what am I doing, and so we found a need and we provided a solution. We show up. There's everything that they have, so the toilet papers, the paper towels, the Swiffer power mops everything to power, your dorm in that moment, the personal hygiene items and so forth.

Speaker 1 19:40

And the students. Why I really love it is because the students are so receptive, they're so appreciative, they literally are thanking you while you're there. The comments that we hear on the ground of like thank you to the brand and we're so happy that you're here, or the students coming up as asking about employment and internship opportunities. It's really a full circle community moment. And the campaign itself from like, an advertising standpoint. You get that in real life experience through back to school and during homecoming. It's multi-generational.

Speaker 1 20:13

So we talked about how it's difficult to get in front of Gen Z, but you have their parents, you have their grandparents, who are likely legacies of some of these HBCUs or have an affinity towards them. So now you've been able to touch multiple generations with your campaign and it can live on. So the content that we create on the ground then gets pumped out across social and across digital so that not only can you experience in real life but you understand what we are doing beyond that. So it's just one it's beautiful to be able to touch. And then it's more personal for me because when I was in school, working at the radio station and I was um. I worked on homecoming. We were begging brands to come. We were begging brands to sponsor us and now brands are like beating down the door to sponsor these. So that's why, again, one of my more touching and favorite campaigns because you can truly see the impact immediately and then when you look at some of the results that come from it, you're just like you have to double down on this.

Speaker 2 21:12

Yeah, and I love that example too, because it goes back to what we were talking about earlier about how brands like Bounty Paper Towels and Charmin Toilet Paper can really forge a connection with Gen Z. Toilet paper can really forge a connection with Gen Z, and being of service for sure is is such a great way to do that. I mean because that will build trust and build empathy on behalf of that consumer with the brand. So what a great idea and I'm sure the brand lift is is so strong.

Speaker 1 21:46

Yeah, the brand lift and even just like at the core of it. That's what you come to group Black Whore yeah, we are able to get into the weeds and get into the insights, to pull on focus groups and to truly see, like, what is the need of this audience? Yeah, and then how can we solve it? And it doesn't always come up like, hey, the brand is bringing us a need, but sometimes we're seeing, okay, there's a need in this space. What are some brands that we can go to to kind of like help solve this that we know it'll be mutually beneficial for all parties?

Speaker 2 22:16

So oh, I love that Great example. So in this podcast is called Women of Influence. How do you think about influence?

Speaker 1 22:30

women of influence. How do you think about influence? Oh, for me, one influence can come from anywhere. I don't think it's you have to be older or you need to have years of experience in order to get it. I truly think of influence kind of in the same vein as impact, like what are you doing so that, when you move forward, whether you leave a company, whether the campaign ends, like in my life, what impact has truly been left that someone can go back and say like, huh, I learned something from that? Oh, they didn't just take from me, they left something that I can truly benefit from? That's how I think about it. So it's truly an impact, and that's, for me, what I'm trying to do every day.

Speaker 2 23:06

I love that. So if you could go back and give your younger self, who is just getting started, a piece of advice, or just one thing, one suggestion, what would you go back and tell her?

Speaker 1 23:22

I think I would say it's going to be okay and you do not have to. You can't plan it, you cannot plan for it, Just let it go and it's going to be okay. I think so often, especially in our younger years, we're looking at people to our left and our right. We're trying to plan the promotion. We, you know, we feel like we have to navigate this whole thing where, in reality, sometimes, if you just like take a step back, do the work, advocate for yourself and grab well, not grab, but like really connect with people and gain advocates along the way, it works out for you.

Speaker 1 24:04

And then the other thing I would say is like have a goal and don't be afraid to share it. And that doesn't mean like in your role right now, but like what's your ultimate goal? It's okay for it to change, but like what's your ultimate goal? And say it to other people, you never know who they're talking to or what. That might be a stretch project or an opportunity to be in a room. And if you harbor it in and you're like this is my goal, but I don't want to share it and someone's going to steal it, You're doing yourself a disservice.

Speaker 2 24:31

Yeah, and there's something about speaking it out loud that makes it more tangible, for sure, and telling other people that makes it more tangible because you start to say, oh, like, maybe this actually can happen. Yes, and you may like. I know like people are always like, oh, manifesting, I'm like, but I do believe that there's a reality of saying, when you say something out loud, that it does build momentum, it helps you kind of get the ball rolling, yes, so I love that. That is such great advice.

Speaker 1 25:04

Well, thank you so much for spending this time with us today.

Episode Closing

Speaker 2 25:09

I love this conversation and I think people are going to let on a bit. Thank you so much. My pleasure. Thank you for listening. If you're an influencer or a brand that wants to work with us, please feel free to email us at info at shespeakscom. Until next time.

Speaker 1 25:26

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