As VP of Multicultural Marketing and Sales Development for the Video Advertising Bureau, Cynthia Perkins-Roberts became renown as a respected expert on the multicultural marketplace. That’s why many in the advertising, marketing and media world are mourning the loss of Perkins-Roberts, who died Jan. 1 of cancer. Her key accomplishments include initiating multicultural marketing alliances among cable networks, agencies, advertisers and research companies. She has also served as co-chair of the Advertising Women of New York’s (AWNY) Multicultural Alliance, as well as her many contributions to the ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM).

 

VAB President/CEO Sean Cunningham led the tributes in her honor.

“On New Year’s Day, we lost a leading visionary and one of the best in the industry when the VAB’s Cynthia Perkins-Roberts passed away,” Cunningham said. “Cynthia knew only one way to do anything of importance – she put her full heart and soul into it all. There was great power in the depth of Cynthia’s unwavering commitment, whether it was to her family, at her church, with her trove of cherished friends, or in all the advances she drove in multicultural marketing. You always knew Cynthia would never settle for just ‘a job well done,’ because nothing was ever done with Cynthia until something remarkable was achieved.”

For nearly two decades, Pam Ford worked as a communications director for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), organizing the media center at NCTA’s annual trade show; collecting, organizing, and distributing news stories to NCTA staff and members; responding to the needs and inquiries of reporters; and helping organize a wide variety of NCTA events. Throughout that time, Pam was one of NCTA’s leading advocates for diversity in our industry, serving as president of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), working on the community advisory board for the T. Howard Foundation, and mentoring rising people of color through NAMIC’s L. Patrick Mellon Mentorship Program. To her friends, colleagues, co-workers, and adoring fans, Pam’s humble and selfless investment in diversity, equity, and inclusion, was overshadowed only by her warm, beaming smile, and her larger-than-life heart. Pam’s passion, commitment, and human spirit, always will be remembered.