We were lucky to catch up with Renee Royal recently and have shared our conversation below.
Renee, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Before I landed in advertising, I was a TV journalist in Charleston, South Carolina. Being a journalist was the only thing I had wanted to do since I was in middle school. I went to college for broadcast news and immediately had a job after graduation.
I packed up my belongings and moved my life to Charleston. I covered all sorts of stories from politics to crime to feel good features. It was exhilarating and I felt that it was a culmination of years of hard work and dedication. Then the luster started to wear off. I noticed that I didn’t like who I was becoming in this role. The stories were getting harder to cover and I realized I didn’t want to do it anymore.
But I had an identity problem that I needed to face. Journalism was all I had ever known and I didn’t know who I was if I wasn’t in that field any longer.
I decided to leave my career after my contract expired. Coming home to Atlanta was one of the biggest risks I’ve ever made. I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t know what was next and I was petrified but I knew I had to make a change.
I was 24 years old and back in my childhood bedroom at my mom’s house. I spent hours each day on my laptop, feverishly searching for jobs but nothing felt quite right until I saw a content producer position at the former JWT agency in Atlanta.
I applied and landed an interview that would change my life forever. I didn’t know anything about advertising but I dove in and learned as much as I could. I realized that this was a viable career and decided that I would stick with it until it no longer served me. I’m still doing it 14 years later.
Renee, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am the President of Test Tube Productions in Atlanta, GA. We are a production company that works on everything from radio spots to multi-million dollar TV campaigns. We are a collective of experienced producers, project managers, content creators and editors bringing a wealth of knowledge to each and every project.
I have been very intentional while building this team; we are proudly minority and woman led and the team reflects that. The production space has historically been a white male dominated field and my goal is to turn that on its head. Advertisers cannot keep trying to reach a large, diverse audience and continue having homogenous producers and creatives working on their brands.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think being very transparent, kind, empathetic and savvy has helped build my reputation in the marketplace. I’m known as a producer who will get things done while having a good time. I am also fiercely protective of my team and my vendor partners. I treat all partners as though they are on my team, not like they are separate entities.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is to get more people of color, specifically women into the production field and to help them thrive. I was fortunate enough for someone to help me into this crazy world and I want to be that conduit for others.
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