Los Angeles, California, United States
Mariota Essery is a highly awarded Executive Creative Director with over 20 years of global experience. She has lived and worked in 4 global cities - starting her career in Cape Town, London, Amsterdam and currently Los Angeles, where she now resides with her husband and two children. She is currently at Visa, responsible for leading global creative and North America Client campaigns. Mariota oversees the management and leadership of the agency ecosystem that supports the Visa brand. She works closely in partnership with all the various agency partners as well as establishing the inhouse creative studio. from 2020-2024, Mariota was instrumental in developing the DoorDash brand and establishing Superette, the Creative Studio at DoorDash. She expanded the team by hiring an additional 25 people. In the time that Mariota was at the helm, DoorDash was recognized at all the major award shows including winning 2 Cannes Grand Prix’s in 2 consecutive years. Superette was ranked number 2 in-house agency by the One Club for Creativity and in the top 20 World Creative Rankings by The Drum. DoorDash was recognized as one of the top 50 hottest brands with Us Weekly and Influential. Mariota has been invited to speak at numerous events including Cannes, The One Club, and the ANA’s. She has been invited to judge awards at The One Show, Effies, The Gerety’s and AICP. Mariota has been listed as one of Business Insiders top 36 women in advertising. Prior to DoorDash, Mariota worked at global agencies such as Ogilvy South Africa and London, Tribal DDB Amsterdam, TBWA Chiat Day, Sid Lee and 72andSunny. She has led and worked on a multitude of global clients on award winning campaigns, including Philips, Adidas Football World Cup, The North Face, Google, and Gatorade. Coming from a background in art direction, Mariota prides herself in well crafted pieces, with a focus on emotional storytelling no matter what discipline. Mariota brings a philosophy that she grew up with in South Africa to the way she leads. This philosophy, uBUNTU (which means humanity or I am because we are), fosters an inclusive, nurturing environment and a one team mentality that has led to her great success in building a creative culture and best in class creative in her teams.