Ashley Henderson is working alongside some of the biggest brands in the industry through her marketing agency League Twenty-Two.
In fact, she’s even using the platform to amplify the culture at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
In 2020, her efforts led to Nike’s Yardrunners campaign which “celebrates HBCU culture through SPORT,” according to information provided to AfroTech.
While doing so, she brought never before seen ideas to the table in an effort to bring originality to the industry as a whole.
This also marked the first-ever HBCU campaign for the world’s largest athletic apparel company.
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The opportunity to first work alongside Nike for Henderson came during the Black Lives Matter movement. Two former peers from Howard University, who worked at Nike at the time, reached out to Henderson in hopes of spawning an innovative campaign to highlight HBCUs.
Since 2020, three campaigns have been released recognizing entrepreneurs, student-athletes, and HBCU alumni.
In addition, the collaboration created a ripple effect for other brands to follow suit.
“We set the trend,” Henderson explained.
She continued: “Of course, we know other brands see us. I think Ralph Lauren came out with the Morehouse/Spelman line. You see the trickle effect based on kind of what we started. So, I think that it’s been advantageous not only for agencies like ours but just also the actual students and universities.”
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Henderson told AfroTech that part of League Twenty-Two’s mission is to highlight Black and brown communities. Working with Nike allowed the agency to build on those efforts and reach new heights in the process.
“Being able to take a concept to a brand like Nike or a corporation [that is] similar and say, ‘We want to tell a story about HBCU students and alumni,’ had never been done before,” Henderson explained.
