In this Instagram Live conversation with First Year Project from April 2021, Ivellisse Morales talks about taking the big leap in starting her own business, how she continues to maintain her agency, what cafe con leché means to her, and what she's doing to tap into some joy this season.
bombilla's™ little bright branding book is a playful poetry book for small businesses who care about heart-centered branding. The book launched in February 2022, in celebration of bombilla's 4th birthday.
You can get a copy of bombilla's™ little bright branding bookhere!
About the Book
Gorgeous matte hardcover, full-color book at 6×9 inches and 36 pages. Born December 29, 2021.
Poems are personally written by me (Ivellisse!), designed by Kimberly Cho, edited by Jesi Hanley Vega. Includes poems like The Branding ABC’s, Chief Everything Officer and Stories: as well as exercise pages for you to reflect and play.
5% of net sales will be earmarked for bombilla’s small business fund, a scholarship for Black, Brown & Queer emerging entrepreneurs (>2 years old) who seek our branding & design services.
My hope is that you'll walk away feeling #litonpurpose. And that you feel inspired and empowered to build your own heart-centered brand.
Ivellisse Morales
Get your own copy of bombilla's™ little bright branding bookhere!
In this talk from March 2021 for Boston University's College of Communication, alum Ivellisse Morales speaks alongside a panel of communication entrepreneurs to discuss their professional journeys and the added obstacles faced by women and communities of color.
About the Panelists
Ivellisse Morales (COM’12), Founder and CEO of bombilla Ivellisse Morales (COM'12) brings a decade of experience in using marketing as a force for good—for brands of all sizes from inside major creative agencies like Ogilvy, Cone Communications and IDEO and nonprofits like Year Up. Since 2018, Ivellisse has served as the visionary behind bombilla, a branding & design agency for social change. Bombilla (lightbulb in Spanish) is fueled by a national network of diverse creatives who conspire with systems-changing organizations to make the world brighter. Learn more at www.bombilla.com.
Manpreet Kaur Kalra (COM’11), Founder of Art of Citizenry Manpreet Kaur Kalra (she/her) (COM’11) is a social impact advisor, anti-racism educator, speaker, and activist working to decolonize storytelling. She navigates the intersection of impact communication and sustainable global development. Having worked in venture capital and startups, Manpreet founded Art of Citizenry to support impact-driven brands prioritizing people and the planet. She collaborates with businesses to address inclusion in all aspects, from business development to marketing strategy. Furthering her vision to address equity across the fashion and lifestyle ecosystem, she co-created and launched Reclaim Collaborative, a community of brands and content creators dedicated to dismantling systems of oppression. Her activism focuses on the interconnectivity of economic, social, and climate justice. She educates using a variety of mediums, including the Art of Citizenry Podcast, where she shares her nuanced and unfiltered insights on building a more just and equitable future. Her work unpacks history and addresses systemic power structures. She serves on the board of the NYC Fair Trade Coalition and co-established the Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Fair Trade Federation.
MODERATOR: Anya Cherrice Gonzales (COM’15), Founder of Navigating Culture and podcast host of The Homesickness Cure Anya Cherrice Gonzales (she/her) (COM’15) is the founder of Navigating Culture and host of the podcast, The Homesickness Cure. Born and raised in Trinidad, she started her American journey by attending Boston University. While taking journalism and advertising classes, her love for storytelling deepened. Reflecting on her own experiences, Anya decided to create a community for immigrants and first-generation immigrants who struggle to navigate the intersectionalities of living in between two cultures. Essentially, her company’s mission is to encourage these folks to learn how to self-validate, remove self-doubt and redefine archaic ideas of success. Shortly after her 2015 graduation from COM, Anya moved to San Francisco to work in Silicon Valley. She creates marketing programs for Miro, one of the world's fastest-growing start-ups.
This summer our Founder & CEO, Ivellisse Morales had the honor of speaking in front of thousands at The 3 Percent Conference hosted by The 3 Percent Movement. Since its inception, The 3 Percent Movement has helped raise the percent of female Creative Directors from 3% to 29%, while giving agencies a clear road map of ways to champion female creative talent and leadership.
Themed "The Radically Inclusive Future of Work," this year’s conference aimed to address four key pillars about the future of work: agile work environments, wellness, conscious leadership, and multigenerational workforces.
In her talk, "Three Keys to Be #LitOnPurpose: How to Be Creative for a Change," Ivellisse shares her secret to carving out a creative career in social impact, bringing in influences from literature, music, art and her entrepreneurial passion projects that helped folks in her family and community.
Missed the talk? Check out Ivellisse's interview with The 3 Percent Movement (originally published here):
What’s happening right now?
“alarm’s been ringing it’s not too late to wake ourselves up from this senseless state start asking questions ask yourself why use your own senses and sniff out the lies”
^ a short poem I wrote one day when I felt deeply disappointed, depressed and yet radically optimistic about the state of humanity and the planet
What might happen next?
What a time to be alive! We are at an existential crossroads as human beings. We’re globally grappling with the raw realities of white supremacy, patriarchy and global capitalism. “What might happen next?” is a question I ask myself every day. Peering through the fog of fear, there’s one thing I do see with certainty. We’re living ancestors writing history. It’s time to reflect, reimagine, redesign -- collectively, without permission, and with urgency. Let’s lean into the transformation that we desperately need.
What exciting creative opportunities does this open up?
What would it look like if all humans were #litonpurpose? If we all harnessed our creative gifts and angled them towards social, economic, political and environmental justice to accelerate change? How might we reimagine and rebuild our world so we can all thrive? We’ll only get there collectively, and it starts with individual action.
To be #litonpurpose is to embody the change the world needs. Change starts with you (us). And we have powerful renewable resources in our hands: creativity, collaboration and community. In the words of Howard Thurman, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
I believe we all should be employed to solve the great social, political and environmental crises of our time. We’re the creative directors of our shared future on this beautiful blue planet we call home.
The future of our planet is sustainable. The future of business is responsible. The future of work is equitable. The future of humans is #litonpurpose.
The theme for this year’s conference, “Here For It”, is about showing up, being present, continuing the fight and striving for progress.
About the Award
The One Club | ADCOLOR Creative Award recipients are creative professionals of multicultural background who have demonstrated noteworthy talent and achievement within the media, creative, digital and traditional advertising disciplines. It’s sponsored by The One Club for Creativity, an international nonprofit organization seeking to inspire, encourage, and develop creative excellence in advertising and design.
Bombilla CEO, Ivellisse Morales, featured in Adweek with fellow honoree Soham Chatterjee.
Ivellisse shares this honor with Soham Chatterjee, Global Associate Creative Director / Writer for WhatsApp and Creative X at Facebook. Other notable award winners this year include Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, Founders of Black Lives Matter, Don Lemon of CNN and Valeisha Butterfield Jones of The Recording Academy.
Rising Up and Reaching Back
Since 2007, ADCOLOR has honored individuals and companies that go above and beyond to make a difference in the creative and tech industries. As an entrepreneur and a creative, Ivellisse has embodied ADCOLOR’s values of "Rising Up and Reaching Back" all her life and especially now through the cultivation of bombilla and its ecosystem of diverse creatives, vendors & suppliers and systems-changing clients.
I’m rising up because people are lifting me up, and I’m reaching back because there’s an abundance of opportunities to share. Thanks to my community I’m #HereForIt.
We are a proudly AfroBoricua-led small business, shining bright from sunny Oakland, CA. We are based in xučyun (Huchiun), on unceded territory of the Lisjan Ohlone people.
We are a proudly AfroBoricua-led small business, shining bright from sunny Oakland, CA. We are based in xučyun (Huchiun), on unceded territory of the Lisjan Ohlone people.
We are a proudly AfroBoricua-led small business, shining bright from sunny Oakland, CA. We are based in xučyun (Huchiun), on unceded territory of the Lisjan Ohlone people.
We are a proudly AfroBoricua-led small business, shining bright from sunny Oakland, CA. We are based in xučyun (Huchiun), on unceded territory of the Lisjan Ohlone people.