Honoree: Jessica Hawthorne-Castro

Chief Executive Officer
Hawthorne Advertising

Jessica Hawthorne-Castro worked her way up from account executive at Hawthorne Advertising to the role of CEO, purchasing the company from its founder, her father Tim Hawthorne, in 2015. Since then, Hawthorne-Castro has constantly worked to foster service-oriented relationships with all of the agency’s clients, helping them to envision, create and execute powerful advertising campaigns that build and grow brands, and ignite consumers. As owner, chairman and CEO, she is spearheading the agency’s focus in analytics and web attribution. Her decision to purchase the company under the age of 40 reflects her ambition. As Hawthorne Advertising nears its 35th anniversary this summer, Hawthorne-Castro has worked to expand its reputation and client portfolio beyond that of a traditional direct response agency. And, as one of the last truly independent agencies, Hawthorne-Castro is completely responsible for the success of her clients and satisfaction of her employees.

Hawthorne-Castro has spearheaded the agency’s focus on data and analytics, digging in to extract actionable insights from all available information to influence media, creative and web strategies in measurable ways. That’s the agency’s secret sauce. Today, Hawthorne-Castro leads a team recognized in the industry for leadership in attribution and ROI as a leading analytics and technology-based accountability advertising agency, specializing in strategic planning, creative development, production, media planning, buying and analytics, as well as campaign management for integrated marketing campaigns. Hawthorne-Castro wants Hawthorne Advertising to continue to be an innovator in analytics and proprietary algorithms and carry that to the forefront of the industry as a whole. She thinks it’s important to stay focused on the concept that while Hawthorne Advertising may offer some of the more advanced analytics on the market right now, what’s good today isn’t necessarily what’s good six months from now. She is constantly encouraging her team members to be think tanks, challenging them with questions, like “What is the next big thing in advertising going to be?” Hawthorne-Castro believes it’s critical to always stay focused on the big picture.