Two years in, the free, virtual school for Black creatives has 100 alumni and wants to continue growing

Oriel Davis-Lyons, head of creative for podcast and talk at Spotify, never envisioned becoming a teacher. But in 2020, after addressing the cost of US portfolio schools and offering to help Black creatives on LinkedIn, things changed.

Davis-Lyons partnered with The One Club to create One School, a free 16-week, virtual portfolio school that meets twice a week after work. He promised that the school would be “unapologetically Black from start to finish,” hoping to open doors for Black creatives to enter what is a primarily white industry.

Looking back on the last two years, he told Marketing Brew that one of the most rewarding parts of the experience has been “realizing that [he gets] to be kind of a fly on the wall for the rest of [students’] careers and feel some sense of pride every time they do something good.”

To date, One School has helped about 75% of its students land full-time jobs after graduating without incurring any additional debt, Davis-Lyons said. It now has a network of 110 alumni from its four class locations—Chicago, New York, LA, and Atlanta—and is preparing to welcome 60 new students in the next academic year.

Removing the cost barrier

Amber Jessup, who was part of One School’s Fall 2021 cohort in Chicago, recently wrapped up an art director internship at ad agency OKPR. She’s now working as a freelancer. Jessup told us that she’s wanted to be a creative ever since watching 13 Going on 30 when she was young, but paying for portfolio school felt like too big of a risk.

Now, looking back, she said, “I don’t think that I would have pursued my dreams if it wasn’t for One School.”

Today, the standard yearly tuition for many portfolio schools is on par with, and sometimes exceeds, the average for a bachelor’s degree. The Miami Ad School charges $38,800 in tuition for its two-year program; the Denver Ad School charges $27,000 for 15 months, priding itself on being less expensive than other similar schools; and the Creative Circus, which will soon be closing, charged $45,000 for two years.

“The idea that you can only get into this industry if you have the money to pay for school, that’s wrong, and we have lost so much potential because of that,” Davis-Lyons said.

Shari-Zhane Harvin-Langley joined the Fall 2021 cohort in Atlanta while working as an account coordinator at New Orleans-based ad agency Petermayer. After graduation, she became an associate art director at the agency. She said she was urged to apply to One School by a former boss after expressing interest in pursuing a creative director role.

She told us that because she had just gotten her master’s in sports and entertainment marketing, she “probably wouldn’t have gone” to portfolio school had it meant paying more. Because the program is virtual, she also didn’t have to worry about the cost of moving to attend.

Harvin-Langley said the focus on Black creators was also crucial. “It’s kind of hard getting into an industry [where] you don’t know anyone, you don’t know how to present yourself, and everyone else has gone to these fancy portfolio schools,” she said, adding that “being able to have that safe space for us to create and find other people of color who are creators as well—I love that.”

Building a network

Trey Alston, a Fall 2020 graduate from One School’s New York cohort, who now works as a copywriter at Meta, said being an alumnus feels “like being part of a family.”

He credits One School with helping land him his first copywriting job at Mojo Supermarket after working as a music journalist. In the time since graduation, he said he’s remained in touch with other graduates on Slack and social media.

Despite only ever meeting virtually, Harvin-Langley said her class still meets up every two months and shares ideas with each other regularly via an Instagram. She’s also been able to make and maintain connections in the industry through her instructors and guest lecturers.

“The industry is really small. Everybody knows everybody. So it’s really cool to know that people that have taught me are on the same level as CEOs and CCOs,” she said.

Looking ahead, Davis-Lyons said he hopes to expand the program, whether to more cities in the US or overseas. He’s also excited about alumni rejoining the program in new ways: “In two years’ time, they’re going to be mid-level creatives, and they can come back as mentors and speakers, and eventually they can come back as heads of the school themselves,” he said. “That’s the long-term goal.”

As for whether One School can change the industry at large, Harvin-Langley said that’s something employers need to commit to by ensuring they hire and promote Black creatives into decision-making positions.

“I feel like [the One School] is helping 100% because it’s creating an opportunity for those who wouldn’t necessarily have one,” she said. “But we just have to make sure the industry is actually following up and putting these great creators where they need to be.”