Wonder Women of New York 2024: Adriana Waterston

Long before the words diversity, equity and inclusion were staples in the media business, Adriana Waterston was enlisting the power of research, insights and data to educate executives about underserved opportunities and advocate for underserved audiences.

“Doing right by these communities,” she said, “is where I feel my calling is.”

That calling came after Waterston — who had early ambitions of a career in front of the camera and studied theater at Brandeis University, alongside Debra Messing — took a job at Horowitz Research, the firm founded by her sister and brother in-law, in what she thought was a stepping-stone role. She never left.

“I discovered research and a passion for what we do, which is so fundamental to every aspect of entertainment and, by extension, culture,” Waterston said. “The media industry in and of itself is a critical piece of culture. What we put on screen, and what we deliver to consumers every single day, changes minds and changes hearts.”

Defining moments punctuate Waterston’s decades-long career. She received the CTAM TAMI Award for multicultural marketing in 2005, and more recently the Rafael Eli Pioneer in Hispanic Television Award, which she accepted on behalf of Horowitz Research at the 2023 Hispanic Television Summit.

“Awards are most often given to high-profile ‘movers and shakers’ from major media and telecommunications companies,” said Joe Schramm, managing partner/president of Schramm Marketing Group. “It’s less often we get to celebrate the women from the smaller firms that also have made important contributions to our industry. Adriana is one of those.

“Adriana’s work has had a tremendous influence on the cable TV industry through the research and insights she and the Horowitz team deliver to their cable clients,” he added. “In turn, those clients apply these insights in their programming, marketing and branding strategies.”

Among the most salient defining moments for Waterston was the first time, in the early 2000s, when she realized the power to elevate her work from her own lived experience as a Latina born and raised in Puerto Rico.

“It was the first attempt at doing groups that included Spanish-language groups, Hispanic-descent groups, and it became evident to me that using my experiences as a launching point to advocate for the consumers we were serving was really powerful,” she said.

Changing the Narrative

She shepherded the Horowitz Cultural Insights Forum, a pioneering event with a strategy focus, designed to educate cable companies and networks about the value of investing in multicultural content and communities. It grew from a small group to nearly 400 attendees at its last gathering in 2018 — driving a data-backed narrative that changed the early cable roadmap and continues to spur inclusive decision-making for both on-screen representation in storytelling and in the workforce.

“Every year, every data set, the ones who were most likely to pay, the people who were most excited about the technology, were Black, Latinx, Asian and other multicultural groups,” she said. “And those were the years when cable was being heavily redlined. All the inner cities, all the Black neighborhoods — people were not laying cable in those areas and the rationale was, ‘These people don’t have enough money to pay for entertainment services.’ It couldn’t have been further from the truth.”

While the pendulum is swinging in the right direction, Waterston said the industry still has a way to go in combatting structural inequities. The solutions aren’t always clear-cut.

“It’s not a question of whether the DE&I department or executive should be there,” Waterston said. “What I’m asking is, where’s the commitment to DE&I in all aspects of the organization? Where is the support for creators of color, what pipeline do you have to bring that type of talent in? If you look at your staff at all levels and see diversity, then you’re doing well. But if without the DE&I practice you don’t see that, then you’re failing.”

Horowitz last year was acquired by MARC Research, where Waterson now serves as executive VP, insights & strategy for the Horowitz Research division. She’s excited to bring her expertise in multicultural insights to clients in other verticals, while never straying far from her first love.

“My heart is still with what we do here in the media space,” she said. “I’m so passionate about storytelling and seeing the people that are my research subjects come to life on television or on the big screen. It’s so rewarding.”