Linda Guerrero Launches Cultural Agency, Hires Shawn Finnie as Executive Vice President

Seasoned PR professional Linda Guerrero founded Cultural Agency, a multicultural agency that aligns advertising, awards, and marketing campaigns with cultural events, with a focus on Latinx, Black, API, LGBTQ+, faith-based, and accessibility audiences.

“Multicultural audiences are mainstream, and we know that films with diversity generate higher box office revenues,” Guerrero said in a statement announcing the premiere. “But connecting with this audience takes much more than months of heritage or a once-a-year campaign.”

Guerrero, whose resume includes stints at Netflix and 42 West, added: “I’ve spent most of my career helping brands and clients engage the communities that define culture in ways that are authentic, intentional, and with a sophisticated understanding of their many nuances, and creating a cultural agency is the right next step.”

Joining Guerrero at Cultural Agency is Shawn Finnie, who will serve as executive vice president. Finnie joins the company after a long stint at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where he most recently served as executive vice president of member relations, global outreach and awards, a position he left last year.

The company already has partnerships with a number of streaming services and theaters, leveraging Guerrero and Finnie’s extensive experience working with multicultural audiences. Cultural Agency has also established an advisory board that includes Gold House CEO and Founder Bing Chen, GLAAD CEO and President Sarah Kate Ellis, Elle Editor-in-Chief Nina Garcia, WIE Suite CEO and Founder Dee Poku, and Time CEO Jessica Sibley since launch.

Prior to founding Cultural Agency, Guerrero spent six years at Netflix—most recently as Senior Director of Multicultural Advertising, Social Media and Community at Netflix, where she led a team focused on strategy and reach for Black, Latinx, API, LGBTQ+ and faith-based audiences across film and series. She also served as Director of Advertising for Latin America for three years.

Before joining Netflix, Guerrero spent a decade as a managing director at 42 West, where she built and led the firm’s multicultural practice with clients including Universal, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Netflix. Guerrero’s resume also includes a stint as vice president at Terry Hines & Associates, where she helped launch their multicultural group, and roles in the publicity teams at Paramount, Rogers & Cowan and 20th Century Fox.

Since 2016, Guerrero has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in charge of marketing and public relations, has served as co-chair of the A2020 and A2025 initiatives since 2020, and has served as a member of the affiliate’s executive committee since 2019.

At the Academy, Finnie oversaw member engagement and global reach for the organization’s more than 11,000 artists and directors; Oscar Awards administration, policies and rules, submission processes, rules and voting; and industry engagement, and film festival strategy and outreach. Finnie launched the Academy Affinity Groups (member-led, staff-supported groups that amplify the voices of the Black, Native/Indigenous, Middle Eastern, West Asian, North African, LGBTQIA+, Asian American, Latinx, and disabled communities) and co-created and produced the award-winning Academy Dialogues: It Starts with Us series. He also played a key role in key Academy events, including the Governors Awards, Women’s Luncheon, and Oscars broadcasts.

In 2021, Finnie appeared in Diversity New Leaders list, and was also awarded the 2023 AdColor Advocate Award. Since leaving the Academy in 2023, Finnie has hosted the Los Angeles Times digital series The Envelope.