POCAM National Indigenous History Month 2024 Profile: Darian Kovacs
Written By: Gavin Barrett, Co-Founder of POCAM - People of Colour in Advertising & Marketing and Multicultural Marketing Alliance Canada and CEO/CCO of Barrett and Welsh.
Is Darian Kovacs (he/him) an entrepreneur? A grower of dahlias? A teacher? A mentor? A host and producer? A proud member of Métis Nation British Columbia? The answer is yes.
Though Darian would probably say “husband and father,” judging by the family photo he chose to share to represent his life outside of work.
Darian is Founding Partner at Jelly Digital Marketing & PR. He’s Partner at Jelly Academy, a digital marketing training school where 55% of students are Indigenous and 75% come from underrepresented groups. He volunteers with the Digital Marketing Sector Council which conducts labour market research for our industry. And he is host and editor at Marketing News Canada our industry’s only Indigenous-led trade publication.
What drew Darian to this industry? “It allows artists and creatives to come up with ideas that help grow businesses and cause people to pause and think,” he says, “It brings together art and science to provide a balanced approach to helping the economy and growing ideas.
Darian says doing youth work allowed him to be a part of MySpace, Nexopia and Facebook in the early days of digital and made it easier to break into the industry. “(They) gave me an advantage when online marketing became… mainstream,” he explains, much as certifications from Google, Meta, Hootsuite and others now do.
To industry peers who wonder how to find Indigenous talent, Darian says, “Simple! Hire—and appropriately pay— professionals, influencers, and creators from historically marginalized communities to tell their own stories.”
He exhorts young Indigenous talent, “Know how amazing you are… how lucky the companies are that get to hire you. Get some badass rapid reskilling certifications into your resume and show up and be your amazing self.”
Darian mentions three role models in particular. Sabaa Quao advocated for Darian in Big Agency land. Darian describes him as “a brilliant mind, advocate and champion.” Dr Wendy Cukier, Black Business Professional Association's Harry Jerome Diversity Award winner threw open the doors to the education and government sectors for Darian. “… a great example of someone using her superpowers for good.” He closes with Terry Fox, “an amazing Métis advocate and leader who created a pretty awesome movement.”
To improve the industry, Darian is intentionally training, supporting, and helping underrepresented people get industry jobs through Jelly Academy scholarships.
Invited to share a phrase from his Métis language, Michif, Darian unsurprisingly chooses Kaa-wiichihitoyaahk (ka-wee-chi-hi-toy-yahk). It means “we take care of each other.”
I was recently at a meeting organized by Darian, attended by heads of industry associations from across the country. Dr. Cukier, who facilitated, humorously described it as akin to herding cats. Darian epitomizes that. He is unstoppable, irrepressible, vocal, generous, and inspiring. And, as cats go, the coolest cat.
