Adweek reported Horizon Media—the world’s biggest privately-owned media agency—is facing a lawsuit with charges including racial and gender discrimination, perpetuating a hostile workplace, and retaliation.
The White media agency’s website counters with declarations of being an “Agency of Belonging” and proclamations like, “At Horizon, DEI is not dead; it is our DNA…”
But wait, there’s more: “Horizon Media operationalizes DEI within an innovative, industry-first Enterprise Marketing & Equity function, ensuring DEI is embed [sic] into every aspect of Horizon’s business.” Too bad proofreading isn’t embedded into Horizon’s business.
If performative PR were illegal, this place—like most White advertising agencies and White media agencies—would draw even more charges.
Execs Allege Racial and Gender Discrimination Against Agency Horizon in Federal Lawsuit
One current and one former executive at Horizon Media claim that the company created a hostile culture that included targeted bias against them, undue restrictions on resources, and sexualized directives
By Kendra Barnett
A lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday accuses Horizon Media, the largest privately owned media agency in the world, of racial and gender discrimination, perpetuating a hostile work environment, and retaliation.
Charisma Deberry, who currently serves as vice president of strategic communications and engagement at Horizon, and Latraviette Smith-Wilson, who was previously chief marketing and equity officer, claim executives at the agency discriminated against them and retaliated when they opposed or reported unfair treatment. Both executives are Black, and Smith-Wilson was the company’s highest-ranking Black woman before her termination in April.
“Horizon’s most senior executives—including Founder & CEO Bill Koenigsberg, President Bob Lord, and EVP of HR Nancy Galanty—engaged in a sustained, escalating campaign of race- and gender-based discrimination constituting a hostile work environment and retaliation,” reads the complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York.
Deberry and Smith-Wilson are seeking monetary damages for the harms they allege, as well as punitive damages and non-monetary remedies that would force Horizon to change some of its practices.
“This case is about holding executives responsible for retaliation, discrimination, and fostering a hostile workplace,” said Anne Clark, a partner at Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C., who is representing Deberry and Smith-Wilson.
The company responded to the lawsuit in a statement shared with ADWEEK, writing: “Horizon is proud of our 35-year history of fostering an inclusive and award-winning culture. While we do not comment on pending litigation, we categorically reject these allegations and are prepared to vigorously defend them. We maintain the highest standards and stand firmly in our values and our people. We are focused on serving our clients and continuing to be one of the best places to work in the industry.”
Horizon is among the most reputable independent agencies in adland. It works with blue-chip brands including SharkNinja, Spectrum, and Warby Parker and, according to its website, employs some 2,500 staffers globally. The firm touts a motto of “business is personal” and has promoted the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the ad industry in years past.
Despite a company motto of “DEI is our DNA,” Deberry and Smith-Wilson allege that Koenigsberg and other leaders at the company frequently exhibited biased and targeted behavior toward them, including calling Deberry not “articulate” and demeaning Smith-Wilson as “defensive” and “incompetent,” while ignoring formal complaints. They also claim to have been excluded from key meetings, even when the meetings directly involved their responsibilities, the lawsuit alleges.
Smith-Wilson also alleges that leadership denied her team staff and budget while giving more resources to White male executives who had narrower scopes of work.
In one instance in 2023, Koenigsberg allegedly told Deberry, who leads communications at Horizon, that it was her responsibility to “seduce” reporters—a directive that she believes sexualized and demeaned her professional role, according to the lawsuit.
In another meeting in September 2024, Koenigsberg told Smith-Wilson, then a C-suite executive at the company, that her role was to “serve” other Horizon leaders, the lawsuit alleges. Another executive also told her to “report to the board,” even though Smith-Wilson was herself a member of the company’s executive board; Smith-Wilson was not aware of any other executives that had been “told to serve or report to their peers,” the lawsuit claims.
A former employee at Horizon, a white woman, cited the mistreatment of Black women at Horizon when she resigned, according to the lawsuit. When Deberry attempted to corroborate the claims, the company’s HR leader Nancy Galanty broke confidentiality by telling leadership, and proceeded to label Deberry as “angry,” the lawsuit alleges.
The plaintiffs also assert that Koenigsberg actively tried to undermine and discredit the findings of a Horizon diversity and culture survey in 2023, challenging the benchmark baseline and rates of participation. When the results of a subsequent annual survey suggested employees took issue with inclusion at the company, Koenigsberg and Horizon president Bob Lord criticized the methodology and demanded that the survey company’s cofounder defend its credibility in a meeting with Horizon leaders, according to the complaint.
Smith-Wilson, who joined Horizon in 2022, was terminated from the company in April of this year, with Horizon leaders citing a “restructuring,” the lawsuit alleges. Less than a month later, a new enterprise-level CMO was appointed to take over Smith-Wilson’s role. The shakeup was not a restructuring, the lawsuit claims, but “a pretext manufactured to conceal discriminatory and retaliatory motives.”
“Companies don’t earn immunity by pointing to diverse hires or past awards; the law demands equal standards, equal opportunities, and equal respect,” Clark, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said. “My clients never wanted to take this course of action. They achieved results despite resistance, and they’re stepping forward because mistreatment cannot be excused or normalized.”
