Alaina Crystal

Activist, Business mentor

Alaina Crystal is a committed feminist who has spent much of her career working on behalf of women and girls. Alaina is a Senior Strategy Director at Purpose, leading our strategy practice in the UK and across a number of international clients including the Gates Foundation, the LEGO Foundation and IKEA. Alaina joined Purpose from AMV BBDO, the UK’s largest advertising agency, where she served as Deputy Head of Strategy and led global strategic development across Guinness; Snickers; and Bodyform, where she helped to transform the way the world views periods and women’s health. Within her role, Alaina served on AMV’s Diversity & Inclusivity committee, the Omniwomen committee (a cross-Omnicom consortium designed to lift women up in business) and led a pro-bono campaign for Plan International UK in honour of International Day of the Girl. She was awarded a WACL Future Leader award in 2019. Alaina previously worked at BBDO NY on the Barbie business, which resulted in the successful repositioning for the brand as a tool for young girls’ imagination, turned around the declining brand, and won the Account Planning Group Grand Prix for excellence in strategy in 2017. In addition, Alaina led strategy on the globally recognised and creatively awarded “Evan” film for Sandy Hook Promise, which helped Americans learn the signs of a potential shooter in order to prevent potential future gun violence. Hailing from Connecticut originally, Alaina has spent much of her adult life bouncing between New York and London and is proud to call both home. She has a Master’s in Music Business Management (just ask her about her love of David Bowie) and a Bachelor of Science in Arts Administration from Skidmore College. When she’s not drawing strategy shapes, Alaina enjoys all things Neil Gaiman, long countryside walks around the UK, and strategizing her next nail art.

How creativity fuels social change | How to lift up women and girls | How local community activism changes politics

How much easier it would be to connect with one another, if we asked more insightful questions, versus always trying to have insightful answers

Hiking