Laura Rovira of Monks: “Design Gets Better When We Listen Beyond Our Own Perspective”

Making her Cannes Lions debut, Laura Rovira, Associate Designer at Monks, described her participation in the Publicitarias session “Latinas in the Spotlight: When Cultural Intelligence Becomes Creative Power” as both inspiring and transformative.

“It was my first time—my first panel, my first Cannes, my first everything,” she said. “I learned so much and had the opportunity to meet incredibly talented people.”

As a designer, Rovira said she typically spends most of her time creating visual work behind a computer. The panel, however, offered a different kind of learning by exposing her to the career journeys of women working across multiple creative disciplines.

“I’m a designer by profession, so I usually work behind my computer creating visuals. Listening to people like Alita and Romy talk about their experiences building their careers was incredible,” she said. “It’s important for me to keep learning from them so I can bring those lessons back to my team and my company.”

Originally from Argentina, Rovira said one of the greatest values of Latino US Day was hearing perspectives from creative professionals across Latin America and beyond.

“It was incredibly enriching to hear talented people from outside Argentina talking about design and creative filmmaking,” she said. “What I’m taking away is the opportunity to learn from people around the world—their experiences, their challenges, what it takes to win, and what it takes to be here.”

She also believes the industry is opening more doors for Latino creatives to reach leadership positions.

“People have access to Associate Creative Directors and Creative Directors. There are great opportunities everywhere, and there are more spaces where Latinos can have these conversations,” she said.

For Rovira, representation is ultimately about expanding opportunities for future generations of creatives.