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Meet Diana
Diana Orbe is a creative copywriter, founder, and chief creative officer based in Quito, Ecuador. After building her career inside multinational advertising agencies, she founded XL Grandes Ideas, an independent creative agency focused on purpose driven campaigns that connect brands with social, environmental, and cultural responsibility.
There is a certain calm that surrounds Diana Orbe when she speaks about her work. Not the calm of certainty, but the calm of alignment. Ideas, for her, are not fireworks meant to impress for a moment. They are bridges. They are invitations. They are ways of taking responsibility for the space advertising occupies in people’s lives.
She does not describe her career as a climb or a race. Instead, it feels more like a long conversation with creativity itself, one that began early and has continued to evolve with patience, discipline, and care. In an industry often driven by speed and spectacle, Diana has chosen something quieter and far more demanding: to make work that means something.
Learning the Language of Agencies Early
Diana entered the world of advertising young. At nineteen, she was already inside agencies, absorbing their rhythms from the inside out. She moved through roles as an intern, final art specialist, graphic designer, and eventually creative copywriter, a transition that would quietly shape the way she leads today. Design taught her respect for process, time, and effort. Writing taught her to listen.
Those early years were marked by curiosity and ambition, but also by discipline. Advertising was not a fantasy. It was work. Long hours, tight deadlines, and the constant need to prove yourself were part of the learning. Yet even then, there was a sense that she was preparing for something larger than a job title.
A defining chapter came when she earned a scholarship through Brother Escuela de Creativos Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. She studied at night and worked during the day at Garwich BBDO, one of the most awarded agencies in the country. It was exhausting and transformative in equal measure. Living alone in another country forced her to adapt quickly to new cultures, new language nuances, and new creative expectations. That year reshaped her sense of independence and resilience.
The experience also expanded her creative range. Working in a bilingual, US influenced market taught her how ideas travel across borders and how cultural sensitivity is not optional but essential. Creativity, she learned, is never neutral. It always speaks from somewhere, to someone.
When the Idea Would Not Let Go
The idea of founding her own agency did not arrive suddenly. It lingered. It followed her from meeting to meeting, brief to brief, campaign to campaign. She describes it as something always present, like a script waiting to be produced. Instead of overthinking it, she eventually chose to trust it.
Starting an independent agency was not an escape from agencies she respected. It was a step toward authorship. She wanted to choose the conversations she participated in. She wanted to bring social and environmental issues to the table instead of waiting for them to appear in a brief.
As she puts it,
“Starting your own agency may seem like a crazy idea, but when you work with ideas every day, you understand that those are precisely the ideas you should never abandon.”
XL Grandes Ideas became the most personal project of her career. It allowed her to work with brands that believe in purpose and to shape campaigns that aim beyond short term metrics. Recognition followed, with work featured on platforms such as Lurzer’s Archive, Best Ads, Ads of the World, and Act Responsible, the sustainability hub of Cannes Lions. Yet recognition was never the goal. It was a byproduct of consistency.
In 2025, a long held dream came full circle when she attended the Cannes Lions Festival through the ERA Program, representing Ecuador alongside other creatives. It was a moment of validation, but not a conclusion. For Diana, Cannes is not a destination. It is a reminder of what is possible when ideas are taken seriously.
Choosing Responsibility in a Loud Industry
Advertising holds enormous power, and Diana does not shy away from that responsibility. She speaks openly about the need for brands to engage with issues such as climate change, human rights, and corruption, not as trends, but as realities shaping the future of consumption.
She understands the skepticism around sustainability investments and addresses it directly. Ethical decisions are often framed as expensive or idealistic. Her experience suggests otherwise. Purpose, when done honestly, builds trust. And trust is one of the few currencies that still holds value.
Her agency’s work reflects this belief. One of the most meaningful projects was the campaign for the Ecuador Environmental Film Festival. The team developed a series of official posters that visualized the pain of endangered species such as the tapir, the spectacled bear, and the condor. The approach was emotional and urgent, refusing to soften the message.
The campaign attracted sponsorship from ten brands, including Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment and Culture, generated thousands of visits to the festival’s website, and filled theaters across the country. More importantly, it sparked reflection. It asked audiences not just to watch, but to care.
Leading With Empathy and Discipline
Inside her agency, Diana promotes a way of working grounded in empathy. Empathy for the consumer, for the client, and for the team. She believes that solving commercial challenges is not enough if the people behind the numbers are forgotten.
Maintaining profitability while staying true to purpose is one of her current challenges. The market is competitive, expectations are high, and ethical positioning demands consistency. She approaches this tension with focus rather than compromise. For her, discipline is an act of respect toward creativity.
She is clear about what success means to her.
“For me, success is having peace in everything you do with your family, friends, and colleagues, she says. It is a definition that resists the noise of the industry and returns to something deeply human.”
This sense of peace is closely tied to her values. Ethics, love, and empathy guide her decisions. Her faith, which she describes as a relationship of love rather than religion, shapes her approach to leadership and creativity. Creation, in her view, begins with care. Those who love, build.
Looking Forward Without Losing Ground
Diana’s vision for the future is ambitious and grounded. She wants XL Grandes Ideas to become a benchmark for ethical advertising with a global conscience. She wants to work with clients across borders, connected not by nationality but by shared values. She wants to create dignified work for people who love art and creativity, in environments where ideas can be expressed freely.
She draws inspiration from stories of perseverance. From founders who succeeded later in life, from creatives who challenged harmful norms, from people who refused to abandon their convictions. These stories remind her that difficulty is temporary and that growth often arrives disguised as discomfort.
Her advice to others reflects this clarity. Do not let emotions work against you. Doubt and obstacles are part of the process. Belief in yourself is a discipline, not a slogan.
The Quiet Strength of Meaningful Work
Diana Orbe’s story is not about disrupting advertising for the sake of disruption. It is about returning to its responsibility. About remembering that mass communication shapes culture whether it intends to or not.
Her work stands out not because it is loud, but because it is careful. Careful with language. Careful with images. Careful with people. In a world saturated with messages, that care is rare.
At the heart of her journey is a simple conviction: advertising can teach, connect, and repair. When guided by empathy and integrity, it can become something more than persuasion. It can become participation in the kind of world we are collectively creating.
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