Channel 4’s former Equity & Inclusion lead Maria St. Louis has joined Guerillascope with the aim of broadening accessibility for under-served businesses within the ad industry. 
In more than 20 years at C4, St. Louis had a career of two halves. Starting as a graduate in 4Sales, she moved through various positions before stepping into her career-defining role as Co-chair for C4’s Race & Ethnicity Network, The Collective.
The Collective was born from a report by Caerus Executive Research, conducted in 2017, which assessed the lived experiences of black and multi-ethnic employees at C4 in comparison to their white counterparts.
St. Louis’ work in guiding the internal strategy focused on culture, representation, progression and retention. This framework was developed to improve the internal culture, while advancing the professional life cycles of black and multi-ethnic employees. It led to multiple initiatives, including:
Parliamentary events: Diversity in Broadcasting & Diversity in Advertising
Recommissioning of Caerus Research Report 2022
Anti-Racist organisation commitment
Black History Month awareness
Stop Asian Hate awareness
Ethnic Pay Gap reporting
Top 100 Earners tracking
Mirror On The Industry
Black To Front project
As a result, St. Louis was promoted to C4’s Equity & Inclusion lead in 2022.
In this new role, she resolved to shine a spotlight on the inequities faced by black-owned businesses in the UK. This evolved into a collaboration between C4 and Clear Channel - in partnership with Backlight, founders of The Black Pound Report, and cultural research experts The Good Side - to curate an award-winning piece of investigative research, .
The report backed up the need to act. It found that 44% of black business owners said “getting my name out there” was a challenge, compared to a third of white founders. Nearly half (47%) of BME business owners said that help with marketing/advertising would be helpful, compared to just 29% of white business owners. And 74% of black business owners and 51% of white people believe more should be done to support black-owned businesses in the UK.
Armed with these facts, St. Louis was instrumental in spearheading C4’s groundbreaking - and award-winning - Black In Business initiative in 2023, which received more than 1,000 applications from founders, and through a rigorous process, awarded five black-owned businesses with the creation of a free TV commercial, £100,000 of complementary airtime, a senior industry mentor and post-campaign analysis.
Despite this initiative, most black and multi-ethnic businesses are still not receiving the support that they need and deserve. In joining Guerillascope, St. Louis aims to tackle this issue, and make a pivotal impact on the strategic ambitions of the business going forward.
“Joining this team is the natural next step for me as it supports my vision to create space for all businesses to thrive and grow on their own terms in the UK” St. Louis says. “I know Guerillascope well from my time at Channel 4 and have always considered it to be a disruptive, entrepreneurial agency that does things a little differently and inspires change.
Guerillascope’s heritage is rooted in providing new advertisers with a launchpad to bigger and better things, St. Louis notes. “This is exactly what I want to achieve for everyone who feels under-served by the industry, so entering this environment sounded like an exciting opportunity to do just that. Together, we want to help many more small businesses experience the transformative power of advertising.
“Ultimately, we want to work with all the main media owners to deliver a more equitable ecosystem for every business interested in scaling up through the power of advertising. Taking inspiration from the great work implemented at C4, our vision is to become the go-to media agency for black business owners and all those who feel ignored by the status quo.”
David Yorath, Guerillascope’s founder and CEO, describes St. Louis as “a visionary leader and ambitious change-maker whose tireless work at Channel 4 made a huge difference.
“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Maria for many years, and I’m beyond pleased that she’ll now be bringing her energy, positivity and experience to our team,” he says. “We will ensure she has all the tools and resources to continue supporting scores of business owners and entrepreneurs.”
C4 re-launched The Black in Business initiative in 2024, awarding four black-owned businesses a bespoke TV commercial and £150k worth of advertising space.
Alex Mahon, CEO at C4, notes St. Louis’ “significant contribution to our inclusive culture.” As co-chair of C4’s The Collective from 2017 to 2024, “Maria was committed to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion while she also led the Black in Business initiative and worked in our commercial team,” she says. “I'm grateful for her vision, leadership and passion.”
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