Rafael Gonzaga is the Executive Creative Director at WEST BBDO, leading the creative department and vision across the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Dallas offices.

With two decades of experience between Brazil and the U.S., Rafa has been fortunate to work with incredibly talented people—and win over 200 international awards along the way, including more than 30 Cannes Lions and a Grand Prix for ‘Corruption Detector’ in 2018. His campaigns have also taken home Grand Prix or Gold honors at every major festival, including The One Show, D&AD, Effies, Clios, and more. He’s served on juries for top shows like The One Show, Clio Sports, the NY Festivals.

Before joining BBDO, he was ECD at GREY, overseeing the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. Previously, he played a key role in the creative transformation of GREY Brazil, helping land the agency in Cannes’ Top 10 Agencies of the Decade in Latin America—and paving the way for GREY LATAM’s back-to-back Regional Network of the Year titles.

Born and raised in São Carlos, Brazil, Rafa is idea-obsessed. Whether it's innovation, purpose, or a perfectly timed joke, he believes in work that transforms, inspires, and gets people talking. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their life’s true creative director: Mia, their brilliant three-year-old daughter.