Janelle Monáe stands in a bay in Virginia, the waves lapping at her feet. She is not there as a star on the red carpet – instead she is an advocate for social justice.The commercial, for The New York Times’ ‘The 1619 Project’ finds Monae at the water’s horizon off the coast of Hampton, Virginai, at Point Comfort, the site where the first enslaved Africans were recorded being brought to Britain’s North American colonies; this same location inspired the cover photo for ‘The 1619 Project’ magazine issue. In her short monologue, she states “No aspect of the country we know today has been untouched by the slavery that followed.” The viewer is left to ponder that thought as they stare at the gray bay. It then types in “Words from ‘The 1619 Project: How Slavery Shaped America’.”‘The 1619 Project’ and its impact is the centerpiece of the next wave of ads from The New York Times’s ‘The Truth Is Worth It’ brand campaign. The commercial will premiere during the Oscars on 9 February and feature singer, actor and producer Monáe. CreditsClient The New York TimesAgency Droga5 NYCreative Chairman David DrogaGlobal Chief Creative Officer Neil HeymannCo-Chief Creative Officer Tim GordonCo-Chief Creative Officer Felix RichterGroup Creative Director Toby Treyer-EvansGroup Creative Director Laurie HowellCreative Director Marybeth LedesmaAssociate Creative Director Stacey SmithCopywriter Stacy-Ann EllisDesign Director Chance MedderChief Creation Officer Sally-Ann DaleDirector of Film Production Jesse Brihn Associate Director of Film Production (All Films) Ruben Mercadal Producer, Film Sophie PatonProducer, Film Jake HermanCelebrity Talent Relations Lead Whitney VoseSenior Business Affairs Manager Ann-Marie TurbittSenior Business Affairs Manager Paul Van DorpeGlobal Chief Strategy Officer Jonny BauerHead of Strategy Harry Román-TorresGroup Brand Strategy Director Nick MaschmeyerStrategist Carmen VonPattersonHead of Communications Strategy Dean Challis Group Communications Strategy Director Samantha Deevy Communications Strategy Director Hillary FinkExecutive Group Account Director Courtney RussellGroup Account Director Alex WoodsAccount Director Ola AbayomiAccount Supervisor Tehjal SuriAssociate Account Manager Vanessa FoinquinosSenior Project Manager Theresa GanchorreProject Manager Amanda CohenMusic Supervisor Mike LadmanClient The New York TimesMeredith Kopit Levien EVP & Chief Operating OfficerDavid Rubin Chief Marketing OfficerAmy Weisenbach Senior VP, MarketingIain Newton Brand StrategySabena Gupta Director, Brand StrategyLaura Forde Executive Creative Director, MarketingTaylor Gandossy Senior Writer, BrandJanis Huang Executive Director, Media StrategyPeter Lauer Senior Manager, Media StrategyBlair Ecton Senior Project ManagerBrenda Hutchings Photo EditorAaron Tejada Photo EditorProduction Company IconoclastDirector Jenn NkiruDOP Jody Lee LipesExecutive Producer Valerie RomerProducer Nanette NelmsEditorial Lost PlanetEditor Saar KleinAssistant Editor Danny ConnerExecutive Producer Krystn WagenbergProducer Casey CaykoPost Production BlacksmithExecutive Producer Charlotte ArnoldProducer Tina ChenLead Compositor Joey DeadyCompositors Danny Morris, Christopher Memoli, Jeremiah Morehead, Tim ReganColorist Mikey PehanichMusic Danny Bensi and Saunder JurriaansSound Sonic UnionMixer Rob Ballingall