Comms & Creative in Color: Inclusion, Unlocked

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

Diversifying representation is a business imperative in marketing/communications and advertising industries. However, for the creative world which shapes culture and influences global agendas, this is more than business: it’s a non-negotiable future. Both agencies and in-house teams of the industry must evolve from understanding the “why” of this problem to actively creating and carrying out intentional, impactful and sustainable solutions. With an intimate panel of industry titans, we’ll uncover the challenges and unlock proven insights and strategies on what it takes to attract, retain and advance Black talent in the communications and creative industries–with values of community at the center. Attendees are invited into dialogue alongside the panel of industry leaders–all are welcome!

Transcript:

Gillian Williams, Partner, President and Founder of Monday Talent:
Community is everything. Work is where you spend, unfortunately, you know, most of your time, or now in this remote world, where you spend most of your energy on work and hours in the day, and so it’s so, so critical to have a community of people that you, you respect, a community that feels inclusive and equitable, a community that feels like you can, you can thrive and do your best work.

Damaune Journey, Chief Growth Officer, 72and Sunny:
Being a lonely only is often tough. It’s a road that many of us have had to travel, but the truth of the matter is, if you can not be the lonely only and have others in this space, then all of the sudden this space by its very nature becomes more inclusive and welcoming, and allowing everyone through operate through their natural, personal experience in the workplace is – becomes a more welcome and inclusive environment for all.

Detria Williamson, Chief Marketing Officer:
An inclusive environment for creatives of color means that we’re not just showing up as consumers, as part of what’s slated to be a twelve billion dollar industry by the time 2023 gets here.

Jonathan Jordan, General Manager, Edelman Southern California:
One of the things that allows Black creatives and other creatives of color to thrive is having an environment where they’re given latitude, they’re given autonomy, they’re given the freedom to explore.

Detria Williamson:
We’re showing up as creatives, as engineers, as UX designers, as brand strategists – we need to be there.

Damaune Journey:
Being who you are is far less effort than being someone you’re not and far too many times, people of color, Black people in particular, have to show up and be some version of themselves, but not their true selves and it erodes the value they can bring to the business. And so by being able to actually show up, by having support from leadership, and encouragement from all levels to actually be who you actually are, you can be the best version of yourself and a much more productive corporate employer citizen. And ultimately, the other teammates in the organization get a chance to be encouraged by that sort of bravery and become more a better version of themselves through the process.

Jonathan Jordan:
When you gave a lot of leeway and you allowed those creative artists to explore, and you supported even the things that you weren’t really sure about, but you gave them latitude and you allowed them to explore their creativity and some of the best work comes back when there’s an environment of that.