By Hal Schild
On July 16 AAF DC, AMA DC, APA and Capitol Communicator held their 2nd All-Community Forum: Taking Action to discuss with all of our members what we can do to further social justice and increase diversity within our industries.
We are in the business of ideas. Diversity—and collision of thought, experience, perspective and people—is where the electricity comes from. It just doesn’t make any sense to ignore it any longer.
Our 70-minute Zoom discussion led by Joe Bowers-Disney, Welton Doby and Lindsay Matthews, centered around four discussion points:
ACCESS: How we can open up access within our industries for new voices:
- Create a diverse and inclusive workplace;
- Open up seats – or create new ones – at the table for new voices;
- Amplify new voices so they are heard.
EDUCATION: How to educate staff, vendors and clients so we can all interact and do profitable business within a more diverse pool of talented individuals:
- Expand the narrative of how we tell and visualize stories to the world;
- Build a diverse pipeline of talent;
- Advise our clients on DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion);
- Mentor the next generation.
REPRESENTATION: How we can bring diversity to all levels:
- Never create ‘diverse’ content without a diverse team;
- Ensure all levels of your workplace – and any project – are diverse;
- Use diverse images and language in ALL work.
RECOGNITION: How to recognize the fantastic diverse talent in our industries:
- Spotlight and showcase diverse work – and those who created it;
- Ensure those who are judging the work have a diverse background;
- Plan events in which both the speakers and programming are diverse.
Always remember that there are many stories to be told from many viewpoints.
During our community conversations, we shared marketing efforts by well-known brands. Take a look at the examples below to see how they are approaching the conversation:
- Proctor & Gamble: https://youtu.be/U7bnS8R994I
- Ben & Jerry’s: https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2019/08/slavery-to-mass-incarceration
- Nike: https://youtu.be/drcO2V2m7lw
- McDonalds: https://adage.com/creativity/work/mcdonalds-silent-video/2260721
You can view the entire forum discussion here.
Our next All-Community Forum is being planned for the latter part of August. Please join us!
Hal Schild is President of AAF DC
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