On this last day of Pride Month, we welcome an editorial from Robert Conner, an activist and expert in LGBTQ communications and media, on how this moment is fraught, “You must rise to meet it.”

The hiring frenzy brought on by George Floyd’s death inspired a great deal of agencies to hire more young Black creatives. Fantastic right? Well, to a point.

When communications leaders know how to navigate DE&I comms, they can set the stage for a stronger workplace culture.

Through founding LGBTQ and minority-owned businesses such as Allen Media Group, Future Today, kweliTV, and Revry, the ISA realizes its unique opportunity to showcase diverse voices and stories.

Global omnichannel media agency Assembly is putting its money where its mouth is: The Stagwell subsidiary just announced an investment program that will directly support minority-owned and operated businesses, creating a cohesive way for clients to reach underserved consumers.

Is your ad featuring an East Asian man as a nerd actually reinforcing dangerous stereotypes? When and how should you use “Black American” in your copy or scripts? Should there be a hyphen in “Filipino American”?

February is over and attention on Black History Month has disappeared. However, the need for ongoing efforts to promote DE&I initiatives remains critical. DE&I initiatives require sustained commitment and action beyond designated heritage months.

The ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) is holding its Diverse Owned and Targeted Media GrowthFronts, an inaugural industry media upfront event hosted at DotDash Meredith headquarters in New York City.

In what was a spectacular premiere night, Revry’s international drag competition series, ‘Drag Latina’ premiered with devices lighting up around the world showing the double episode night.

Netflix did everything that DE&I advocates asked for when staffing its brand journalism venture, Tudum.

The company hired a diverse cohort, mostly people of color and/or women. It gave them generous pay and creative freedom to speak to audiences from their individual, unique perspectives.

Then, after less than a year, Netflix laid them off.

While there is a strong trend for diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, studies show that progress is slow, and many companies are struggling with these concepts.

According to the HR Research Institute’s report, The Future of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion released earlier this year, most organizations lack mature and effective diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. 

The Fragrance Foundation’s (TFF) signature DEI initiative, #FragranceForwardTFF, officially launched with a free webinar, Industry Perspectives on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Featuring brand owner Chris Collins, World of Chris Collins; Givaudan Senior Perfumer, Linda Song; Rob Smith, founder, The Phluid Project; and, Corey Smith, Head of North America DEI, LVMH,  the virtual event brought together more than 1,000 attendees, ranging from brands and media, to beauty and fragrance executives and enthusiasts, students and consumers from across the country. The engaging and lively discussion, moderated by Helen Shelton, Global Chief Diversity Officer and luxury brand marketing communications expert at Finn Partners, offered actionable next steps and best practices for industry leaders and those interested in entering the field, as well as insights on the career and professional development journeys of pioneering voices in the industry.

Join cross-generational communications and DEI leaders as they discuss the current state of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace and emphasize a call to action for individual accountability and commitment to DEI across all levels of an organization. 

The Fragrance Foundation (TFF) today announced #FragranceForwardTFF, a sweeping new initiative to advance, increase and sustain measurable levels of diversity, equity and inclusion in the multi-billion-dollar fragrance industry. The initiative will harness the collective power of TFF’s membership base to share and allocate dedicated resources towards education and scholarship programs, recruitment and outreach, as well as mentoring and networking opportunities. 

The Diversity Action Alliance (DAA), a coalition of public relations and communications leaders and industry organizations, today released its inaugural “Race and Ethnicity in Public Relations and Communications Benchmark Report.” The report, which examines the racial and ethnic representation and promotion data of employees across 100+ U.S.-based public relations and communications organizations, documents that just over one-fifth (21%) of those employees are racially/ethnically diverse.

The Museum of Public Relations hosted its 2nd Annual “Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month” observance on Wednesday, May 12. Please join us for this on-demand event, which focuses on the heartbreaking rise of anti-Asian hate and violence in the U.S., including the recent shootings in Atlanta where eight people were killed—six of them Asian women. Our discussion focuses on the role of communicators in helping to #StopAAPIHate.

A statement from Peter Finn on the recent, horrific events in Atlanta, Georgia. #StopAsianHate