Allyship Is To Have These Conversations Every Day

Tomorrow, we convene. As a truly diverse community, we meet tomorrow to talk about the most recent attack on humanity. There are sadly far too many to list, but these past two weeks in particular, we saw a dramatic increase in violence towards the East and Southeast Asian communities due to covid hate.

In honor of Black History Month, we believe strongly that it is our duty to constantly bring forward conversations and solutions for racism across all communities, as systemic change requires a holistic approach.

Join us tomorrow for an Adweek Community Town Hall to listen, learn, ask, offer your thoughts so we can support all communities, every day. And stayed tuned as community town halls will continue covering a range of important topics.

In honor of every community, we share the below reminders, tips, solutions, perspectives to empower every individual to lead change in their own ways. 

Don’t stop. Keep moving forward, keep driving change. It will take all of us, together.

Adweek DEI Town Hall: The Asian American Community

Join us for a live forum for the East and Southeast Asian American community and allies to discuss the ongoing and recently heightened race-related incidents and what actions we can all take to overcome racism and violence.

The Adweek DEI Community Town Halls are a place for connection, perspectives and sharing solutions we can all activate to drive real change. Our commitment is to keep important conversations like this going. Register for this town hall here and we’ll be sure to keep you informed of the next important topic we’ll cover in our ongoing community town hall series. Register here and please invite your friends and colleagues who care about equality for all. 

This will continue our conversation from last July where 10 Asian American leaders shared their perspectives and tips from being on the receiving end in life, and in business. 

During Adweek’s ‘A State of Revolt,’ Black Business Leaders Share How They’re Leading, Coping 

A week after the murder of George Floyd, 14 Black business leaders came together for a powerful, raw, honest conversation about what the world had just witnessed. 

The powerful conversation focused on 3 key questions: How are you personally navigating today’s turbulent times? How are you leading your teams through these times? What actions do you recommend everyone take to accelerate systemic change and what can we say to white colleagues and allies who are trying to help? 

Leaders openly shared how the recent events impacted their lives at home, at work, and even their mental health. They shared ways they were leveraging their platforms to drive change, but the overall sentiment echoed the need for more. Much, much more. 

“There’s a lot of work to do. So, I want everybody to roll up their sleeves and dig in because we’ve been doing this work. We’ve been doing this work every single day just to exist as Black people.” - Justina Omokhua, SVP Brand Marketing, Endeavor 

Catch up via the full video, podcast version and a summary of actions and advice. 

Pride, Protests and Progress – A Conversation with Adweek Pride Stars 

We had the honor of sitting with sitting down with 10 Adweek Pride Stars and LGBTQ leaders who are creating an impact in advertising, marketing, and culture.

Each shared how LGBTQ advocacy and dialogue have pushed the industry’s diversity, inclusion and equity movement forward but there is still more to be done.

Catch up via the full video, podcast version and a summary of actions and advice.

Leaders With Disabilities Urge Brands and Agencies to ‘Let Us Tell Our Own Stories’ 

“Ask questions. Don’t make assumptions. Let us tell the stories of our lived experiences.” This advice from Becky Kekula, director of the Disability Equality Index at Disability:IN, echoed across panelists during the Disability Inclusion Summit.

Catch up via the full video, podcast version and advice on how to avoid just checking the box on workplace inclusion.

‘Sin Pena:’ Hispanic and Latin American Leaders Issue a Fearless Charge to Speak Up

The Hispanic and Latin American Summit was the first actively trilingual event in the series, with participants speaking in Spanish, English and Portuguese. The interchange of languages helped illustrate a theme that speakers returned to repeatedly: The Hispanic and Latino community is one that finds unity in its vibrant diversity.

Catch up via the full video, podcast version and a summary of actions and advice.

MENA Leaders Push for a More Nuanced View of Diversity

When it comes to representation, people of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent have long faced a particular barrier: the lack of a box to check on official forms, including the U.S. Census. This has made it difficult to identify and organize communities in solidarity against a shared experience of racism and systemic barriers—especially following the surge of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiment following 9/11.

Catch up via the full video and podcast version.