Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Take Center Stage at ThinkLA's "The Longer Table" Diversity Summit

Welcoming the crowd of attendees was ThinkLA's Executive Director Don Lupo (a recent guest on Legends & Leaderswith Jack Myers), who shared that the inception of the summit went as far back as two years ago when he and Andrea Green, ThinkLA's Director of Operations, "wanted to find a way to bring the community together to take action for our diversity efforts and our DIG Initiative." Lupo also said that the name and theme of the inaugural summit was derived from the phrase, "It is better to build a longer table than a higher wall."

Channing Martin, Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity & Social Impact Officer, IPG, delivered the keynote address, during which she asked attendees to harken back to early 2020. "Do you remember the first time you put on a mask?" she asked. "What it did it feel like? Do you remember seeing [a video of] a man killed by police? What did it feel like in your stomach? For some of you in 2020, you protested for the first time, you became activists online, whether you posted a black square or reposted something on your story, you did what you could to help expose and solve some of the world's biggest challenges." It was an incredibly poignant and powerful way to start the summit, reminding everyone that regardless of background, race or social status, we are all a community.

"The goal is to leave today more energized, engaged and dedicated to submit L.A. as the cornerstone of what it means to have a truly diverse and inclusive market in the advertising industry," she concluded.

Following the keynote was a panel discussion on DIG (diversity, inclusion and gender equity) moderated by Reonna Johnson, Vice President, Director of Strategic Growth, Deutsch LA, and featuring Carol Terakawa, CRO, Ladders; Isabel Rafferty Zavala, Founder and CEO, Canela Media, and yours truly. Topics varied from diversity and representation in the entertainment industry to the lack of opportunity or growth for BIPOC team members due to little in-house training or employee resources. (Johnson, at left, Terakawa and Zavata, at right, are pictured with me at top.)

After I commented on the lack of representation proportionate to Hispanics (19% of the U.S. population compared to an average of 3.9% of leading roles across television, according to a study done by UCLA, Zavala added that the cancellation of many Latinx-centered shows is likely due to the lack of minorities in the C-suite, which means there is no one left to vouch or fight for a show to be given more time to find its audience. "It all comes down to representation in the C-suite," she asserted. "It all starts at the top. Those rooms need to be more equitable and have more minorities and more females."

"You have to make it so that everyone is on an equal playing field and making the things that are intangible tangible," Terakawa added. "Community is key. As an employee or team member, you have to raise your hand and get involved."

Next up, the audience of young professionals from companies like Roku, Buzzfeed, Deutsch and Sabio was split up into breakout sessions, each facilitated by a member of ReadySet, a DE&I consulting group, with each session focusing on a different theme: Community, Market and Equity, the latter of which I participated in. Rachel Marcuse, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Partner at ReadySet asked the Equity group to turn to their neighbors, introduce themselves, and share what Equity-based obstacles their current workplaces may be facing, and to then open up a discussion with the entire group to share what suggestions and courses of action can be taken.

One staff member at a Latinx-based pop culture and news outlet revealed that while the company is incredibly diverse of cultures and nationalities within the Latinx community, there is a lack of male voices and LGBTQ+ individuals within the company, leading to an imbalance in their audience and an inability reach to the male Latinx population and those who identify as LGBTQ+. Other obstacles brought up included gender inequity within their companies, a lack of employee resource groups, and barriers in communications with company leaders who may say their door is "always open" but are otherwise hard to reach, leading to struggles in career advancement and upward mobility.

Marcuse said that she, in tandem with the other facilitators from ReadySet and ThinkLA, would compile all of these obstacles, thoughts and ideas into an open letter and call to action for those in the advertising, marketing and media communities to further advance diversity, inclusion and gender equity in the workplace.

Following the breakout sessions, attendees reconvened for a fireside chat with Tiffany R. Warren, Executive Vice President, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Sony Music Group. Warren is also the Founder and President of the non-profit organization ADCOLOR, which advocates and celebrates diversity across the creative and technology industries. During the conversation, Warren shared the origins of ADCOLOR and the "blueprint" that she leaves for future generations to use to continue the breadth of her work.

Warren also said that there is a need to step away from "cancel" culture and move more toward "counsel" culture. Cancel culture, she asserted, does not encourage conversation or education and cuts people off from resources they may need to learn and grow. "Counseling," on the other hand, instead gives them the opportunity to change and evolve.

"We want to make sure that we're being as forward thinking as possible in this space," concluded ThinkLA Event Director Marcie Booth. "To do that, it's our goal to continue conversations with industry peers about their personal journeys in DE&I and dig deeper into both accessibility and justice to expand the Summit in 2023."

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