Speaking Up for Inclusion

Movements emerge from momentsamp160 Oprah had her moment at the Golden Globesamp160 A moment for the advertising media and tech industry occurred last week during CES 2018 when the Jack Myers KnowledgeExchange hosted the inaugural Advancing Diversity Honors to advance the diversity and inclusion conversation within our industryamp160 Honorees recognized for successfully activating change and inspiring others in the workplace includedamp160Unilever Nielsen IPG Ad Council EY IAB Education Foundation iDiverse Initiative Springboard Enterprises and Crowdfundingroadmap Incamp160 MediaVillage was a Title Partner along with DisneyABC Google Facebook Oath and AscentialMediaLinkDuring the networking reception for the 300 industry notables who attended in a show of support for diversity and inclusion best practices I had the good fortune to meet Cynthia Jones pictured at rightamp160 Cynthia is General Manager Innovation Experiences at the Henry Ford Museum and shared an amazing story about Rosa Parks and her busMary Ellen Holdenamp160 What brought you to the Advancing Diversity Honorsamp160 Cynthia Jonesamp160 I learned about the Advancing Diversity Honors from MediaVillage Managing Editor EB Moss who I met on a monorail here at CESamp160 We struck up a conversation about being the only two women on the crowded train caramp160and the lack of gender diversity here at the showamp160 The Henry Ford Museum is all about inclusion and diversity as well as American innovation rooted in technological innovations and social transformationamp160 Seeing women like my sisters who are both engineers come up through STEM has taught me the importance of thinking about diversity and inclusion in everything I doMary Ellenamp160 What39s one of the exhibits that39s touched you the most at the Museum Cynthiaamp160 We acquired the actual Rosa Parks busamp160 This was a monumental task that required extensive research to verify that we had the actual busamp160 Before we brought it into the Museum it was completely unrestoredamp160 In fact it had been used as a chicken coop and for target shootingMary Ellenamp160 How did you locate itCynthiaamp160 We researched the bus and found it in a field in Alabamaamp160 We also tracked down records of the bus driver on the day of the incidentamp160 He had very specific written details regarding the bus he was driving that dayamp160 He also kept a scrapbook of every news clipping about the incidentamp160 We acquired his scrapbook and were able to match the vehicle identification number on the engine with his notesMary Ellenamp160 Where is it nowCynthiaamp160 It39s on display in Dearborn Michigan in the Henry Ford MuseumMary Ellenamp160 Did Rosa Parks see itCynthiaamp160 Yesamp160 When we brought the bus in Rosa Parks was still alive and living in Detroit amp160She was in a wheelchair as she was quite elderly and frail When we brought her to the Museum we asked her what she would like to see happen with the busamp160 She told us that she wanted every school child to sit where she satThe bus is now completely restoredamp160 The advertisements inside the bus are the same as they were at the timeamp160 The bus is displayed in contextamp160for example we have colored and whitesonly drinking fountains and lots of artifacts that help people understand the civil rights movementPeople board the bus every single dayamp160 We have a presenter to tell the story We also have an account from one of our staff members at the time who was part of the Montgomery bus boycottIt is an amazing experienceamp160 Once a year on MLK dayamp160the Museum opens its doors and we provide free entry to anyone who wants to come to the museum on that dayamp160 We expect 12000 people this yearMary Ellenamp160 What lessons did you learn from Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr that you apply to work and lifeCynthiaamp160 To have a movement you must include everybody who is treated with injusticeamp160 I live in Detroit and regularly see young men look at a world around themamp160where they almost assume that they will end up being put in jailamp160 If that is your lived reality how do you transcend that to believe in yourself enough and to find the resources around you to not do thatamp160 How do we work through the fact that we have not lived in a fair society for a long timeAt the Henry Ford Museumamp160we think a lot about those issues and how to facilitate changeamp160 We are actively working with the Detroit public school system to teach innovation curriculums to studentsamp160 We also run a charter high school in the museumamp160 Public schools in public spaces give ordinary people extraordinary commitment and supportItamp8217s all about changing the culture across our nation to become one where human potential is what we are unleashing and unlockingamp160 If we donamp8217t encourage diverse talent we wonamp8217t really do well as a countryamp160 We need to include everyoneBus photo creditamp160 KMS PhotographyCynthia Jones photo creditamp160 Henry Ford MuseumClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Speaking Up for Inclusion

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Mary Ellen Holden

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Speaking Up for Inclusion

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