Over the last decade, the beauty industry has come a long way in terms of diversity, however, the recent death of George Floyd has sparked outrage amongst us all, and has made each and every one of us question what we can do, both individually and within the companies we work for and with.
Now is the time to continue to educate ourselves, listen and learn, but we know that lots of businesses are unsure of what tangible things they can do and are worried about saying the wrong thing.
DIARY directory are using their platform to discuss issues surrounding race and diversity in our industry openly and recently spoke to Shannon Walker and Deborah T Johnson who have both worked within the beauty and lifestyle communication sectors for many years to share their experiences while working in communications. Read the full interview here.
Here are some of the businesses taking steps to make changes, and their pledges:
b. the comms agency
b. the comms agency has this week announced that they, as a prominent UK communications agency representing global cross-sector, with multi-category brands, are in a privileged position to help make a difference and have committed to 8 steps of change – these include extending their Diversity Board, education, offering an ongoing paid BAME graduate scheme, offering 1 year’s pro bono communications services to a Black-founded brand; annual quarterly free communications workshops. As well as making sure the talent representation side of their agency will continue to be more diverse, while also encouraging authentic diversity through casting, content and the creative teams they work with and making sure any upcoming events are all-inclusive. Please read the agency’s full pledge here @b_theagency
Space NK
The beauty retailer has pledged that they will only display testers for brands who have designed their stands to include every shade and they will provide testers and stock for all complexion shades of the brands in every store. Please read its full pledge here @spacenk
Seen Group
The agency has pledged to focus on inclusivity, education and representation. Please view their full pledge here @seen_group
