Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The recruitment, development and retention of Black professionals is vital to bringing new concepts and ideas to the table. To create sustained allyship, we must be prepared to go beyond Black History Month to understand our audiences and our Black colleagues.

In this new series, PRNEWS asks young communicators about their view of the industry and of life, what skills they’ve acquired and what they wish they’d known about before beginning work. Our first young PR pro is Cedric F. Brown. He offers his perspective on diversity, useful skills and how Jackie Robinson and Ofield Dukes inspire him.

PRNEWS Live welcomed Michael Kaye, global communications and public relations manager at OkCupid. We discussed the dating site’s inclusive messaging and bold Valentine’s campaign.   You can view PRNEWS’ library of free LinkedIn Live streams here.

How has the pandemic changed the way consumers behave and, as a result, how brands communicate and market? Four professors attempt to answer those questions as they look ahead at 2021 trends in PR, communication and marketing. They anticipate much online shopping and a realignment of CSR.

As PR pros celebrate Black History Month during a virtual event at the Museum of PR next week, several panelists offer perspectives on the roles of Black PR pioneers and work that’s still needed. They call for increased recruitment and retention of Black PR pros and placement of more Black PR executives in senior positions.

Black history has been celebrated in the U.S. for the last 95 years. The idea was conceived more than 100 years ago. Still, the stories of Black PR pioneers remain largely unknown.

In the wake of calls for social justice last summer, it seemed as though every brand issued a statement or a black square. Indeed, there were plenty of brand posts about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

We talked to PRNEWS Top Women in PR honorees about the advancements of women in the workforce, the importance of mentorship and how the industry can help tackle the challenges of working women.

Societal unrest during the summer of 2020 led many businesses to take a hard look at what they represented to their audiences in terms of diversity and inclusion. Since then we’ve seen many organizations make statements and promises to practice greater inclusivity on everything from hiring to campaign content and representation. Whether or not these promises resulted in real change remains to be seen.

PRNEWS Live welcomed Matthew and Tammy Tsang, co-founders of &Humanity, an inclusive marketing agency. We discussed the importance of diverse perspectives in messaging and communication.