Recorded Webinar

Sustainability in DE&I: Leveraging Community, Allyship, and Partnership

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Transcript

Azure Rooths: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are finding yourself in the world. We are so excited to be here with you today. It is going to be an exciting session on sustainability in DE& I. We have Corey Ann from PILOT and Andriena, our very special guests.

I think we should jump right in. To our session today. So as Corey Ann has said, we are actively working on the chat behind the scenes, but one monkey don't stop. No show. We're going to keep on rolling, right? Because we found a way to get around the chat. And if we just have to keep using Q&A the entire session, that is exactly what we're going to do.

So with that being the case, there are four ways that we encourage you to participate today. 1. Once chat is going, please make sure that you address your comments, questions, concerns. Until then, I will closely be monitoring the Q& A and I will utilize that as such. In PILOT, one of the things that we do to spotlight, give a virtual high five to people is to add a plus one and then we add.

Someone's name. We encourage you to do that. If there's something that Corey Ann says that really sticks out and resonates with you, something that Andriena says that blows your mind, you're like, Yep, I need to do that. Hey, girl. Hey, I'm here for it. Please make sure you do a plus one and at that person's name.

We encourage you to feel free to ask questions of the presenters throughout the sessions. I will closely monitor that component as well. And then when we get to the Q&A portion and or throughout Corey Ann and Andriena majors. Pause the show and jump right in and say, you know what, this person has a really good question.

And finally, just to let you know, this session is being recorded and it will be shared with you at the end of our session.

Corey Ann Seldon: Now, Azure, can I make a comment to you before you talk about PILOT? So y'all, not only is Azure going to make sure you get the recording of this, but we're also going to take the insights that Andriena shares, and we're going to turn them into a one pager.

So this has not been created yet because we don't know what's about to be shared. So once we get through this session, we're going to look at the stuff that really is just like juicy, activating, like gets us energized. We're going to put that in a one pager and include that with the recording. So you can literally have that download after this session together.

Love it. Thank you so very much for that. As we transition, I want to share a little bit about PILOT. Just so that you know, PILOT was founded for everyone to feel powerful at work. We show participants how to use reflection, self reflection, solicit and accept feedback, advocate for themselves, and take effective actions in their organization.

This is done through four key methods. Technology. individual reflection activities, executive fireside chats, and one on one future focused feedback.

PILOT is also in its second year with Hearts and Sciences helping develop their employees. PILOT has the pleasure of hosting some of their executive leaders like their CFO, CEO, and COO as fireside chat executives in the program.

Now speaking of Hearts and Sciences, it's time to introduce you to the one and only.Andriena Coleman.

So let's roll in to this photo is giving everything, everything, everything, everything. So with that being the case, Let's go through really quickly. Let's meet Andriena. She is the Director of DE& I for Hearts and Sciences, a data driven marketing agency.

She has recently earned her certificate in Disruptive Strategy from Harvard Business. This right here. The Olympics, ma'am. I'm here for it. I probably low key dated myself, but that's okay. I own my experiences. You still look amazing, and that's all that matters, right?

And so, throwback, she was in the 1996 Olympics band. And, a fun fact, when you came in, you heard some music playing, okay? Off the Sugar Hill Gang. Label, her cousins were the first hip hop band to go gold with the song that you heard when you came in, Funk You Up, which has been sampled for many years by many amazing artists. Everyone, please. Go in the chat or the Q&A.

Shout out. Welcome. Say hello to our amazing friend, Andriena. Thank you so very much for being here today.

Andriena Coleman: Thank you. And I wanna layer one more thing. Hip hop is 50 years young, y'all. Started by the people, for the people. And here we are. My cousins. Were a part of the group. The Sequence out of Columbia, South Carolina.

Andriena Coleman: Google them. Google 'em, check 'em out, y'all. That's amazing. Yeah. Wow.

Corey Ann Seldon: 59 years young.

Andriena Coleman: I love these comments. Hip hop is culture. That's right. This is amazing.

Azure Rooths: So with that being the case, I want to jump into some rapid fire questions. Can we do that a little bit?

Corey Ann Seldon: No, we can do it. And let's just have people participate. We can't chat. That's okay. Just say it out loud. Say your answers out loud.

Corey Ann Seldon: We're going to pretend that you're with us in one big room. Okay. Y'all

Azure Rooths: like it. Okay. So here's our rapid fire questions. Corey Ann and Andriena, you guys will say yours out loud. Everyone else go in the chat. Let us know early bird or night

Andriena Coleman: owl, Andriena night out. That's when I'm my most creative self.

Corey Ann Seldon: Early bird.

Corey Ann Seldon: I'm up at 5 a. m. girl. Chav.

Andriena Coleman: I'm not about that. Alright,

Azure Rooths: so Taylor, early bird. Melissa, night, early, early, early,

Andriena Coleman: early. Oh, it looks like the earlies are taking it over, ladies. That's okay. My husband is the early bird, so I have a little balance in my life, in fairness.

Azure Rooths: Okay, so here we are. Next one. Corey Ann. You go first window or aisle seat.

Corey Ann Seldon: Oh, window. 'cause I sleep. Sleep like a baby on the plane. Just put me against the window. Andriena,

Andriena Coleman: I, I gotta go aisle seat. These knees aren't knee anymore and I need to stretch 'em out. So Liandria says window with a bunch of Ws. So

Azure Rooths: I'm looking at it. Window. Window. Window.

Andriena Coleman: Window. Okay. Jeremy. Jeremy said he needs a window seat.

Andriena Coleman: Like, Erica Badu. I see you. All right.

Azure Rooths: But it looks like window has taken it yet again. Okay. So here we go. Next one. Something you're afraid to do.

Andriena Coleman: You know, I'm not motivated by fear, but I will say this. I, I have a fear of not continuously learning. Right. So if I'm not learning, then I'm not growing.

Andriena Coleman: So if I had to throw something out there, that would be that.

Corey Ann Seldon: I love it. That's so deep. Mine's just like. Scuba diving. I'm not going to bother the fish. I'm not going to bother the animals. That's their home. I'm going to let them stay in their home. I will watch, you know, Planet Earth on TV and stay very far away.

Andriena Coleman: Got it. And the top three off the bat are skydiving. So we're just going to let skydiving have it.

And then I'm gonna move on to my last rapid fire question. Well, I'm laughing about that. They say skydiving, but y'all won't sit by the window. Right? Okay, we'll go with it.

Let us have our fears. Don't take them away from us.

Azure Rooths: Okay. Yes. Something good that's happened lately. Corey Ann.

Corey Ann Seldon: Something good that's happened lately. I have two young toddlers and they are communicating more and more every day in like really complex sentences and so just the conversations at breakfast and dinner are like conversations now and that's just really good.

Andriena Coleman: I think for me being here, right? So we were talking about this in the dress rehearsal. Y'all Corey Ann had an idea. We, we brought an idea and we're here today. So this I'm extremely proud of, and thank you so much to the PILOT team. You all are amazing. I feel like. I'm comfortable. I'm right at home. And so thank you so much for having me here. I love that. I love it. Thank you. Thank you.

Azure Rooths: Thank you so much to everyone that has participated. Let's jump right into our first poll. How about that?

Corey Ann Seldon: First and only poll, y'all.

Azure Rooths: First and only poll. Okay, so with that being the case. I want to stop sharing here for a second. And I'm going to launch our poll. Are employer diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, DI, stalling in 2012? You guys already on it. Look at that. Do you feel that we are currently stalling in 2023 ladies out of 160 people that are on this call? Can I tell you that we are up to 85. The room is here and they are ready.

Corey Ann Seldon: 100 percent participation. Let's give them another 30 seconds. I'm loving the answers on this too. Y'all like, are they stalling? I guess they're stalling. I think, I think they're selling, but the business doesn't think so. Right. Like my CEO, my C suite thinks we're, we're moving at a fast clip, but I think we're stalling.

Well, it's the same as last year. So they're not like not getting left, but like, we're the same, but like, we're actually growing and expanding our efforts. Like, no, we're not stalling at all. I'm loving just like the frame of just how it actually feels in the moment. I want to get Andriena's hot take on this in a second too.

Azure Rooths: Okay, so we've given everyone one minute, but it looks like the answers are still kind of coming in. Let's go 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ooh, okay. All right. All right, Corey Ann and Andriena, what does this data say to you?

Andriena Coleman: I'm letting it really go, yeah. Yeah, I, you know, I tend to lean toward the, for my own experience, I'm using, add me statements, don't add me in the comments, add me, right? We're growing and, and we're expanding our efforts. That said, you have to understand timeline, right? So, you know, wins don't happen overnight.

Right. Ultimately, it took a long time for us to get in this space. But to truly make systemic change, it doesn't happen in one sweep, right? It happens incrementally, and you should celebrate all your wins, right? Celebrate all your wins. And I think there's more work to be done. More work to be done.

=Absolutely. So I think that's why you see so many varied results, but stay the course.

Corey Ann Seldon: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. I love that. I love that. And Azure, I'm going to move past the knowing to doing, I actually want to just talk, get into set the stage. Cause Andriena and I kind of teed that up perfectly for us. So if that's okay, I'm going to move right into this question.

Absolutely. I love it. So Andriena, can you help us like, just, just paint the picture. Tell us about some examples of DEI efforts or projects or initiatives that you or your colleagues are working on. So we're talking about like, okay, is it stalling, but like what's, what's happening? What are some of those little or big wins that you're seeing?

Andriena Coleman: Well, I think for me, I sit in a very matrix organization. So I'm going to talk about things from a hearts and science perspective. You're going to hear me reference Omnicom global perspective. You're going to hear me talk about Omnicom Media Group. Y'all just levels to this and I probably just confuse all of you, but go with me, go with me.

We're here. We're with you. Fundamentally, I think one of the, the main things that we did was that we started bridging communities. And so we're really communities through our business resource groups are community and culture. Resource groups are so very important and just a layer in into that a little bit, right?

So we have our cultural BRG business resource groups where folks that identify with said community in addition to allies will be very clear about that. We make spaces for continuous learning, and we also create safe spaces for those that identify as well. But ultimately, allyship is at the forefront.

And then, and on the community forefront, we have something for our emerging leaders. We have something for our work and parents, y'all. And the work and parents one is unique to me because we started this with Omnicom Media Group right in the middle of pandemic, right? People learned a lot about what their strengths and weaknesses were when babies had to be on computers virtually, right?

So we knew we need to show support there. It doesn't just stop there, right? So when I say we have a global employee resources group, at the Omnicom level we do. We do have the cultural ones, but we also have open pride is pride y'all. I'm very proud of what we have done as a group. Most recently we did the New York AIDS walk and the pride march just this past weekend in New York.

Just some of those few things. Omni women, right? So we have also opened disability. And so ultimately we try to make sure first that we curate spaces where people can have safe spaces, where we can share learnings, and we can build cultural community together. There's no such thing as too much, right?

So some people say, well, you have these employee resources group at so many levels, but even at Hearts and Science, we have our DE& I initiatives. Which our group is called Change of Hearts. Our name is Hearts and Science, y'all. From a marketing and branding standpoint, you gotta lean into that.

That's what I'm saying. I love it. I love it. Yeah, but Change of Hearts, you know, composes of groups of folks that have an interest. And how we work with those groups, we have focus pillars, right? So recruitment Retention development. I am a dedicated practitioner to DE& I. So with that I help facilitate these things, but it starts with listening with what our talent wants.

What do you want to see? What can we do better? So we, we constantly ask for that feedback, which is a gift. And super proud of some of the things that we've done. One of them is, is that first of all, we are a marketing agency, right? So we place media and handle strategy on behalf of many, many major brands, but nobody knows what we do.

What is it? Right. I go home and I hear my mama trying to explain to people what I do. And she's kind of like, Oh, so you work at working marketing, right? And she just goes with it. Sure. Sure. Kinda. But that said, we understood that there was a gap, right? So, you know, to close the diversity gap, we need to expose people to what it is and provide opportunities.

So a lot of what we do this first half of the year has been engaging universities, not just universities. We talk to folks From all walks of life, veterans, right? We talked to folks at the high school level, and the thought behind it is, is that, you know, I know what my road map was. Y'all saw my date, 1996, all up in the Olympic band, but I I may have started with a road that has, you know, some bumps in it, some rocks, some things in my way.

Our goal is, and I'm using IME statements, it's important to me that we provide people with access. Right. And I want their pathway to be smooth. I want that to be smooth pavement for them. But the only way to do that is to share experiences, right? So that's been important to us. We got some amazing initiatives coming.

I can't share all the tea here with y'all today, but just know that that's something that we're working on in the background. We hope to have an announcement soon on some of these things, but I'm most proud of what we did recently. So Hearts in Science was the first agency to partner with the National Association of Black Owned Back Blackcasters in their Media Institute, which was housed at the AUC.

So for all my Atlanta folks that was at Clark Atlanta, Spelman Morehouse. It was an amazing experience because we had some fellows that descended upon the AUC for 10 days. We gave them a crash course into the media agency life. Huh. They got to learn from our partners. They got to learn about Nielsen and just things that you wouldn't normally learn in your course curriculum, but it was, it was awesome and it was just allowing them access, right?

So guiding those fellows and coaching them through that 10 day session was amazing. And, you know, one of the goals that I have is hearts. Let's try some new stuff, right? Let's be in spaces where we hadn't shown up before. That's important. Right. And I think that that's just an example to that.

That's incredible.

Corey Ann Seldon: And I'm loving how, like everything you're saying is kind of weaving together and y'all, you might've noticed me like already taking notes for our one pager, because she's just, Andriena, you're inspiring me with just how many options there are when you think about this and this really inclusive lens, right?

Like what's possible. How do we. Move the needle, big stuff, small stuff. So I'm just impressed. So to that, I'm curious this, and I don't want you to feel like this is bragging. This is really like someone sharing their thoughts so that other people can learn and possibly take action. But what, from your perspective, what does an effective DEI leader need to have?

Like what, like maybe two or three things are really helpful for them to have in place.

Andriena Coleman: A big one is that you definitely need leadership buy in, right? And what has been working for me is that our leadership is a team of folks. I connect with each one of them individually. Share what I have in terms of what I'm looking to do.

And look for perspective, right? I have my lens. I wanted to multi frame the scenario and get their feedback. Once you get their feedback and then you present it back out, I've had much success with that. They're aligned and it's been fantastic. And I know that that's, again, using IME statements, right?

Not everyone has that experience. So I'm very fortunate to have a dialed in leadership team that has kind of given me the runway, right? With, with their input. Right. On, on how we want to move forward with our organization. And you just

Corey Ann Seldon: said something that, sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you, but you said something so profound that I think I even take for granted, which is you meet with them one on one.

A lot of times, even when I'm working with executives, I'll like do it. Like we're gonna do a round table or like, I'm going to get them all together. And then I'm going to present and have to like, do this, you know, dog and pony show. It's like, wait, there are people too. Let's spend time one on one. If you're going to buy that, have that leadership.

Buy in very different than like a presentation or approve something, right? Yeah. Let me, let me show you. It's like, let me build this relationship. And you just said that so casually, it was like, wait, wait, that's actually. Not for not easy, but very intentional.

Andriena Coleman: It's intentional. And, you know, you said something to, you know, I want to disarm folks that are afraid to go to leadership.

And what I appreciate at heart is that we really provide an opportunity for folks to come to leadership with suggestions at any level. Right? And I really love that experience. I've been here going on six years, and that's one of the things that was a huge decision on me coming to hearts and then, of course, taking this role.

But she said something. Leaders are just like us. They, you know, step into their pants or whatever they want to wear one step at a time, right? So there's that. But no, you definitely have to have those things, and they have ideas, too. Right. How, how can we partner work together? That's the big thing you want to solve for.

Corey Ann Seldon: I love that. And then anybody else in the org? Like I know leadership is a big focus and a lot of times that's like, sometimes I get really tunnel visioned

Andriena Coleman: on that. Anybody in the org? Yeah. You definitely have to talk to a myriad of people. Everybody's experiences aren't the same. Right. So I, you know, I'd be remiss to think that, Oh, this solves all the things.

No, and you can't, you don't have to stay married to what it is. You, you may, your idea might evolve, right? We say D and I is the driver of innovation and truly is right. So in order to do that, you have to gather perspectives. And I think someone said, what is the biggest challenge you face getting buy in from leadership when you started the relationship?

I would say. The biggest challenge is, you know, getting them to take the me out of media, right? We work in the media business. Sometimes they see things their way. I have to bring them around, right? You know, listen, not everybody sees it that way. You know, just because you're an introverted person doesn't mean you don't care.

Right. I'm just using that as an example. So I think that, you know, not just not harsh, I'm just saying in general, for leaders, they tend to think the most engaged people are the ones that are outward and, you know, raising their hands all the time. There's value in everybody's experiences, right? So sometimes you have to take a deeper step back and bring those voices forward as well.

So, That ultimately was, was, is the biggest challenge. I think in general, people be people in y'all, you know,

Corey Ann Seldon: we all have our good days, our bad days. And then the days in between when we're like, what am I doing? What's happening here?

Andriena Coleman: Yeah. You know, and you, you said something else that reminded me of this. I am so fortunate. You know, I have so many mentors in my life, personally and professionally, but within our organization, we boast across the globe 50 plus DE& I leaders are embedded at each agency.

So we do a lot of cross sharing and, and learning. You know, there is no copy, paste, repeat thing that you can kind of do that fits your organization. However, we share wins. We, we fail up, right? We, we try to strategize together and, you know, I'm very fortunate about that. And we call it our open team, our Omnicom people engagement network.

Got to love a good acronym. Oh my gosh. Seriously, y'all. Yeah. So there, there are a lot of people that I can bounce things off of. And so, so grateful for that. And even within our own Omnicom media group family, right. So I represent hearts, but my counterparts at OMD Analect. At PhD resolution, we, we meet on a weekly basis to do just that share learnings and how we can support one another.

Corey Ann Seldon: That's amazing. So there's the internal stuff and for being an effective DEI leader, I've heard you speak before about your network. Yeah. Like, like what is that? How does that fit into your sort of puzzle of being a really strong leader?

Andriena Coleman: Well, I have to refresh my network, y'all. You can't do the same things you always did and not expect to get something different.

Right. So I want to learn from other people. I, you know, I intentionally reach out to people and I'm cognizant of who reaches out to me. You know, I want to follow up and engage in an organic conversation. I say that to people that are just starting out their career. You, you have to connect with people.

You need, you know, feedback from key stakeholders, but yeah. What are people saying that don't have a vested interest? You know what I mean? So what can you learn from those folks? So that's something that's very important. If it, you know, if I didn't walk away with five new LinkedIn connections, that's something I've gone to do, then what am I doing?

Corey Ann Seldon: You know, I love that idea of like, it's not a it's not a like, And it's like, okay, I have this many followers. I've done, I've met with these people. It's actually like, you got to keep refreshing and refreshing and refreshing this, this, your, your expansion, your network, your team, right? Because you never know who knows someone or who knows something or who needs your help too, where you can be of service.

So it's like that instead of a, you know, you got to drink your eight glasses of water a day. It's like, and you got to refresh your network, like make it part of your daily action.

Andriena Coleman: I love that. Yes. I would say that that's how we got here, Corey Ann, right? So our partnership our relationship has grown ever since.

And, you know, I, I do want to add this in, I got to get a shout out to Chris Thanger. Tell them about your artwork

Corey Ann Seldon: behind you. So this artwork is actually, yeah, this is the CEO of hearts and science where Andriena works. His wife is an amazing artist in Dallas, which is where I live. And so after I met Chris, he said, Hey, check out my, my wife's art.

And I was fell in love. And so I was, I'm an avid supporter of Hearts and Science. I got the shirt. I got the art. We're all about it. But it is that sense of just like people are people, right? He's the CEO of a media agency and. He's got a wife, he's got kids, he's doing the thing. They're going on their family trips. They're going to buy groceries, but like he still wants to engage in conversations.

Andriena Coleman: So yeah, we got, yeah, I see. We have a question about failing up. Right. So I think, you know, a prime example is, is that, Oh, let's, let's come up with this, this amazing program. Let's partner with said partner and we don't get a hire from it.

Or we didn't get the turnout that we expected. And I think it's perspective, right? So if we started off with an end goal, we probably didn't do that. Right. Did we test to learn enough to say that this is what the goal should be? Right. And so those are the kinds of things that we've learned. And what we adopt here at hearts is a dry erase board concept, and I would encourage everyone to have that.

Right. So if you've got an idea. Put it up there. If it works, great. If it doesn't, you can always restart and pivot into something else. There's no such thing as a perfect outcome sometimes. And it's the learnings that you, that, that come out of it. But we, we've seen that happen a lot with some of my colleagues.

They'll go into a recruitment fair and say, Oh my goodness, we didn't get the turnout that we wanted to do. Well, first of all, how do we engage the audience right now? Now we know. Now we know ahead of time how to prepare. Also, a lot of it is being able to talk about the organization, have them become interested.

And I'll share one of mine. So we engaged this amazing partnership with Hiring Our Heroes which helps transitioning veterans love the program 100%. But what's unique about this program versus a internship program is that they have to choose the organization. Ooh, I got humbled because I had this sexy deck.

I'm talking to things and I'm showing off the things and they're like, yes, but you're second place on our list, right? And that's okay. First go around. The second time I went in, I went in with zero slides. You know, this, these are people that are choosing the next steps in their life, in their career trajectory.

So I had a conversation. We were selected. Right. So you failed up. You failed up. Yeah, I failed up. I'm like leadership. Look, I keep going. We got to keep going and got to stay steadfast. And I learned a lot about that. And that is a partnership that you know, we're engaging more and more of so that that's one, that's one one area.

So hopefully that helps.

Corey Ann Seldon: I love it. I love it. And that's something that I think is, can be scary and nerve wracking and hard. And it goes to what you talked about with fear. But it also, when you have, like, you talked about your network, when you have your allies in your organization, when you have your relationship with your stakeholders, it's a lot.

Easier to, well, I mean, not a lot, but sometimes it's easier to have those moments of failing up because you already have the built in support. And they're like, we know we're trying, we're learning, we're developing. So there's that support system for you, as opposed to what I talked about. I was like, I'm going to go share my presentation with my executive board and tell them that I'm right.

And then I better be right. That's much more scary. And not as like, that's actually opposite of like what DE and I trying to do, which is bringing people in, building those communities.

Andriena Coleman: Yeah, and I'll say this too, and I address this with our entire organization and our leadership. DE& I is not just my responsibility, right?

I happen to be the director of the initiatives, right? So everyone is accountable to it, right? Where do we want to go? Where do we want to grow?

Corey Ann Seldon: If you feel, if you resonate with what Andriena just said, put in the Q and I put a little like plus one, if you can do an emoji, do a thumbs up and be like, I feel the same.

If you're like, I am not the only D and I practice. I, it is not my responsibility just because I hold the title. I'm curious if that's because when you said that, I was like, yes. Yes. It is not just on me to be all the things and, and hold this one experience for the entire organization. That doesn't feel fair.

That's not what we're trying to do.

Andriena Coleman: I love that. I want to answer this too. Someone put in, how can I get leadership buy in for internal initiatives when the focus seems to be all external facing, I would start with, you know, creating a framework, right? You help bring people in to help make that framework happen.

That was important for me to learn right off the gate, is that I need to give them something to react to, right? And so that's important. And then what, what would be the key outcome that you're looking to have happen? I will tell you PILOT is one of our internal initiatives. This is not public facing.

They come in to us. And we, we have people that participate in it, and they've seen and get continuous feedback, right, from the people that attend, and, and I'm really proud of this one, and I'm not saying it because they wore hearts pink and got our CEO pictures back there. Not, not, not that. But we have seen people really commit and invest in themselves in a very disarmed way, but that was the framework set up from the get go.

Like, how can this be different from some of the other learning and development opportunities that we have? Time, time is a, is a commodity. It is your biggest commodity, and they've been able to come in and curate this experience in a very non invasive way. Which I appreciate. So that, that would be my answer to that.

Get some framework, what comes out of it, what's the outcome and then get that feedback, right? Feedback is a gift in a two way street. So, but you got to start somewhere and I would say building a framework. And if you've got questions on what that looks like, hit me up. Y'all got my LinkedIn.

Corey Ann Seldon: I love it. So on this is Dana.

I can talk. I promise. There it is on the sustainability piece. You know, I'm wondering for folks who really want sustainability to be a part of their plan or part of their story. How do we really stay in D and I for the long haul? Like, how do we do that?

Andriena Coleman: You have to stay committed. I say to people all the time, y'all gonna laugh at me.

This is not NASCAR. You don't get to make a bunch of hard lefts, fuel up and then keep going. This is a lot more like Super Mario Brothers. They're going to be things that impact your business, right? There are, you know, some financial changes that are going to happen. You know, there are a lot of implications behind a lot of different things, but you have to stay the course.

If we are saying DE&I. Leads to better business outcomes and, you know innovation, then you have to walk the walk and talk to talk and stay committed to it. I want to answer this one too. If an organization is doing poorly on all fronts, Would you recommend focus on internal projects or external projects like recruiting?

I'm gonna use IME here. I think I'm big on this, too. I could put butts in seats, but what's the experience when they get there? Right? So we often think, you know, let's, let's make this new world. You know what you got folks right there that are in the organization that you really need to hone in on and create opportunities and experiences for.

Right? And the idea would be to have the Land Rover Jaguar warm seat experience. You see what I did there? I just threw out a client name. Yeah, I love that. But that's what we want. Right? So I would focus internally on things that you have a bit more control over, right? So from a financial standpoint, that is one of the pivots.

That that's a part of this and I don't think it's just D. N. I. That's impacted us across the board. Right. Other other engagement opportunities are learning in development, but things are impacted across the board. But again, you've got people right there. That, you know, you can put more emphasis on. Yeah.

But I say this, it doesn't preclude you from preparing to recruit, right? People got hit in the mouth. In 2020, when we went through this great resignation period, you always have to make sure that you have pipelines that you can go to, right. Doesn't preclude you from building it. So that, that would be my one addition.

Corey Ann Seldon: I love it. It's so interesting too, because people are in different spots. And also even to this person's question, you know, An organization is doing poorly on all fronts with D. E. and I, that's Also very subjective, you know, you've got for a very like for certain organizations, anything is like, okay, thank goodness we're doing this one thing, you know, we want to do more for others it's, we have a lot of stuff but it doesn't seem like it's working or resonating.

Mm hmm.

Andriena Coleman: It's not focused, right? Yeah, it's not focused. And I also think I'm very big on this. I don't do logo slap, right? So before I did this job, I've worked in investment in media and I wouldn't let my partners get away with that. Just throwing our name onto something and we're not really seeing it through.

So that's something I carry over here is that what can we do that engages is. Our talent. And also is it performative, right? I'm just gonna say the P word performative, right? We want to do things that matter. And we want to stay the course and sometimes you do have to strike a balance. Like, okay, what can I do?

That's efficient. And what can I do? That's meaningful, right? What am I asking for? So I think that's important.

Corey Ann Seldon: That's interesting. And then I'm curious, how are you measuring all this Andriena? And I like, what's your, how are you collecting data? Or, you know, you have these relationships, you're doing these things.

And then you go back to the, to these executives and say, it works. Like, how are you sharing?

Andriena Coleman: So I have been very fortunate in, in my role. We've been able to add to staff. Right. We've gotten feedback. Some things are that you can measure from a quantitative standpoint, but then that's the qualitative part.

That's also important. Right. And I think oftentimes the mind goes, well, I got a quantitatively show up and this has got to look like this. It's got to be this. And no, I told you it starts over time and you're not going to see immediate, you know, things, but there are things that you will find. And that's what you showcasing to celebrate.

Corey Ann Seldon: Yeah. And are you, are you gathering like data? Is it stories? How's that working?

Andriena Coleman: Both. You need both. So our organization, we, we get data. We learn from it. We survey and then I'm always asking for real time feedback. How do we show up here? What can we do better? So that, that's that's what you can't be afraid of.

Got to be afraid of feedback, good, bad, or indifferent. So that is informed what we've done and how, how we want to do better.

Corey Ann Seldon: Interesting. And I'm just like, cause there's so much, right. That's potentially out there to gather or to highlight. And to your point too, like even to do something small.

There's a, there's some levers that have to get pulled budgets that have to get approved time off, like all those things have to go into place. So the fact that you're able to balance the qualitative and the quantitative. It seems like hearts and science truly. It's in your name.

Andriena Coleman: It's in our name. I like this question.

Someone just asked, how do we engage talent when the two youngest generations millennials and Gen Z aren't represented adequately. Adequately in the workplace. I think you have to actively listen right to learn. It's so interesting because our organization I think it's more, you know, in the business in general is it's more on the younger side of things but I just had this question yesterday again, and you know, you ask employees what you want to work with, what you want to do and how you want to show up at work.

And one of the questions that I received was, you know, hey, I'm over 40 and I still have a lot to give. And I want to provide perspective. Is that a space for me too? Well, let's make it. But I think engaging the younger talent, you have to listen. You have to find out what they're interested in and then offer them support and you want to disarm them.

I thought it was funny. I'm a proud Gen Xer here, but I would hear you know, people make fun of folks, you know, at previous roles, not at Hearts. Where they would say, well, do you even know what this is? Do you know what Madonna did? So, that kind of stuff, you gotta, you gotta, gotta stop doing it. You know, there's something to be learned from everyone's experiences.

But let's find out what they're interested in. Ask them. That's simple. One of the panels that I sat on with the ANA earlier in the year, I found the most interesting case study. So this was a brand that wasn't doing well on social. They hired an agency, not Hearts and Science 1 within Omnicom, but it wasn't working for them.

And so when they turned it over to some of the younger folks within the organization, they started to see You know, greater R. O. I. And social their numbers were in places they weren't work. They weren't before. Well, these folks understood the brand and they also know, you know how to reach out to people in that space.

And so leaning into that is what helped that brand. So, ask them what they want, engage them and actively listen, and it can't be a one shot. You have to continuously engage.

Corey Ann Seldon: Yeah, yeah, that's incredible. I love that like framing and then what's possible and then the actual steps that happened. This is what occurred.

So to that Azure, I'm gonna ask you to share an activity I want us to do. We're going to use the Q& A again. But oftentimes, I know, Andriena, you and I have both faces and conversations with our colleagues and our networks, but you know, a lot of times it's like When you start thinking about ideas or taking action, it's a lot of like, what if down, like, what if nobody comes or what if they don't

Andriena Coleman: before, before we get into that, I want to make sure I address this question is one that just popped up.

Corey Ann Seldon: Oh, perfect. Good. Good.

Andriena Coleman: Asking them, your talent, do you suggest target employee survey focus on DE& I? Sure. You don't ask, you don't get. How do you know? And you can make it anonymous to disarm people, but you want to get learnings from it. So I would suggest it.

Corey Ann Seldon: So you're saying, well, the question was, Hey, do you actually recommend doing targeted employee surveys about DE& I? And you're saying, yeah, absolutely. Why not? Why not? Right. And you all do that at HEARTS?

Andriena Coleman: We do it at HEARTS. We do it, we do surveys across our organization. Love it.

Corey Ann Seldon: Yeah, ask them, ask them. So now I'm going to ask you all. So, like we were saying, a lot of times we'll have, you know, almost like the downward pull.

Okay, what if we don't get funding? What if it doesn't work? What if we ask them and they tell us something we're actually afraid to hear? So we don't want to ask them, right? So what I want to do is flip it and do the what if up. Like What if we run it and it's even better than we imagined? What if we run it and there's these incredible conversations that happen?

What if we run it and we actually get more budget or we unlock a new level of like opportunity for us? So. What DNI initiatives, programs, projects, et cetera, even small steps. Would you take on, if you had like endless budget and support, go ahead and put them in the Q&A, because Andriena and I are curious, like what has sort of hopefully swirled from this conversation, but also just like, what are you, what would you love to unlock for yourself?

Like, and for your organization, go ahead and put that in the chat box. Cause we're just, you know, we want to end this as we start to wrap in the next 13 minutes on a really like. It's possible that perspective, Indrina has and presented is this is a long haul. We're in it for a lot of work. We got to refresh that network every day to keep that inspiration going to keep that conversation flowing, the learnings happening.

So we want to make sure this is part of that buoying system for you. People who are actually doing this work, just like Indrina is. So we have some people saying employee training, pull the entire staff on interest in new D and I initiatives pick from one of those gets buy in from employees. Yes. I love that writing ample resources to ERGs.

Ooh, Andriena, I'm hearing a lot of need from ERGs these days. People really want to like give them support.

Andriena Coleman: Yeah, a lot of support there. And I want to lean into that just just a second time is our biggest commodity. And, you know, oftentimes I see where BRGs and ERGs fail, is that, you know, what, what's the incentive?

What keeps it motivated? These people have whole ass other jobs. I said what I said, y'all save space. Right. So how do you, how do you balance all that time? But there, there are often things that, you know, you can do as you mentioned at the top, I got certification at Harvard the disruption certification, but that came through being a part of a BRG, you know, I, I co chair one of the networks and that was an incentive.

So that's just one of the ideas that you can do.

Corey Ann Seldon: I love that. Yeah. And this idea to like, you know, represent our Oregon at events or conferences. So I, you know, Andriena, you talked about how you all are doing really innovative new stuff and making sure it's not only your organization that knows that it's innovative and new, but it's like sharing that, you know, we're the first media company.

We're the first nonprofit. We're the first, you know, one in our city, like whatever it is that you're doing, really promoting that. People are also saying that they would love more training and better mentoring for leaders and managers. Mentoring and coaching is coming up, diversity recruiting, live speakers, pay transparency and equity initiatives involved.

Right? Transparency. Love to see it. And so there's a lot of like, You all have phenomenal ideas and there's a lot of energy behind them. And we know there's a lot of impact when these things roll out. And when, even when they roll out at a small scale, and then they grow and they grow. Like Andriena said, you know, you got to wipe that dry erase board, try it again, keep trying it again and iterating on what you're learning.

So. Really exciting. Now, I think what we want to do is open it up for questions from the audience. So we have about 10 minutes left. We want to open it up for any last questions for Andriena before we have some final words from her and then say adios. So if you have questions, go ahead and drop them in that Q&A.

But Andriena, just pulse check. How are you feeling?

Andriena Coleman: 50 minutes into I'm feeling good. In fact, what are we doing tomorrow, y'all?

Corey Ann Seldon: Hopefully when you open up your LinkedIn, you just have tons of requests from some amazing leaders that were on this call as well. Cause that's definitely one of the best things is being able to connect and realize we're all doing good work. We're all trying.

Andriena Coleman: I do want to add this too, because you know, you do have.

Buy in from leadership, but you also need to be tied to old other stakeholders. You know, when I started this job, I was like I'm kind of like a triangle, right? I have a tie ins to HR in a, in a close way. I work very closely with talent acquisition. Very closely with employee engagement learning and development.

And then I also come from the business. So I'm more like a square. Those touch points are equally as important. Important as it is with leadership buying. And so you need that support. Overall,

Corey Ann Seldon: I love it. And there's a question that came in that said thoughts about small offices, like under 20 people.

Andriena Coleman: Small offices. I have often seen that they're small, but mighty. You could do a lot with 20. Sometimes you can move forces with 20 folk versus 200 or 2000, right? So I wouldn't underestimate the amount of people. I'm big on that too with some of our speaker series and things like that. Sometimes you've got 500 people and sometimes you've got 50.

And that's okay. The impact is still felt. Right. So it's, it's what comes out of that with, with those 20 people that you can do. And they, they all I imagine are within the same community, potentially, what can you do on a community level? Right. So that's one of those things that I see. Thank you so much for this.

Energy is, is how we get by friend. That's how we get by. And then someone asks, thanks. As a Zinio employee, come on Zinio, how can the younger employees get their voices heard when senior leaders and tenured employees underestimate us? I think there's power in number, right? How can you do this as a collective voice, right?

So that's one of the ways that we did and then tell them you want a space for emerging leaders. Right. I like to phrase it that way, emerging leaders, rising professionals because that's the future. They got to hear your voice. Right. And, and the other side of it with tenured employees, you, you need to, to grow and learn because at one point you were a rising professional too.

Right. So that's my thoughts there. Someone says, why do you, what do you do when leadership has defunded DE& I and ERGs? I'm just so thankful I've never experienced that. I'm gonna give you my, my, my thoughts. If there's no incentive other than good vibes, what makes it worth, makes it worth, worth it for folks who are already overworked?

That's a tough one. I do think the space runs on cost per passion, but there's something to community and being able to share your experiences and learnings with other people that may have similar experiences. So, you know, if If you got to ask your why, right? We'll get into that in just a second.

Corey Ann Seldon: I love it. You're so good at this. I'm like, just give her the mic. She's got it.

Andriena Coleman: I got something, girl.

Corey Ann Seldon: I don't know if that's it. But Andriena, to this person's question too, this is where being able to have like that external network too can be really Lifesaving, right? To be able to brainstorm life saving, you know, find other funds, you know, make a different argument to the business.

Like that can really be a booing experience

Andriena Coleman: for people. It can be, and you know, and in an uncertain economy. I think that unfortunately this might be a reality for a lot of people. And so, to your point, Corey, I'm relying on your network. Learning how to navigate that Mario game, right? Mm-Hmm. Would, would be beneficial on so many levels.

Mm-Hmm. . And then, you know, as a de and I leader, okay, what are my must-haves? I might have to negotiate. I'm, I'm a skilled negotiator, y'all. But you know, I might have to do that. What are the trade-offs? Yeah. Right.

Corey Ann Seldon: Yeah, truly. Well, we are at five minutes till so I know Azure has dropped in the chat box.

Some of the cool codes that you all need the HCRI program ID, the Sherm activity ID, make sure you grab those there in the chat box, you should be able to see them, not the q& a box, but in that webinar chat. So if you want those, grab them there. She also dropped in some amazing resources. Andrienan, I think we linked your interview you did last year that podcast you did.

So if you all want more Andrienana goodness, feel free to bookmark that YouTube and come back for another hour of her amazing insights with a different interviewer. So new flavors. Go ahead.

Azure Rooths: We have one raised hand, Corey Ann. That was

Andriena Coleman: Mitzi.

Azure Rooths: Oh, we have another raised hand.

Andriena Coleman: All right, let's see. All right.

Corey Ann Seldon: What do we do with raised hands? I'm so, I've never, I've never seen a raised hand on a webinar. Here we go. I'm

Andriena Coleman: going to try something different. Okay. All right. I see Larry's hand now. Something happened. I see

Corey Ann Seldon: Larry's right. Larry, are you able to speak if we unmute you?

Azure Rooths: Larry, I asked you to unmute. Can you come off and ask?

Larry: I don't need anything. I jumped on late here 'cause I was in a staff meeting. But yeah, I'm interested in what you're doing. We're working on and EcoVadis assessment. Are you familiar with that? I didn't catch it. Ecolotus. Ecovotus. Ecovotus. It's, it's really a European company that manages over a hundred thousand companies that do a ESG or DEI assessment of the companies that do business with them.

Andriena Coleman: So John Deere is one of our big customers that is pushing not only us, but all of their vendor base to go through the Ecovotus. Assessment, so it's a measure of environment, labor, sustainability, all of those things. So we're trying to grab information wherever we can, and some of this stuff, we've done 2 of them already.

This is our 3rd year. But we're still learning on this is the first year that we've really done our scope one and scope two.

Azure Rooths: Hey Larry, it sounds like your organization is doing some amazing things with our last three minutes. Do you have a really quick question that you can jump in and ask Andriena so we can have her wrap it up and let everybody know how to enhance what you all are doing that's so fabulous?

Andriena Coleman: Well, get as much information as you can. You could look into Ecovadas as well. It's very interesting and there's a lot of things in there that push you towards a lot of things that you're doing in DEI and ESG.

Azure Rooths: Thanks so much, Larry. We appreciate your input and your insight.

Andriena Coleman: Thank you, Larry. I wrote all that down.

Andriena Coleman: I got homework. Thanks, Larry.

Corey Ann Seldon: All right, Andriena, we got three minutes. Don't feel like you need to use the whole time, but last thoughts, closing thoughts, anything you want people to leave this and like, as you know, later in the day, they're like, I, you know, I'm so glad I went to that webinar. Andriena said, yeah, you know,

Andriena Coleman: Larry said, commit to continuous learning organizations need to do that.

And you need to do that as an individual. I would recommend find your why and challenge your why not, right.

Corey Ann Seldon: Let me write that down. Find your why. Challenge your why not? That's right. Oh my gosh. What will that help me do, Andriena?

Andriena Coleman: Well, it'll help you it'll help you move, right? You know why you're doing something and you're going on this path, but why aren't you exploring what's over here?

Right. This might take you further. So that that's why I say challenge you. Why not? It's how I got into this role, right? So fun fact, I worked in traditional media, the bulk of my career did multicultural supervising for a myriad of clients and things like that. So I was kind of working in the space anyway.

And so when the opportunity came for me to do this role, well, wait a minute, what's, what's the downside of it? Yeah. Right. I can always go back to this if I want to. But what am I exploring here now. And so I'm grateful to that voice right that that allowed me to think that way. So I challenge everybody, find your way, challenge or why not?

Let it guide you.

Corey Ann Seldon: All right, y'all. Well, wherever you are at your office, at your home office, give Andriena a round of applause. This has been a delight. We're going to send out our one pager. I'm going to try and get what she sent out to one page. But we're going to send the recording. Thank you all so much for being here.

Check out PILOT. Check out Hearts Science. Connect with Andriena on LinkedIn if you haven't already. And y'all have a great day.

Andriena Coleman: Thanks for being here, everybody. Thank you, everyone. Thanks so much. Have a great day.