Coolr Sessions returns!

We hosted our third Coolr Session: “Unconscious Bullsh*t: It’s Time To Break The Barriers In Creativity.”

Thanks to our panelists Ayo Ogunde, Mesha Moinirad, Jack Hyslop & Jessica Jones for joining us.

Find our key takeaways below. 👀

➡ The importance of lived experience. 👫

🔸 Nothing can beat the actual lived experience of someone from a marginalised group. If looking to target a community, make sure to include insight from people who have had first-hand experience and play a part within these communities.

➡ Brands need authenticity. 🌈 ⬛ ❌

🔹 Everyone wants to be doing DE&I the right way. Honesty is key and so is being authentic, but it needs to come from a genuine place. Brands doing rainbows and black square simply isn’t enough anymore and lacks any genuine intent, but who is in the room to tell you otherwise? It’s important to recognise when diversity is not represented in your sounding board.

➡ Diversity in leadership. 🌍

🔸 Leadership needs diversity. People from marginalised groups need to see themselves in senior roles. If your team isn’t diverse, ask yourself why? and as a bare minimum, do you have allies within your team? It’s up to companies to lead the change but this can’t happen overnight. Create mentorships, a DE&I focused committee, and schemes to build up diverse talent from the inside out.

➡ Compassion in the workplace is key. ❤️

🔹 Creating a safe space for people to ask for what they need is vital with regards to creating an inclusive workplace. Not everyone has the same way of working and understanding this will allow companies to get the best out of their people.

▶ To summarise, there isn’t a one size fits all approach to DE&I. One person’s experience can be vastly different to another, however small changes can create big impact to help individuals feel seen and heard within the creative world.