"We are in this together": A recap from i'mPART's First Diversity Mixer!

On June 18, we hosted our first i’mPART Diversity Mixer and we couldn’t more excited about it! As you know, i’mPART, AD Club’s diversity and inclusion initiative, was created to rally the community around a shared goal that creates awareness, action and change in the advertising, media and marketing community.

We first heard from Sandra Sims-Williams, Chief Diversity Officer of Publicis Groupe, who kicked off the Mixer as she spoke about the importance of diversity and inclusion not only in our industry, but in the world in which we live. Sandra and our president Gina Grillo also thanked the people who made the mixer and i’mPART a reality.

“We started this movement to let everyone know that we are in this together.”

We recently updated the definition of diversity, Gina said, since it isn’t just a number, percentage, race, gender, sexual orientation, a box to check or a right thing to do. It’s about inclusion and different perspectives and how that reflects the consumer marketplace that we serve.

AD Club’s partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is a 10-year commitment to track the industry’s progress with effective diversity and inclusion programs, where for this year’s survey, 369 professionals participated.

Gina then welcomed the PwC team who presented the long-awaited results coming from this year’s Diversity Diagnostics Survey. They conducted a 2013 survey study to establish the baseline in diversity in organizations, so when they did it again this year, they found more interesting results.

What they found was that the industry is maturing, but how do we measure this?

We learned that diversity goes beyond demographics – it’s not only important to articulate the value or diversity inclusion, but that your partners, employees and clients understand it, as well.

Below are the 5 key findings from PwC’s Diversity Diagnostics Survey that we hope you share with your fellow co-workers, employees, and friends:

Stay tuned – the full survey results will be released in July!

We want to thank all of our sponsors, without whom this would not have been possible. Also, thank you to all who came out to support i’mPART, and those who have been there from the very beginning. We can’t wait for next year’s Diversity Mixer to see what new insights we can share on diversity and inclusion in the workplace!

Want to see more photos from our Diversity Mixer? See them all here on AD Club’s Meta Page!