PART TWO: Embracing our truths; Reflections a year after the death of George Floyd

BLOG SERIES

Last May the death of George Floyd stung many across the country and around the world. Although incidents of racial injustice are not novel, the timing of Floyd’s murder in the midst of a global pandemic and economic uncertainty brought new pain. Fortunately, they also sparked deeper conversations at home and in the workplace. Like many other companies, we at Equinox Media were challenged to examine our own record both internally and in the larger community we serve. This process has been rewarding, difficult, at times uncomfortable, but necessary. In a 4-part blog series we give you a look into how we at Equinox Media have been affected by the murder of George Floyd as well as how we hope to be a part of affecting longlasting change toward racial justice.

PART TWO: OUR DE&I EFFORTS
Written by: Madeleine Merchant

Following the murder of George Floyd last summer, there was a collective urgency around diversity, equity and inclusion — especially among US corporations. We at Equinox Media saw this as a moment of hope and an opportunity to reckon the past and the future. Recognizing Black people in this country have been fighting against systemic racism and racial terror for centuries, we hope that the collective response to George Floyd’s death is not just a moment, but a movement. And that the momentum from the Black Lives Matter movement could be a catalyst for deep, meaningful, and long-lasting change — not only at Equinox Media, but more broadly across every industry and organization in this country.

As the Equinox Media leadership team met following George Floyd’s murder, there was a desire to move quickly. To roll out a plan, to respond immediately, to rush to action. It was hard not to get caught up in that, but the more we spoke to each other and others across the organization, we realized we needed to slow down and make sure that anything we rolled out was not reactionary, but thoughtful and foundational. We wanted to ensure that we were building DE&I and anti-racist practices into the DNA of this young organization.

To begin, we shined the light on ourselves. We recognized that we had to continue to “fix our house before we attempted to fix the neighborhood.” While we were extremely proud of what we were building together and the importance we had placed on diversity, equity and inclusion in our first year of existence, this movement challenged us to acknowledge where we needed to do better, and to be better so we could work urgently on steps to improve.

As we approach DE&I across the organization, we used a framework focused on four pillars: compositional diversity, cultural competency, inclusion and accountability. In the past year we’ve invested in each of these pillars in a number of ways:

• Compositional diversity — By re-examining our recruiting processes and broadening our partnerships, we’ve significantly improved Black representation across our organization.
• Cultural competency — We’ve created robust programming and forums to foster tough conversations. In the past year we’ve celebrated, educated, and elevated Black culture and diversity through nearly 50 DE&I events including, Juneteenth, Women’s History Month, Black History Month, AAPI Heritage month, and Pride.
• Inclusion — In addition to creating programming, we’ve also rolled out manager trainings for more than 40 of our people managers, launched a mentorship program, and created six employee resource groups (ERGs), including “Black at Equinox Media.” We want inclusion to permeate our culture at every level.
• Accountability — We created a number of explicit commitments to our teams that we report on each six months.

Although this work is never enough, and never done, we are proud of the foundational work we have begun this past year and are excited to continue investing in these pillars.