For the past few months, between COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests, we've opted to put a pause on AoaS to create space for other conversations (with the exception of the episodes with Laura Fitton and Joe Jackman, which we thought were relevant to the COVID-19 discussion).

Now, we see that our silence on the topic of Black Lives Matter was akin to saying, "This is not our problem." This was wrong and it took a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion facilitator, Karlyn Percil of KDPM Consulting Group, calling me (Tara) out on this silence to knock me out of my comfort zone (and white fragility).

So, Stef and I sat down and decided that we need to do the work and speak up about it and that this podcast was a fantastic place to start. This episode is the introduction to a series (which will be as long as it needs to be) of conversations with Black professionals in various parts of the marketing industry on their experiences, perspectives and insights into how marketing - as an industry, an institution and as a practice contributes to the perpetuation of white supremacy and anti-Black racism.

In this episode, we mentioned the following resources to check out:

• Adweek article on the lack of Black representation in the advertising, PR, and communications world: https://www.adweek.com/agencies/a-brief-rundown-of-racism-within-advertising-and-why-its-still-happening-today/
• The Publicis stats (Adweek): https://www.adweek.com/digital/publicis-groupe-us-diversity-data-7-actions/
• Open Letter to the Ad Industry from 600+ Black professionals (Adweek): https://www.adweek.com/agencies/600-black-advertising-professionals-demand-meaningful-action-from-leadership-in-open-letter/ 
• The original letter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yVH9y0geSyJmpqUH2utaK7x1Salq5CE5IIkx0HHCGuM/edit
• Nathan Young of Periscope Group (founder 600&rising): https://twitter.com/notnathan
• Bennett D. Bennett of Aerialist (founder 600&rising): https://twitter.com/BennettDBennett
• 600&Rising: https://600andrising.com/
• Nate Nichols of Palette Group (founder of the Allyship and Action summit): https://twitter.com/thenichols
• The initial Allyship and Action summit recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6s3vhTLXDM
• Register for the upcoming summit on August 4: https://www.freelancercybersummit.com/events/allyship-and-action