With a focus on how the advertising field needs to open up to be inclusive for everyone, panelists in last week’s Diversity Panel presented insight into what it means to be people of color and working in the Austin ad and tech scene. With their personal stories of feeling like agencies merely present as diverse without action, and discussing how they’re working to create space for people of color in the Austin workforce, we hope this panel is a resource to those looking how to change or navigate towards a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Most importantly, we hope it can bring a sense that our community is working towards progress. This work won’t be done in one day, or completely covered in one panel, but we can’t move forward without a first step.

Our Panel Features,

Ana Leen:

Director of Partnerships, ADCOLOR

President, AAF Austin

Kirya Francis:

VP of Diversity & Inclusion, GSD&M

Jai Chapple

Quality Analyst, Indeed

Michael Ward Jr.

President and CEO, Austin Urban Technology Movement

Nina Ho

Assistant Director, The LaunchPad at UT Austin

Founder, collective blue

Co-Founder, missfits productions

You can hear more about them at the start of the video, and then the discussion begins at 4:35 and the Q/A portion with the audience is 1:02:51