From Witnesses to Activists — It’s Time for Substantial Change in Our Industry

Nations are awakening now, people are protesting for the right to breathe, the right to live, the right to equal opportunities, the right to work, the right to love, the right to make our voices be heard and our visions be seen, the right to freedom, the right to be human.

By including people from all backgrounds, cultures, age groups, genders, and abilities in our industry we open the doors to ideas never seen before, to true innovation so needed in these times, and most importantly, to connect with the higher purpose of humanity. This is more than ever the time to instill a strong diverse and inclusive culture in our industry DNA.

I have been advocating D&I in the past decade, those two words are the roots of my own journey: as a woman, of brown color, born poor in Mexico, living in Europe, working hard, succeeding, failing, starting from scratch all over again, but overall proving that it’s POSSIBLE for all of us to thrive in this world and more specifically, in this industry.

The recent events have created a constellation of responses rarely seen before. One of them is the deep involvement of brands into a societal, political, and impactful narrative calling for justice and change, out of the commercial and hype agenda. I am grateful for it, every support counts, every word creates impact and amplifies the voices of those who have been silenced and unrepresented for many years. I want to thank you for that.

Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together. ~Jacqueline Woodson

However, it’s also time to reflect on what is our plan to act upon the higher vision, where we can actually bring substantial change. Let’s think about this for a second: How are our teams conformed? How many of them include different cultures, ages, abilities, genders but also mindsets and lifestyles? To what extent the talent we are hiring for our communications represents the diversity of our audience? What is the purpose of the messages we are bringing to the table, who is behind them? What is needed in our organizations so diverse talent can thrive in them, so they can be themselves and happy, so their voices and visions are respected, honored, and celebrated? how can we keep true to our cultural values in the midst of this crisis’s commercial pressure? Who are the gatekeepers of our industry? how are the narratives and creative work crafted, curated, judged, selected, produced, and published? how diverse is the content the platforms you are using are collaterally communicating? Bet you might be already seeing the gaps and the opportunities for an action plan.

Inclusivity means not ‘just we’re allowed to be there,’ but we are valued. I’ve always said: smart teams will do amazing things, but truly diverse teams will do impossible things. ~Claudia Brind-Woody

Everybody is responding to the call one way or another, our industry has the tools, resources, and amazing diverse talent to create REAL change full cycle — from clients to agencies, to production houses to media — and create REAL messages, products, content, services that represent us all. That is our main responsibility, we are accountable to bring stories that include everybody equally, to serve people instead of selling to people, we need to move from marketing to mattering, from goals to common purpose.

I wasn’t able to join the protests due to Covid-19 restrictions, even though my soul wanted profoundly to be there, but I am not going to stay silent either, nor just share hashtags, I will jump right into the chance to support you immerse and reflect on those questions, peel the rings of the onion, connect and ultimately ACT UPON that plan, to create a more diverse and inclusive culture in your brands, community, NGO’s, startups, wherever you are at. This is my cause, as it’s yours. Let me help you help us.

Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization. ~Mahatma Gandhi

Four things I stopped to survive this crisis — A lesson on connectedness.

“You can never connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards” — Steve Jobs.

There I was, looking backwards at the history of insanity, not only the human one but that of my own life, making the same mistake over and over again: “don’t stop, keep going”, don’t stop learning, don’t stop working, don’t stop fighting, don’t stop growing, etc., because this was somehow keeping me alive. Then the pandemic happened and this framework became rather dysfunctional, I had no other choice but to stop in order to stay sane.

I stopped watching the news. It wasn’t an easy decision, even less to put it into practice. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to engage in any conversation on the latest state of the world headlined with “Covid-19”, nor able to share anything online, but then I thought I was actually making a favour to everybody. The waves of information raised at light speed through all media and formats, my mind was entering the saturation point, the point where it couldn’t make more sense of the data for more reasonable or stupid it was, it was just too much, and I wasn’t able to process it properly under my lens of sanity, let alone to focus on what was really important and I could actually control: my mental health and well being.

I stopped being available for everyone. The romanticism of the pandemic took over and we started to live under the moto “we’re in this together”, which we all took literally. Work, family, and the self collapsed the day they all had to live together. Millions of people like me, with kids demanding full attention, a team needing your presence and leadership “anytime”, the stakes to keep business “as usual” and the constant reporting to keep everyones peace of mind, the friends asking for your support and your family demanding daily check ups. I stopped all that chaos and started curating my priorities with one rule in mind: my time goes to people and things that gave me energy instead of taking it. I made myself available for gardening, walks, old high school friends, and even for naps in the middle of the day.

I stopped reading conspiracy theories. They were my dose of fun and entertainment, but then some of the most spiritual and intelectual people I know got into them, I lost it, suddently it was like being already on the rabbit whole and going into another, you would start reading one and soon you’ll be running a full spiral down, with no end. I unfollowed all people posting CT’s and instead I ordered a bunch of books, from Maya Angelou, Eckhart Tolle, to Leonard Koren and Tedis Lopez-Mills. Image for post I stopped plugging in for the sake of it. Being online doesn’t mean necessarily to be connected, or being in this together, sometimes felt all the oposite, people ending even more lonely because we are way more hours online. I didn’t feel able to change or contribute properly to anything by shifting my mind from one topic to the other without concious thinking , I needed to unplug and connect for real. I started together with my high school friends a weekly space for connection called “Table Talks Radio” (Sobremesa), based in the Mexican tradition of sharing after eating, which is the time where the table becomes a safe (even sacred) space, and people decompress for hours through jokes, untold stories, dreams, fears, emotions, knowledge and reflections, at times you would leave the table with nothing but your soul, or you would start eating again.

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I learned true connection is not a process or a task or a course, is full presence, is understanding, a true gift, none of which technology can provide. Connection brings a “flow” that goes on and on when we’re in sync with our presence, being in the present moment creates memorable experiences and elightment, key for the blue print of our future, do we imagine creating a great future from a state of distance, anxiety or fear? Of course not, I don’t. That’s the reason why many systems and ideologies have failed in the first place.

So the question that remains is, are we willing to STOP and make the effort to CONNECT and ACT upon what life is asking from us?

The answer to that won’t be found in what we are doing, but in what we are. We must take ownership of our future, wherever we are, at home, in our offices, studios, workshops, businesses, schools, boards, in the front lines, in the back ends. The answer is already in each of us.

Let’s stop and connect with it to bring change for real.

Dominando el arte de cultivar lo que realmente importa

Hace más de dos años que escribí mi primer artículo sobre el terremoto de México. Fue la primera vez que vi a mi país unido, cuidando por lo que realmente importa. Eso es un arte. Solo en esos momentos catastróficos o que cambian la vida, es cuando nuestras prioridades vinculadas con nuestro llamado se unen y se hacen más claras que el aire! Haces lo que realmente te importa, lo que se debe de hacer! es una bendición y, al mismo tiempo, la prueba más grande de todos los tiempos.

Nosotros, como sociedad, podríamos haber fallado, como ciudadanos podríamos haber elegido la indiferencia, la apatía, la ira, el oportunismo, esas características que definieron nuestra sociedad y gobierno durante tantas décadas. En su lugar, decidimos tomar acción, ayudar, movilizarnos y responder a ese llamado más grande. La pregunta aquí sigue abierta, ¿lo hicimos por los medios? para los “me gusta”? por el ego dentro de nosotros?por validación? Y ese es el punto real, cómo podemos dominar el arte cultivar lo que realmente importa en nuestras vidas diarias?

Hace un par de días aprendí que dominar este arte es el momento en que comienzas a recoger la basura cuando nadie está mirando, es el momento en que el poder de poner tu atención en las cosas verdaderamente importantes, sin la meritocracia, comienza a fortalecerte a ti mismo, a tu comunidad tu nación.

El arte de poner nuestra atención en lo que realmente importa no es solo una fórmula para catástrofes adversas, sino para el dia a dia, centrar nuestra presencia completa en el momento, y ayudarnos a decidir qué hacer en el próximo segundo. Estoy segura de que si cada persona en el mundo llevara sus vidas a través de esa lente, el mundo sería muy diferente ahora, no nos importarían la validación en los medios sociales, nos importaría amarnos a nosotros mismos primero, no nos importaría los gobiernos o sistemas, nos importaría seguir nuestro llamado como humanidad. El mundo sería un lugar diferente.

Finalmente estoy aquí para cultivar lo que realmente me importa, de compartir lo que es esencial para mí a través de palabras, un don bruto escondido que llama por ser escrito. Los siguientes artículos son una autoreflexión de mi propia experiencia humana. Mi intención es conectar con experiencias similares, y aprender nuevas cosas en este camino, ser iluminada para llenar con significado nuestras vida cotidiana, o mejor dicho romper ciclos cotidianos y sumergirnos en el arte de cultivar nuestro llamado, propósito, destino, leyenda, como lo quieras llamar.