In Gap’s new summer ad, they used real people from the streets to model their summer clothing line. Gap continues its approach to multicultural youth in the US by creating ads that are relatable to the changing face of America and the way we consume advertisements. “I am Gap” also is also set as a vertical video frame to emulate the way consumers are creating social content on Instagram and Snapchat.
As the first woman and African American to run a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. division, you’d think Rosalind Brewer would be the last person to be labeled a “racist” but that’s exactly what’s happening. In an interview with CNN, she explained that she pushes for diversity within her organization as well as the companies Sam’s Club does business with. In a recent meeting with one of their suppliers, she immediately noticed that everyone from the supplier side were caucasian males. She said that instead of saying something in the meeting, she would give the supplier a call. This, however, did not sit well with some folks who took to social media screaming “racist” and slinging hashtags reading #boycottSamsClub. We wonder if these people know that 4 of the eight executives on her team are white men? Click here to read more.
We posted an article last week about the lack of diversity in upper management at Twitter and how it affects the company by way of its staffing and ultimately the slow growth in users. Seems like Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, heard that criticism loud and clear and will most likely make changes to its board members as soon as their current terms are up. Click here to read more.
In its strive for a diversity, tech companies like Facebook and Pintrest are looking to adopt The Rooney Rule. Named after Dan Rooney, the chair of the Pittsburgh Steelers and head of a diversity committee that produced the directive, the rule requires NFL teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching and general manager jobs. Only time will tell if this will help the lack of diversity in the tech world. Click here to read more.
During the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing event last October, Microsoft CEO Sataya Nadella was asked to give advice to women who are nervous about asking for a raise on how they should ask for one. Nadella told women to hope good karma will reward them. His response was not well-received by many which led to multiple apologies from him. However, Microsoft is using this embarrassing situation as motivation to implement new changes in how they approach diversity in the workplace. Click here to read more.
Ever heard of the saying, “as American as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet?” Well MLB Hall of Famer Dave Winfield is concerned about the keeping one of America’s pastime accessible to everyone. “It really comes down to your bottom line. And once they understand that you have to have diversity and inclusion across all platforms, it’s just going to be better for your business, it’s just going to be stronger if you include everybody. You can overlook it, but at your own peril,” says Winfield. Click here to read more.
It has been reported that about 1.4 million tech jobs are expected to be created over the next five years and the Congressional Black Caucus wants to work with the tech industry to level the playing field by hiring more African Americans. Click here to read more.
A new study shows that Silicon Valley companies — Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and LinkedIn Corp are really bad at promoting Asian workers into executive positions within the company. This is on top of the already existing lack of gender diversity in tech industry. And of course this is especially unfavorable for Asian women in these companies. There is only one Asian female executive for every 287 Asian women professional jobs at the five companies.
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Google is brilliant about empowering their employees to work on promising side projects. Believe it or not, Gmail started out as a side project. Now they’ve started a program called Diversity Core which is aimed at bringing balance to its workforce. About 500 employees in 53 of their offices around the world have taken part in this program. Click here to read more.
It’s no secret that the tech industry has a long way to go in leveling the playing field when it comes to diversity and equality in its workforce. However, some have made real strides in resolving the issue. Click here to read how Microsoft, Facebook and Intel are addressing it.
