PR industry and Diversity
By Sarah Heiman, Class of Spring 21
Storyworks Campaign x PR industry roles
I have had the opportunity to work on a campaign as a part of our Storyworks project in partnership with the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms, also known as the CCPRF. CCPRF is a national organization of leading public relations agencies that work toward anti-racism within the profession, their clients, stakeholders and society. This campaign that my classmates and I have created aimed to amplify diverse voices in PR and tried to stimulate conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion within the industry.
Dedicating a lot of my education and work in this program toward this campaign has allowed me to influence diversity within the industry, while also impacting change in my personal life. Since my undergraduate degree, I have known that social justice and anti-racism work was my passion and it had to intersect with my future career. This campaign has allowed me a glimpse into what my career could look like… intersecting my passion for DEI with my career pathway in PR.
Working on this campaign has proven to me that DEI is starting to be more respected, wanted, cared about and sought after within the PR industry. This campaign has allowed me to have phenomenal dialogue with so many different communicators in the industry. We spoke how the profession plays a role when advancing DEI and social justice issues. Many of the communicators I spoke to suggested that when it comes to advancing DEI in the industry this can look like intentional recruitment, mentorships, commitments like the CCPRF pledge, cutting partnerships whose values don’t align, and welcoming on new ones that do. Or it can also look like working on our personal lives addressing internal biases and racism and breaking down these barriers.
One narrative that is so commonly told to us PR and communications students is that we are storytellers. As communicators, our goal is to have people and the public resonate with our messages. But if our messages are only coming from one type of person, it’s only going to resonate with one type of person. This misses out on so many diverse individuals that need to be heard, represented and spoken to.
So when we have diverse voices at the table, we’re able to share and hear the different stories that create this diverse world that we live in. As communicators, we are the ones who decide how stories are told and it is so important that we communicate authentic truths, sometimes as brutally honest as they must be. Sharing not only our successes but challenges, can hold so much power as we can learn and grow from our experiences.
I would argue that there is not a huge difference between an activist and a PR communicator. And when working together, joining these two forces we can find and create meaningful solutions. The 2020 USC Global Communications Report says that 44% of communicators are convinced that activists are not effective at achieving real change … we need to advance this mindset. Communicators and activists have extremely similar goals in wanting to influence and communicate effectively. And according to the report even though most communciators don’t identify as activists, (84%) believe a corporation should take a public stand on issues related to their business. Organizations should care and tackle issues even non-related to their business, but one step at a time. I think the first step is identifying the activist within yourself. I believe that most communicators are activists and have the potential to be phenomenal ones, they just don’t know it. Striving to find this activist quality in ourselves as PR communicators can make a huge difference as we advance DEI in our work.
Future x Global citizenship x Personal growth
DEI work is not only my passion for my professional life, but it is also a part of my identity. I am learning everyday what I want to see unfold in my life, but I know a few things for sure. I want to lead companies further with their DEI commitments, I want to create plans and goals for companies, challenge them and maybe throughout my career make and change policies that have an impact on a larger scale.
Short term, my next educational and professional goal is to take the centennial college leadership and inclusion certification course. I have the foundation and personal experiences, but I want to have greater knowledge moving forward that will equip me with the skills to aid companies and organizations in advancing DEI.
Global citizenship X my identity
My definition of global citizenship is not a fixed term or a binary understanding of whether you check off the boxes or not. It looks different for everyone. We all have different values, different capabilities and different passions. For me, as a woman of colour and more importantly as someone who is multi-racial, I need to learn more about myself. I need to understand my cultures, what that means for me and how I can share with those around me. It took me years to realize what it meant to be Indigneous, Japanese a hint of German and Canadian. As I learned more about myself, I understood my passions, my values and what I could fulfil in my journey of becoming a global citizen.
The future
The Dan Tisch article ‘A year for leadership: six communication trends to watch in 2021’ makes some really phenomenal points about how we can navigate topics like social justice and DEI into the future. He mentions that this emerging generation will be asserting themselves in a big way whether that’s racial or environmental justice. And he’s absolutely right, this generation will not only be pushing for big change but will be expecting big change from their employers and future organizations. Companies need to not only be prepared for this, but also willing to embrace this change. He goes on to address leadership and communications and how the future will be looking to leaders who are mindful, who lend a helping hand, an empowering voice of confidence and I think most importantly those with a fresh perspective. And as the name of our campaign recognizes, “The future of PR Looks Like Us.” It looks like my graduating class of 2021 with diverse faces and voices and perspective to go along with them.
