“Across all industries, I think it’s important for shareholders to understand that diversity isn’t a buzzword but is instead a keyword. Specifically in creative industries, any enterprise that is lacking a diverse workforce is losing out on dynamic human capital and multidimensional perspectives. Having a diverse workforce shouldn’t be about filling a quota or being trendy. It should solely be about equal representation and fairness. It would behoove any company to realize that and approach talent procurement more holistically. It’s always daunting to work with companies that have zero to few employees of colors because the segregation is always palatable. I’ve witnessed former clients create racially insensitive material and push it as an alternative opinion because not one person on their team could sympathize with the erroneous treatment of minorities. I’ve also been the only minority in board meetings where I’m being told that diversity is not an agenda for influential brands. I truly believe in either situations, if major companies made a more fair attempt to hire minorities, then racially insensitive material, clothing, etc., would become less commonplace.” — Grace Bukunmi, Photographer