This round-table discussion brings together internal diversity champions and external experts to educate IPG employees on the importance of proper pronoun usage to foster more inclusive environments. The panel will dive into employment inclusion topics that aim to educate our colleagues on how to be a better ally to our trans, gender nonconforming and nonbinary team members in the workplace.
Using someone's pronouns correctly is one of the most important ways to show our respect for gender identity. This simple act might seem insignificant to some, but it can have a tremendous impact on people and their identity. This session serves as a conversation-starter that allows us to lead with empathy and educate our allies about gender identity, expression, inclusion and diversity.
While the workplace is our area of focus, IPGLBT recognizes that inclusion begins at home. The members of our work family are firstly members of families in households across this country. Moreover, with COVID-19 stay at home orders still in effect across many States in the U.S., LGBTQ+ individuals may be in a home with family members who are intolerant of their identity and therefore, feel forced to subvert that identity in ways such as presenting as a gender they don’t identify with. Or, they might find themselves in a position to be an ally, but unsure of how to take the first step.
Join internal and external speakers as they present statistical information and tips from their work with at-risk LGBTQ+ and trans youth, respectively. Following the presentation, we will hear personal experiences from IPG employees on their perspectives as parents learning to accept their children and on creating an inclusive home for a child who might not be LGBTQ+ themselves.
Adrienne Haslam (she/her)
CGI Manager
Commonwealth, McCann
Confronted with the suffering of LGBTQ+ people within religious spaces after her 13-yr-old child came out as gay, Adrienne Haslam, CGI Manager at Commonwealth//McCann, began to challenge her long-held beliefs and the systems that lead to familial rejection. Whether she is blogging, participating in Free Mom Hugs or launching a new group in her community for parents and guardians of LGBTQ+ kids, PRIDE + JOY, Adrienne is driven by the desire to make every home a supportive one, and is calling on all parents to come out to their kids first, as safe.
Whembley Sewell (she/her)
Executive Director
Them, Condé Nast’s LGBTQ+ publication
Whembley Sewell is the Executive Editor of Them, Condé Nast’s LGBTQ+ publication. She is an award-winning multimedia content producer, having formerly overseen digital innovation and social growth at publications like Teen Vogue, Refinery29, and Seventeen Magazine.
Bryson Rose (he/him)
Director
Center for LGBTQ Youth Advocacy and Capacity Building at the Hetrick-Martin Institute
Bryson Rose is a trainer and activist currently serving as the Director of the Center for LGBTQ Youth Advocacy and Capacity Building at the Hetrick-Martin Institute. Bryson has spent the past 5 years in the role collaborating with government agencies, educational institutions, and NGOs to build capacity around supporting the needs of LGBTQ-identified youth. Additionally, Bryson spearheads HMI’s advocacy efforts, lobbying for systems-level change at both the local and state level to ensure equity and dignity for LGBTQ youth, communities, and their families. He also serves on the New York State Health and Human Services LGBT Network working to increase access to affirming and culturally responsive mental health services. Prior to his time within the HMI Center, Bryson was the Program Manager for Adolescent Sexual Health & Reproductive Justice in the Youth Services Division of HMI’s youth programs.
Bryson’s area of focus include addressing health disparities through the lenses of trauma informed care, anti-oppressive frameworks, historical trauma work, community centered solution creation and writing as healing. Bryson’s writing has been featured on the FreshXpress as well as The Huffington Post and he appeared on NY’s Fox 5 as a sexual health expert for World AIDS Day 2017. In 2017, Bryson was the recipient of the inaugural Notable Alumni Award from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University, his alma mater.
Though currently residing in Harlem, Bryson is native of Columbus, OH and enjoys all things Midwestern: Ohio State football and basketball, homecomings and tailgating, and the changing of seasons. Bryson is a proud member of the Kappa Xi Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the nation’s oldest and premier African American fraternity.
Linda Cronin (she/her)
Managing Director, Client Advice & Management
Initiative
Linda’s role is to coordinate the vast resources within the IPG family to provide cutting edge media solutions for the KDP brands. She brings with her more than 25 years of experience in Media and Integrated Marketing, 14 of which were spent in the Coca-Cola System. She’s worked on the bottling side of the business, Shopper Marketing, Sports and Sponsorships as well as Media. Her final role at Coca-Cola was as VP of Integrated Marketing for Canada. She came to Initiative in 2017 from Carat, where she called on the Home Depot and Staples accounts. Linda is married to her life partner Tim, and is a mom to two amazing teenagers, Joe who is a high school senior and Jessie who is currently a sophomore.
Tara Schroetter (she/her)
Senior Director of Strategy & Transformation
Rogers & Cowan PMK
Tara Schroetter is the Senior Director of Strategy & Transformation at Rogers & Cowan PMK, responsible for the oversight and development of the agency’s digital, social & creative verticals as well as leadership on content marketing & awards campaigns within the entertainment space. As part of the LGBTQ+ community, Tara knows the importance of creating opportunities in client work to make sure our community’s voices are integrated into large campaigns, and the impact that such inclusion can have on culture as a whole. Tara has been using her seat at the table to push even further toward the normalization of LGBTQ+ inclusion in marketing including film engagements like the award-winning 5B.
Robert D Woodard (he/him)
Expert Client Executive, Growth
Acxiom, LLC
Robert is a part of Acxiom, LLC and IPG company. He also sits on Acxiom’s Diversity & Inclusion Council. Robert holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, with a double minor in psychology and sociology. He completed Acxiom’s leadership program in 2006 and has numerous certifications ranging from communication, critical thinking, digital transformation to problem solving.
By day, he works across agencies to help them unleash the power of data-driven marketing to help influence consumer decisions and drive results for CPG, Merchant and other key industries.
By night, Robert enjoys spending time at home with his husband, Paul and their dog, Maximus. He is number twelve of 13 siblings (2 are also gay). What he knows for sure is that the road to living an authentic life is a process and that gay people often do not ‘come out’ once, but many times over the course of their lives in their journey to belonging.
He believes that when facing the choice between comfort and responsibility, he must choose responsibility. If he can help pave the way for just one person to know that they matter, realize that their struggles along the way are temporary, to know that they are safe and free to just live and be, then it will have been worth it.
Sterling Cruz-Herr (they/them)
Equity Consultant & Founder
TransClue
Sterling’s consulting practice draws from more than 30 years of experience as a grantmaker, nonprofit executive, university professor, and entrepreneur. Most recently, Sterling served as chief engagement officer of SAGE, a national nonprofit advocating for LGBT+ elders. In that role, they oversaw diversity and inclusion, communications, large-scale intergenerational engagement initiatives, and a national network of 30 affiliates. As a grantmaker at the Chicago Community Trust, Sterling oversaw a 10-year, $30 million initiative aimed at strengthening services for families in seven Chicago communities. Sterling also founded a social media company that served nonprofits and foundations for more than a decade as well as dapperQ, a website that uses fashion to build solidarity across trans, nonbinary and queer communities. Most recently, they launched TransClue, a consulting and training company advancing for the full inclusion of trans and nonbinary people where they work and live. Learn more on LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter @transclue.
Deidre Smalls-Landau (she/her)
Chief Marketing Officer, EVP Culture
UM
Deidre (she/her/hers) is UM’s award-winning Chief Marketing Officer & Global Head of Culture. Founder of UM’s diversity department, Deidre spearheads several culturally focused initiatives that inform UM’s work and decision-making on a global scale. She fundamentally believes inclusion for all is a true competitive advantage that drives UM’s success. A longtime ally of the LGBTQ+ community, Deidre has been a pioneering advocate for appropriate pronoun usage in the workplace.
Erica Schmidt (she/her)
Global CEO - Matterkind
Chief Culture Officer, Kinesso
Erica (she/her/hers) has led Matterkind, previously Cadreon, for the past five years. In her role as Global CEO, she is focused on introducing the industry to an audience-first approach to addressable media, and is dedicated to making marketing more effective to brands by delivering real business outcomes. With 20 years of digital experience, Erica is focused on building the best products, services and talent pipeline in the industry. A board member of IPG’s Women’s Leadership Network, Erica is a longtime champion for inclusion of under-represented groups in advertising technology.
Wazi Maret (he/him)
Founder
Wazi Maret Consulting
Wazi (he/him/they/them) is an award-winning independent creative, fundraiser, and inclusion strategist based out of Brooklyn, NY. When he isn't creating or rain-making for social justice, Wazi provides many levels of training and education to businesses that wish to grow in the areas of racial justice, gender justice, and/or diversity, equity and inclusion.
AC Dumlao (they/them)
Trans Non-Binary Activist & Educator
TLDEF
AC (they/them) is a transgender non-binary first-generation Filipino-American activist. As Program Manager at Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF), they manage The Name Change Project, which connects transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary people with lawyers providing pro bono representation during the legal name change process. Additionally, AC leads TLDEF’s community education initiatives and is the lead trainer for trans cultural competency presentations and workshops.
Jay Bendett (they/them)
Senior Diversity & Inclusion Strategist
IPG
Jay is the Senior Diversity & Inclusion Strategist for the IPG Diversity Intelligence team. Jay is nonbinary and comes from a rich background of intersectional learning, specializing in codified, actionable
strategies and narrative storytelling. The artistry behind Jay’s process is the result of years conducting extensive research on inclusion and safety of transgender & nonbinary folks, a Master’s degree in Gender Politics from New York University, and published works in numerous academic journal
Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device:
Please click this URL to join. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83143061689
Password: 663709
Or join by phone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 669 900 9128 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799
Webinar ID: 831 4306 1689
Password: 663709
International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ksJxpAKVD
Julie & Gabi
New parents to Finn (he/him)
Representing the beginning stage of creating an inclusive home environment are Julie & Gabi – new parents to Finn, who was born in May 2020. Gabi – daughter of IPGer Patricia Carr – and Julie will share their experience of becoming new moms (during COVID-19!), and offer a unique perspective on the next generation that they both bring as teachers to young children.
Aaron Antonides (He/Him)
Technical Project Manager
MRM McCann Detroit
Aaron Antonides is a Technical Project Manager at MRM McCann Detroit, responsible for the technical delivery and development of digital data transformation services. From Transportation and Logistics to Digital Marketing under Automotive and Agricultural Brands, Aaron has had the opportunity to work with a magnitude of folks across different verticals to increase his awareness and involvement around LGBTQ+ equity and, spearheading conversations around the reality of intersectionality that exists within workspaces and communities.
Aaron serves as a Co-Chair of IPGLBT’s Detroit Chapter. Through the lens of a Black bi-racial gay male who recently came out when he was 24 years old, Aaron strives to ensure that he, as well as others, embrace and foster a safe and inclusive workspace – a space of acceptance and awareness – a space that ensures our voices are heard and a space that allows us thrive.
Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device:
Please click this URL to join. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88154060156
Or join by phone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 312 626 6799 or +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 9128 or +1 253 215 8782
Webinar ID: 881 5406 0156
International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdgydNBc6B
RESOURCES & LINKS FROM THE PROGRAM
Bryson works at the Hetrick-Martin Institute. If you are interested in learning what they are doing remotely, please visit https://hmi.org/services/youth-services/hmi-youth-remote/
Them, the magazine where Whembley works: https://www.them.us/
Adrienne's blog where you can following her journey: https://thethingsheneeded.wordpress.com/
GLSEN - a great resource for parents and teachers: https://www.glsen.org/
Common Sense Media is a great resource for kids. They have a list of LGBTQ+ movies and books for kids of all different ages.
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/lgbtq-movies-for-teens
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/lgbtq-books
