Allyship - what does it mean to you?
There is no doubt that Allyship is becoming common parlez in our industry and beyond, as we become ever more aware that change can only happen if we are all committed to equality, inclusion and diversity in all its colours. But do we all really understand what Allyship means, and what is required of us to become a real Ally?
In a recent article in The Drum, Ally Owen from Brixton Finishing School commented that ‘being an ally is a daily, ever-evolving activity – not a passive position. It’s about much more than being sympathetic towards those who experience discrimination or inequality - being an ally means possessing a willingness to act with and for others in pursuit of ending oppression or creating equality.’
It was with this great desire to help ourselves and others truly understand what Allyship means to us that we gathered together a few members of the Bloom Allyship team, to tell us what Allyship means to them and why they are so passionate about the subject.
You can listen to the discussion as part of Bloom’s Naked Truths podcast series.
What is Allyship?
To get an understanding of what role the Allyship group plays within Bloom, we asked Elizabeth Anyaegbuna, one of our joint Team Leads for Bloom Allyship and the co-founder of the Bloom inclusion group, Bloom in Colour, to talk to us about why this word is so important to us all.
‘We have six inclusion groups within Bloom: Bloom Pride, Bloom Parents, Bloom in Colour, MPower, Bloom ND (Neurodiversity) and Bloom Wombs, and felt that there was a need to weave an overt awareness of Allyship and encourage active participation within the wider Bloom network. But for that to happen, people needed to know what being an ally really is.
‘In my view, to be an ally isn't to be just present in the room, but to be active, move fluidly between being an ally and being a champion, and so on. Allyship as a team is an internal conduit to ensure a greater understanding of representation, education and amplification of our voices, not only within the Bloom network but externally across the industry.’
A personal experience of Allyship.
Ella Kerr- McCutcheon is the Business Development Director for the audio platform AdsWizz. She recognised a need for allies in her career and, with this awareness, also felt empowered to show up as an ally for others.
‘I found myself in a senior position as digital director for a huge publishing company. I felt very much out of my depth and realised I was lucky that I had a very strong ally, one of the web developers, who I sat next to and who was just really supportive of me. And that empowered me and made me believe that I could go into meetings and lead things, even when I was being challenged. That type of implicit support made me believe that I had a right to be there. It was difficult, but I began to recognise that having that ally just gave me the encouragement and confidence that I needed.’
Paying it forward.
Supriya Dev-Purkaystha is the Commercial Director at leading digital agency ForwardPMX. She has been in the industry for 15 years and felt that the conversations on diversity and inclusion have never been as big or impactful as they are now.
‘I think there's been a lot of progress, or at least steps being taken towards progress. But it is not whether the conversations are happening that is most important, but whether they affect real change. My experience alone reflects that as an industry we have suffered from the lack of diversity, and that is not going to change overnight. But if you are an agency in London, and your workforce is not at least 40% diverse – meaning a person of colour - Black, Asian, or ethnic minority –then you're not diverse enough, you do not represent the people within your own city.’
One challenge is that many organisations don’t even know how diverse (or not) their workforce is. A lack of suitable measurements and constructs for acquiring correct and meaningful data means it has often not been properly recorded. There is also often not enough clarity on how the data is used, and so people are reluctant to share confidential information.
Allyship + authenticity.
What about the problems of performative Allyship, where leaders want to be seen to be saying the right things? How do we achieve real authenticity, and therefore real action? Joy Dean is the Strategic Partnerships Director at Invibes and thinks the two are inextricably linked when it comes to creating real action.
‘One of the most important things in being a good ally is authenticity. It's about an understanding of where you are in that conversation and being open and honest about how you contribute or sometimes, acknowledging a lack of contribution and how you can navigate change. Putting it simply, bringing authenticity to something means that you're bringing your full self to the table, so you are then fully invested and committed. Just asking yourself: what can I do better? What am I not doing? How do I contribute? is a step towards self-awareness and stepping up to be a better ally. Being able to step outside of your comfort zone on a regular basis, in an authentic and true way, is the beginning of those small steps towards true Allyship.’
Real perspectives.
For those who want to become better allies, but don't have insight into the experience of the groups they want to support, we suggest getting some personal perspectives. After all, these are people’s real lives and emotions, not a theory or abstract data.
Ella says, ‘I think it's about having the conversation. A lot of white women from more privileged backgrounds have posed that question to me, as they knew I grew up in Tottenham, and that most of my friends are Black or Asian. People are often scared of what to say or ask, and worried about getting it wrong.
‘My response is always the same, if you have that respect, you don't need to be afraid if you're approaching somebody, a person of colour, and you're asking them about their experiences for your personal understanding. However, it is very different if you are using that person as an agenda or textbook. That is not Allyship.’
It’s not about approaching people and asking them to solve or offer commentary on the problems they are personally facing. We need to take a step back and listen, because when asked from a place of understanding, people will want to tell you about their experiences.
Joy adds, ‘There's this piece about intersectionality and then also exposure. My experiences and what I thought was possible or to aspire to are probably very different to my family members that never left home. By trying to put yourself into someone else's shoes and understand and empathise, you have to be aware of those who didn't have exposure to people of colour or people of different sexual orientations and be mindful of the way you are putting out information. Bloom gives a platform for people to speak rather than by speaking for them, by creating spaces where we can talk about these things openly, and share this type of discourse.’
Grassroots Allyship.
In the podcast, the group share their thoughts on the barriers to increased diversity in our industry from the diverse groups themselves – often stemming from a cultural point of view. Family pressure and messages they absorbed all their lives about what sort of career is acceptable is part of the systemic issue we must contend with. What can our industry do to help address this?
‘This was never a career choice for me.’ Supriya says. ‘Which is why I write about it so much to encourage others. I have become successful in the industry, even though I never dreamt of this 20 years ago when I left university. It was never ever a potential career avenue. The main reason was that, in my community, nobody was in marketing. I don't even think they understood what jobs were available in the marketing or advertising industry. That's where the problem lies. We can speak to the kids in schools but we need access to the parents so that we can educate them, and help them understand what sort of careers are possible outside of traditional, more linear job roles.’
How to be a better Ally.
LISTEN.
“Active listening and awareness in space. I'm listening actively, I'm watching your body language. And then I've paraphrased back to you. I think I heard you say x, and then I come back with what I thought I heard them say and give them an opportunity to clarify or agree. And part of that is it means ‘yes, I'm listening to you and I value you enough to take it in and give you back what I think you're saying and then listen to either constructive criticism or confirmation.’” - JOY
EMPOWER.
“One of the issues in our industry is that there's this idea that you have to be really outgoing. You must network, connect with senior people, negotiate confidently etc. I would just say to those who are in positions where they can employ people, or they can promote people, take time to really look around the organisation, maybe at some of the quieter employees - get to know them and try to give them some support. We need to work harder to empower the people that feel side-lined or out of their usual comfort zone in this huge industry that many weren’t brought up to know about.” - ELLA
JUST START.
“The best allies are those that don't play-act being an ally, they are just innately an ally. They are listening to people and empathising, and actively trying to appreciate what someone might be going through. They understand that if it was them, what would they want someone to do? It's not hard to be an ally, it is a life skill that we all have. It's not something that you have to learn. It's something that you just need to understand and be aware of.” - SUPRIYA
Words by Jules Castenskiold.
Thanks to Nene Harrison, Managing Partner at Eley Consulting; Supriya Dev-Purkaystha, Managing Director at Pulse Advertising; Ella Kerr-McCutcheon, Business Development Director at AdsWizz; Joy Dean, Strategic Partnerships Director at Invibes; Elizabeth Anyaegbuna, Co-Founder at Sixteenbynine & Bloom in Colour; and Nana Opoku, Producer & Bloom Podcast Lead.