Fearlessly Moving from Positive Intent to Real Impact at The BrandLab’s 2024 Conference

The annual Fearless Conference began under an umbrella of rainy weather in Minneapolis for 320 attendees and 70-some satellite participants from The BrandLab’s Kansas City office and a Milwaukee satellite location at UW Marquette for the day. Stepping into Mosaic Venue, a bright optimism overpowered the gray. It was going to be a good day for growth.

In The BrandLab’s style, led by its fearless CEO Kelli Williams , the shape of the content for the May 2 conference shifted based on learning and growth from previous events. As an attendee, The BrandLab events always feel fresh with a willingness to evolve. In 2024, after refinement and thoughtfulness, the four pillars (touched on in 2023) remained the same, but were reintroduced with new context.

Kelli noted that the pillars of equity, exposure, access, and opportunity in their initial design were too separate and siloed to effectively work together. Now in pyramid form -- equity at the base (the conference, Fearless Workshops, State of the Industry), exposure layered in next (career exposure to youth), followed by access (college internships and LearningLabs), and finally opportunity (college scholarships, Career Ignition, and job boards) – The BrandLab’s work connects and moves people through a supported process for desired end outcomes.

The conference content demonstrated clarity around the paths and outcomes for any beneficiary of The BrandLab’s offerings. The organization’s efforts to double down on data collection and sharing (see the 2023 State of the Marketing and Advertising Industry Report commissioned by The BrandLab) were a resounding highlight to marry story with deep research and undeniable data.

The Report’s significant finding showed that only 63% of respondents agree that since the racial awakening in 2020, their organization shifted existing policies to reflect an increased commitment to DEI&B practices. Only 44% of respondents agree that they can identify the same level of commitment to DEI&B practices today as they saw in 2020.

On that note, Kelli would encourage a courageousness to shake this current 2024 homeostasis by moving the conference shares into action. The day’s speakers echoed her message, pressing the marketers and advertisers in the room to impact workplace culture and the content world by embracing their lived experiences and unique skill sets to do so.

Alumni Panel: My Perception is My Reality

To kick off the first panel of the day, the attendees were directed to spend a few minutes reflecting on their first day at a new job. What did you love? What was not positive? Kelli prompted. The Alumni Panel including moderator Alvin Onkware , panelists Emely Cruz Muñoz , Seven D. , Cristal Ortiz , and Felipe Alejandro Fernández Nuñez , dove into these questions and addressed belonging, connection, full circle moments, and the massive transition from college to career.

The reality is that everyone has distinct experiences that impact how they navigate work and workplace. And they’re all valid and should be valued. Seven mentioned feeling out of belonging due to workplace power dynamics. Emely and Cristal both noted as a younger generation they expect diversity and have a more entrepreneurial mindset and openness to risk. Felipe cited a gentler style having transitioned from Miami to Minneapolis lifestyle, adapting and growing into belonging over time. All agreed diversity does not equate to inclusion.

Keynote #1: Watchen Nyanue Hampton, Founder and CEO, I Choose the Ladder: The Current View of DEI&B in Business

Watchen, Founder and CEO, I Choose the Ladder, set the stage to look at what’s shifted on the DEI&B scene and energetically invited attendees to reignite efforts. She began by highlighting that diversity is about inviting in (to an organization, an event) and it ends there. Inclusivity begins when the culture or experience plays out and includes details like the cultural significance of food that’s offered, the activities presented, and the conversation and voices at the table. Both diversity and inclusion work together, but are uniquely defined.

Can we make some agreements? Watchen presented three: 1. be present 2. suspend judgement, and 3. if you can’t say amen, say ouch. A Two Truths and a Lie quiz “ouch” revealed that corporations pledged $340B to DEI&B in 2020 – 2021ish and made bold proclamations to overcome racism yet only $1.5B was actually dispersed. She moved this fact into a 10K race analogy that mirrored our DEI&B journey since 2020. In that year, we had energy to jump off the couch and start running. What we collectively found was lack of stamina at the two-mile mark. We slowed down. In 2024, we’re at the 5K. We want to get to the end of the race, but we don’t know what we need.

In closing, Watchen explained an exhaustion with talking, reliving trauma, and a done-ness of doing it at sake of educating folks. There isn’t the energy to stop and convince others that they should be running, pursuing DEI&B, rather a sensibility to keep running with those who already are.

HR/ DEI Panel: Intentionality within Talent Management

The second panel of the day including moderator Delphanie Daniels , and panelists LeeAnn Rasachak , Thomas Jefferson (TJ), and Jesse Pedraza , talked about how talent attraction and cultivation starts before hiring, and how critical data and disclosure is throughout the hiring, onboarding, and mentoring experiences in a company.

Jesse, Director of Diversity Equity, and Inclusion - BarkleyOKRP, cited a concept of growing into impact by getting engaged with your talent-related data; and understanding that leadership needs to know where they’re sourcing talent from and hold hiring accountable. LeeAnn, CEO of WomenVenture, dropped a 2024 talent truth: talent has a choice of where they want to show up. Be thinking about culture and elements of attraction before posting a job. TJ, HR Leader, encouraged a look at systems because they quickly get stale, give them a refresh. Delphanie, DEI Leader, Best Buy, asked one pressing question on everyone’s minds: Can I be my whole self in the office? Crowdsourced panel answers noted that workplace needs to set up an environment for sharing diverse viewpoints, and it’s not just ONE conversation, it’s ongoing.

Professional Panel: Being the Only or One of the Few is a Challenge

Panel number three, led by moderator Marilka Velez , SVP, Senior Director of Marketing, Associated Bank, with panelist voices of Kelley Briggs , Milena Oliveira , Lorenz Esguerra , and Sanjit Sethi , first addressed their beginnings in the marketing and advertising industry. Kelley started as an office manager in ad agency and worked for six years while getting a degree; Milena quickly found that marketing’s collective focus of arts, science, and strategy fascinated her; Lorenz recalls a don’t ask don’t tell approach to gender orientation and an inspired following of Jenny Shimizu, an androgynous model; and Sanjit referenced a calling into higher ed, and the idea of brave leaders.

For the panel, challenges in being the only or one of a few held some wisdom. As an Asian guy, Lorenz, CEO of Folklore Digital, recalls the need to assimilate or be out, which also meant don’t be your true self and additionally, act like everyone else. Sanjit, President of Minneapolis College of Art and Design, noted that vulnerability is one of the most important leadership skills we can have. Some are afraid to do more work, because it’s an additional commitment.

When it comes to advice for leaders when they do harm, Milena, Chief Marketing Officer, Carrier, chimed in to share that the leader should recognize the misstep, talk with intention about how it missed the mark, and make a plan for what to do differently. Kelley, Managing Director of Broadhead, shared how huge it is to actually hear someone’s experience of your misstep or action when it wasn’t your intention to do harm. Intention set aside, it should be recognized that it is that person’s lived experience. In ending, Marika offered two things to say in uncomfortable spots, 1. In my experience... 2. May I offer a different perspective?

Keynote #2: Dipanjan Chatterjee, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester: Representation at All Levels

After an impressive sharing by Kelli of Dipanjan’s achievements and role as Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester, he took the stage and joked that she only shared the short version of his bio. Indeed, a very esteemed human and fearless in helping companies address questions like Should we as a company take a stand on DEI&B? Dipanjan then proceeded to dissect and provide context in a dose of a reality that only a 74-slide PowerPoint can. He cited truths like representation is a missing link between intent and impact. It’s the difference between having a voice and being heard.

He touched on the question leaders have about DEI&B investments: What’s the ROI? He acknowledged this common question of senior management, and a charge for attendees to counterpoint that businesses don’t need an ROI story to move into DEI&B as it’s a gentle, ongoing process to bring leadership into the fold and effectiveness (i.e ROI). Dipanjan cautioned to be aware of the false allure of empathy: can you really live in someone else’s skin? And when it comes to seats at the table, he cites a quote by Shirley Chisholm, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”

In closing, a shared a commentary on the slow-feeling progress of the DEI&B movement noted human nature and its complexity and predictable irrationality. Humans tend to grab on to an idea collectively at its onset, then, eventually it starts to fall out of fashion for people who don’t deeply care about it. But our collective consciousness evolves and in answering a question from a virtual attendee, Dipanjan believes that as Gen Z comes into organizations and eventually leadership, DEI&B in business will improve. That feels hopeful, along with empowering everyone at Fearless to be bold at work.

Keep Momentum Going

At the conference close, attendees had plenty of content to reflect on, and new this year, takeaways from tabletop conversations in groups of eight. Kelli reminded everyone to use the insights from the day to keep the DEI&B evolution and momentum going. She listed ways to do this including having a courageous conversation with others in your workplace in a real way, inviting The BrandLab into your organization to host a workshop, and reigniting your DEI&B journey.

We know that we cannot define “safety” for someone else, but we can foster the idea of a safe space. Ask questions that outline what you’re willing to give up in order to create inclusion, and if you’re willing to uplift diverse voices and shine a spotlight on them. Note: we must take up space and recognize that no culture is going to change with simply good intentions. It’s time to take action. By doing so, we’re winning.

--- Event recap provided by Jen (Gilhoi) Veralle of Sparktrack LLC , who covers events so event hosts and attendees can continue the event inspiration beyond the event itself. Find her on LinkedIn @jengilhoi or online at sparktrack.com. The summary captures the spirit of sharing and the themes of the event in a quick or longer form digestible way so that attendees can refer to it and take action; it also allows the host to archive what was shared and build on that for future events and use in marketing promotions.