We are a group of creative people who help organizations make their ideas beautiful.
Our Commitment
Advertising has the power to change beliefs and behaviors. Historically, this power has often been used as a tool for normalizing systems of oppression. But if our work has the power to create negative bias, it also has the power to reverse it.
As an advertising agency, we not only have a responsibility to think about the effects of exclusion oppression within our own organization, we also have to think about the potential effects of the ideas, images and messages we introduce to the culture.
As we continue on this journey towards a truly equitable Paradowski, we are being specific about our commitment to anti-racism. Our goal is not merely to “not be racist;” it is to be actively anti-racist. Racism is not simply a matter of active, personal beliefs. It is structural, and deeply embedded in our media, culture, institutions and social policies. This multi-faceted issue requires an intersectional approach, which we believe will make us a better place to work for current and future Paradowskians of all identities.
Paradowski is far from perfect and we are still improving. However, we measure our success as an employer and brand partner by how fully we fight against the mindsets, habits, and policies that have prevented many of our colleagues and fellow humans from enjoying a truly fair and equitable Paradowski experience.
Actions we are planning:
- Improving and expanding our recruitment, hiring and promotion practices by:
- Reviewing and refining job postings with attention to unconscious bias
- Updating retro/review formats to evaluate on team values and inclusive metrics
- Reviewing resumes with new methods, like blinding candidate names
- Building a more inclusive Paradowski brand for more diverse talent attraction
- Continue to diversify our global talent pool
- Building a more inclusive and representative team, particularly at leadership levels.
- Developing creative and marketing excellence through more frequent anti-bias and inclusion team training, starting with the Leadership Team and the Recruiting Manager.
- More intentionally reaching into HBCUs and community organizations, to promote creative career programming.
- Leveraging our influence with global clients to improve the ideas, images and messages we bring forward into the world.
- Transparently sharing our representation data, to be open about progress needed.
Actions we have taken to date:
- Staff time reserved for education and learning centered on diversity and inclusion.
- Grassroots creation of an internal support group for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ employees, called Advancing Equity & Inclusion Ops Unit (AEIOU), which creates a safe space for teammates to process, connect, plan, and strategize on equity and inclusion at Paradowski.
- To enable allies, we also support AEIOU & You — a collaborative group to share ideas, set goals, and grow as a community.
- Funding an academic scholarship at Webster University, centered on creative studies with a goal of building greater diversity and inclusion in our local creative industry.
- Taking Juneteenth and Native American Heritage Day as company holidays, which are paid days off.
- Expanding our leadership to include a Director of Equity & Inclusion.