Diversity Plan

Introduction: In my academic and professional life, an important value I maintain is maintaining knowledge of all different cultures to not only be as inclusive as possible with my work but also be respectful of different cultures. I want to make sure underrepresented groups remain seen, and to avoid ignorance by taking off any blinders that may keep me ignorant of other faultlines. One thing I keep pride in is taking an interest in different lifestyles, whether it be physical, religious, or cultural because there is more than one way to navigate and live a life that’s different from the way the average WASP sees it. To be able to effectively navigate and engage with these peoples is my main goal.

Section I. Major in Strategic Communication

Goals:

  • To continue exploring and following social media figures that represent and educate on different faultlines and lifestyles, and involve them in my day to day media exposure.
  • To assess and view my writing and work from a lens of these different faultlines, not only consider all audiences but also accommodate them (equity vs equality) as a reflection of my knowledge, and avoid ignorance that feeds into the “irrelevence” that many of these peoples experience.
  • To be unafraid of having these conversations to spread knowledge of these faultlines with others, using the proper language and sensitivity.

 

Section II. Professionalism in Advertising and Public Relations

Goals:

  1. Either provide or be a resource for equity in order to accommodate different lifestyle needs that are essential to operate in a healthy, welcoming work environment in order to cultivate hope of impact in my colleagues.
  2. Enable different faultlines to be a topic of discussion and use it as a platform to relate, learn and discuss with others instead of drawing differences and/or means of boundaries; make an effort to understand and navigate the complexity of others as it is important to them.
  3. Extend such conversations with the goal of overcoming the distances that faultlines have previously served to create as opposed to using them as an opportunity to open our minds to different platforms of communication and worldliness, as mentioned in number two.

 

Conclusion: As someone who grew up in a pretty conservative household, the topic of diversity and discussing different marginalized people that had different identities was always a tough one to navigate. I was raised to believe such things didn’t matter, and that negating cultural, physical, and other forms of identities was the key to putting everyone on a level playing field in the corporate world. Further acknowledgment of such differing identities has engaged me and made them much more familiar now. The truth is that having these different identities are not an obstacle but an opportunity, as cliche as it sounds. Involving so many different people opens doors to new ideas, audiences, conversations, learning opportunities, and more to be gained. We’re approaching an age where it’s time to reclaim what makes us different as something to be proclaimed, not ashamed of.