How I work: Bukola Garry, adam & eveDDB
Bukola Garry was named the first Director of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at adam & eveDDB and came from Havas, where she has held the position of Manager for Diversity and Inclusion since 2018.
Garry's appointment is part of the agency's drive to embed a "proactive anti-racist and positively inclusive philosophy" and follows a review of the agency's workflows, including new business, recruitment, creative performance and production, before joining.
As the agency anticipates the development of new policies and frameworks to promote a more inclusive corporate culture, we spoke with Garry to learn more about her experience in the advertising industry, her vision and plans for the role, and why there will never be a day on dem This work is completed.
Entry into the advertising industry I studied marketing, advertising, and PR with a desire to live my best Mad Men life [but without] racism, sexism, homophobia, and all the other isms that were evident on the show.
I was very anxious to work in advertising in my studies and looked for a job for about nine months after graduating and getting a job with a major London agency, but the reality of advertising felt that fictional ones really much closer to Mad Men’s world than I expected. So it was a bit of a shock because I think I went in and thought there was going to be a difference and a celebration of the difference would be welcomed, but that wasn't entirely the case.
We go back almost ten years and it wasn't really like that back then – DE & I didn't really talk about it. After four years of no support, I went to actually work with the youth welfare organization that was taking care of me … as Head of Marketing and Communication.
Those two experiences together provided me with a range of skills that allowed me to really think about where I wanted to go next. Since I was leaning on the experience in advertising, I really wanted to think about how to bridge the gap. I started really focusing on employability and access for underrepresented young people, mostly from the black community, and then definitely on people with low social backgrounds. I have worked with the local government and a wide variety of fellows and funders to set up a range of programs and initiatives. Then I partnered with advertising agencies and knew that the talented young people I worked with were exactly what the industry needed and was looking for. That was probably a coincidental moment as I was interacting with Havas here. I spent my time there before I came to Adam & Eve. I think the rest of you can tell is history from there.
The importance of how we talk about diversity, equality and inclusion I think so much of this is about context, so I'm going to talk about it based on the type of work I'm doing today. I would say that diversity is actually about minorities and marginalized communities that are underrepresented in our industry. Diversity requires our presence and contribution, which is required in an organization in which there is a clear imbalance.
It's not about doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same results. Let's use the same creative thinking and innovation that we apply to our panties