One of Dharesheni Nedumaran’s roles as head of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at Mediabrands APAC is to stamp out the idea that the benefits of DEI are circumscribed to people. Instead, she wants everyone to understand that the benefits accrue to all aspects of business and society as well. Her ultimate ambition in her new role is to have a positive impact on society through progressive goals, which the marcomms industry is predisposed to do through the act of storytelling.
“Marcomms has the beautiful ability to tell stories,” Nedumaran told Campaign Asia-Pacific. “And in doing so, we have the opportunity to change how society operates. But we have to keep asking ourselves the questions: Are our stories diverse? Are our stories equitable? Are our stories inclusive? We have to be careful not to proliferate the dangers of a single storyline.”
The process of DEI At Mediabrands, DEI goals tie into four pillars: how employees are treated internally; how a ‘product’ reaches consumers; how the network works with clients; and how DEI influences society overall. KPIs are also set against diversity and inclusion; tracking around equity is currently focussed on action as KPIs are not yet formalised. One of Nedumaran’s tasks as a new leader is to put in place a ‘listening strategy’ to understand the network’s gaps and weak points so that more attention can be placed in those areas.
Read more on Campaign Asia.
