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Dear Colleagues,
The weeks that have passed since we came together as an organization to share our commitment to our employees and consumers in the Black community have been extremely meaningful. We, first and foremost, want to thank those of you who have taken the time to personally reach out to us, your managers or members of our leadership team to speak on the deeply personal issues of race and equality and to contribute your ideas on progress.
At the heart of these conversations, and what is behind every action we take as an organization, is our fundamental value of respect for the individual experiences of every single one of our employees and our guiding principle of creating a culture of belonging. Addressing the systemic issues of injustice goes beyond a program and is central to how we operate as a company and engage in our communities. This transformative moment around racial equality has placed a necessary spotlight on our responsibility to continue to push forward and advance equal representation and share of voice across our organization. It has raised awareness of the teams and initiatives that have been helping our company advance throughout the years, and it has also brought to the forefront the areas where we can do better and move faster in a more connected and strategic way.
Our Executive Leadership Team, who under the guidance of
We know many of you are eager to hear about the progress we have made, and today, we are very pleased to share the first of our quarterly highlights:
Through our I&D program, we have held 30 town halls, globally, since June to listen to and engage with our employees in an effort to build upon our culture of mutual respect and belonging.
We've commenced our mandatory training in the
Through your feedback, we are finding new ways to stand in solidarity. We established Juneteenth, the annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the
We have begun looking across our organization to identify gaps where we can be creating professional development and advancement opportunities for our existing Black talent to ensure that they have access to opportunity and growth within our organization.
To build on our existing diversity talent resources and programming within HR and I&D, we have further engaged with a diversity-focused recruitment firm and developed new diversity recruitment resources beyond what has previously existed in our programming, including but not limited to Black and Hispanic organizations (
We have begun reviewing all products for local relevancy and cultural sensitivity, including a full complexion assessment across brands to ensure that the end-to-end product development and creative process accurately and consistently represents the Black experience and engages Black professionals. We look forward to rolling out an education and engagement platform for our creative teams in the coming weeks.
We are engaging our teams to develop a strategy to find and support Black-owned businesses, creative and talent agencies and are in the process of finalizing an external advisory board across fashion entertainment and talent to help guide our work.
We are investing for change through a three-year
In September, we will continue our engagement with employees to ensure we have a regular pathway to listen and learn, and take action. Michael and Tracey will host interactive town halls to engage employees from around the globe. Executive Leadership Team members will join these conversations to hear from employees and participate in these important conversations.
While our way forward will be challenged by the complexities of our operating environment in the midst of the pandemic, we personally feel energized and confident that what will continue to drive us forward as an organization is the respect that we have for one another and our mutual dedication to a fair and equitable future.
We are proud of the steps we have taken thus far and of the continued passion, engagement and involvement of our employees. Over the next several months, we will continue to deliver on our promise to you, and transparently share our progress. We want to thank you all for your continued support as we collectively act more decisively on our values.
Sincerely,
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