When’s the last time you learned from an activist for the first time?
On purpose, social impact, and a thought on doing the work beyond #GivingTuesday.
Some personal news: starting in January, I’ll be turning brand+content a paid Substack newsletter. The goal for this was always to push the boundaries on what media and marketing coverage looks like. The core newsletter articles you’ve been reading since the beginning won’t change much. But I’ve already been setting up Q&As with some of the smartest brand-shapers and content makers, as well as building special coverage in four areas that deserve just a little more shine. You already got a peek of that in the last issue, the future of media. (This platform definitely falls in the mix of ones to watch in 2021.)
As for the rest, aiming to cover the intersection of corporate storytelling and these areas:
Love, sex, + intimacy
Gaming and emerging platforms + realities
Cannabis + psychedelia
(This issue’s subject) Movements + social impact
I’ve been interested in these areas for years, either through work or personal projects, and these are three of many key areas that deserve a different look. To be transparent, the money will go to making sure this one-writer operation 1) can do more original storytelling and 2) have help in the process. I’ll need editing and research assistance for some of this content, and paid subscribers will get access to this premium content (and a few more tchotchkes, I’ve been thinking about stickers lol).
Anyway, do keep this in mind. This will be a pretty affordable deal, and I’ll explain further what comes for paid subscribers in the next couple of issues. Help spread the word if you know someone who’d be great. On to the main story.
In a couple of days, I talk to a dear friend in front of comms people about how they can lean forward as advocates for racial equity in the workplace. Wild, wild shit to think about.
Something happens when you spend a ton of the year stepping into your innermost purpose, yeah? After the last few months in my world—and writing the last couple of issues—it felt worth diving into the world of movement work. Doing something of a deeper impact is one of those itches you can’t quite scratch, especially when you genuinely give a shit.
Growing up a couple of blocks from the ocean meant I’d care about the ocean more than most, and being impacted by Superstorm Sandy meant I had all the energy (and young adult fury) in the world to better educate myself on climate change. Tailing the endless discourse as a 16-year-old on the shooting death of unarmed bachelor Sean Bell, weeks after being stopped and frisked for the first time on my way home from class gave me a little perspective on how unjust the police is.
But maybe not everyone thinks like this. You know, people tend to care about issues of consequence only when it affects them. This is a shame for those in power, who felt the public relations debacle when George Floyd was murdered. I’d heard enough from people in the months since who’ve wanted to lean in and do better over the last few months, as if I myself had become an activist. It, like the word ally, was something I never called myself—I remember cringing when a researcher called me that on a call in late summer.
I take words seriously, as you could tell. They’re powerful, you can liken them to spells. Activist, ally, feminist, even “good guy.” I don’t call myself any of these things, maybe because I fear the responsibility of the standard these words connote. Or maybe they’re just not words that I give myself.
Just do the work, I tell myself. There’s always work to do. There’s always a bigger problem to solve.
But what defines doing the work? I was trained in marketing and in the hot coals of digital trade media. Integrating purpose in corporate America always mattered to me; I’d always dreamed of Aerialist, my consultancy, becoming a B-Corp, or a publicly recognized benefit corporation. I was getting a tiny grasp of the space through advocacy of DE&I work, but what did that look like as a solopreneur and storyteller?
Throughout November, I took steps to figure that out. First, Aerialist joined Kindred, a community of business leaders pushing to create change in areas of civic engagement, racial justice, financial equity, and a slew of other purposes. There’s powerhouses from nonprofits, media companies and small and large brands—super awesome to be a founding member of this group. I’ll share updates on that journey through here.
Second, I’d reconnected with my boys from ThinkOlio, an interdisciplinary learning collective that served as one of my first true communities outside of the ad world. Chris Zumtobel and Dave Kurfirst, the founders, have been brilliant local stewards of the humanities and adult education, the pandemic has moved their classes from The Strand and living rooms to Zoom sessions and they’re just as lovely, check them out. Policy strategist and consultant Ifeoma Ike was one of the most recent Olio instructors, for a class on The New Contract with Black America (Ice Cube wasn’t involved, thankfully) and when I tell you, there wasn’t a moment beforehand where I felt like the work I’ve been up to these last few months mattered more.
To complete the trifecta, I attended the annual Facing Race conference on racial equity, probably my deepest immersion into the movement space. A three-day summit bringing major players in activism and civil rights was almost everything I needed to tell you, reader friend, that maybe we should rethink our relationship with the capitalist narrative.
For one, to hear minds like Rev. William J. Barber and Pleasure Activism author adrienne maree brown, as well as members of the movement journalism, cannabis advocacy, and political canvassing spaces just reminds you that a lot of the skills we’ve picked up in this industry can do so much good for people. It’s our proximity—and our willingness to align ourselves—to those who care about profit that puts us in the wildest position: to either push our leaders to do better by us and our customers/readers, or tear the shit down and build our own things.
It’s less of a wild thought than we grumble about to our peers. There’s a huge case for the future of work to look the way workers deserve it to be. Cool, Nasdaq made an overdue announcement, forcing companies listed in its exchange to have one woman and one minority/LGBTQ individual on their board. Great, the Biden administration has invested in building a team that looks more like the America we live in. That’s enough to shoot the stock market up to record highs, but not enough to stop layoffs from happening, or for those who are looking for financial relief
Progress, you can say. There’s so much work to be done and people to help, but when are agencies going to look beyond what pleases shareholders and stock value?
Some people still cringe at the potential that socialism brings, even if the political movement has gained traction. But there’s a major case to be made for shareholder capitalism, where employees and the issues closest to their hearts are things the company fully invests in. There’s a major case for agencies to do what Patagonia does so brilliantly and consistently. There’s a case, yes a major one, for startups and multinational behemoths alike to challenge convention. Not just because a pandemic forced us to see life differently, but because caring about your employees means showing up for the issues that matter to them the most. They are, after all, your first advocates.
And again: how does this translate into the work we do? Will a record label be bold enough to do something as breakthrough as NPR’s Louder Than A Riot? Will an agency step up and say, “Hey, Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology is brilliant, how about a mini-anthology of immigrant leaders that best encapsulates the values of your brand ethos?” How about we think bigger than a black square in 2021 and use our skills and clout to do work that matters, that helps people? They say we’re not in the business of curing cancer, but who says a good story can’t save a life?
There’s always a major case for humaning, thumb-stopping work that can also hit all your KPIs and break your click-through rate records. Give it a thought: the ideas that make better stories are out there.
And, since it’s Giving Tuesday, give something good to a charity doing the work. Maybe more than just money: there’s a place for us to learn from activists and do the work ourselves.
Orgs worth giving a damn about
Rockaway Youth Task Force. Simply put, this coalition of young activists in the Rockaways have made it clear to me that home will be okay. They address civic issues including criminal justice reform, education equity, and food justice (my part of the Rockaways is a federally-labeled food desert) and have one of the cooler publications in the Rockaway Advocate.
RISE, or the Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability and Equity. It’s a hometown organization that builds programs for youth development and civic engagement unique to our coastal environment and social equity for our beautiful mosaic.
The First Tech Fund, an NYC based non-profit dedicated to closing the digital divide for underserved and low-income communities. They train some great high school kids and I love how transparent they are in where your money goes: as little as $20 gives a family internet access for a month, where $250 can pay for a laptop for one of their fellows.
Lysistrata and GLITS. A couple of recent headlines grabbed my attention as relevant to this, both tied to the LGBTQ community. Last week, NYC residents elected Elisa Crespo, a trans Latina, for a City Council seat and the NY Post did what it does best: demean her background as a former sex worker. The story stuck with me as Elliot Page, of Juno and Umbrella Academy fame, came out as trans this morning. In their public statement, they clearly recognized the opportunity to highlight the struggles for Black and Brown members of the trans community to live or work comfortably. Both organizations highlighted help provide safe havens to those in the sex work and trans community respectively—funds raised to GLITS helped open a housing complex in Queens, I only hope it goes a long way.
Ida B. Wells Scholarship Fund, CUNY’s scholarship for Master’s-level students in its school for journalism. This is a publication about media and it’s nothing without more representation and trailblazers like the fearless Wells in its ranks. Also, add Aaron Foley to your must-follows, the work he’s created for CUNY’s Black Media Initiative is something we all should help as the ecosystem rebuilds post-pandemic.
Content to keep an eye on
Onlyfans, platform of the year? We don’t know how much of an impact pop culture (or this pandemic) have had on the rise of the creator-friendly platform, but looking at this great thread by Substacker Peter Yang, the revenue has been ridiculous, outpacing every other subscriber-based platform like Usain Bolt at a summer Olympic Games.
News outlets may cover the likes of Michael B. Jordan and other celebrities using the platform to help raise money (for barbers, which we desperately need more of). But without question: Adult creators have been the core of this boom, not your crappy marketing stunt.Capital B, a publisher worth giving to. Speaking of Black media, a new publisher startup has opened up its gates last week. Capital B, founded by Vox editor-in-chief Lauren Williams and podcast host and former The Trace managing editor Akoto Ofori-Atta, looks to address on both local and national levels the dearth of proper news reporting for the Black community. As they’re a non-profit, I think it’d behoove you to donate and become a founding member.
Gravel Institute’s paving over misinformation potholes. I started following The Gravel Institute not too long ago, they’re a crowdfunded organization fighting the good fight against major actors in disinformation and propaganda, including PragerU—which is not a university, do not try to apply. Do read this Salon piece on the group and their efforts.
Concerts are hitting their digital high notes. Positive concert news, yeah? You know I’ve been missing that IRL festival and show life, but artists are now making me miss the URL versions just as much. Take Lil Nas X taking a concert experience to Roblox, one of the more underrated internet communities today. In the words of Maxwell, check the numbers. Or Grammy-nominated Dua Lipa (whose Future Nostalgia is my cleaning music, ilysm) who made 50 MILLION for a live stream. Understand the power Dua has, like the homie Alice of high tea and I have.
There’s some saving grace for indie venues, who had banded together to form NIVA earlier this year. Spotify, as part of its 2020 Wrapped Campaign, donated $500k to the organization (and decked out marquees of some of your favorite concert halls to spread the word).
My favorite things on the internet
It’s a three-way tie this week:
The endlessly-fulfilling Small Axe anthology, its special anthology hub on Vanity Fair and heart-swelling discourse. Please invest in this one look into the West Indian fight for equal rights and justice.
The best Thanksgiving table those stuck at home have ever been a part of.
Straight-up camaraderie. Like the 800+ creatives who’ve banded together in an effort to assist Democratic candidates in January’s special Georgia runoff elections. Or the gift exchange happening amongst friends and strangers in the ad community. Or the weeks of “Gonnabe Copywriter” Hangouts calls that took place throughout November. No matter how things turn out in those races, don’t ever think you don’t have an opportunity to have impact. Something special is happening in the little community that I’ve gotten to call home, and I think it’s just awesome.