DE&I: Accelerating Change with Megan Armstrong
TBM Group’s operations manager, Megan Armstrong assists in the everyday running of the business as well as shaping the company culture and employee wellness programs. Megan also heads up Jelly’s Diversity & Inclusion initiatives and partnerships with Clapton Girls Academy, West Thames College and Reach Out 2 Kids.
Within this role Megan facilitates students from these establishments undertaking work experience and helping them access opportunities in the industry which are usually harder to obtain from more diverse backgrounds.
LBB> What drew you to the field of DE&I?
Megan> Coming from London, I’m so aware of how other cultures have contributed to the essence of ‘who we are’ here and I’ve always found it quite perplexing that the same is not then reflected in our creative industries. Talent is by no means an issue in this country, access almost always is and I think that needs addressing.
LBB> Before it became your job role, what was your specialism? And how did you get involved?
Megan> I started out here as FOH/finance and nearly five years later I’m still here as operations manager, a role that didn’t exist before we realised the need for it. I found myself naturally leaning towards the ‘people and culture’ side of things and it developed fairly seamlessly into a more committed role. I think establishing and understanding the value in having someone dedicated to both employee wellbeing and upholding company values is really how I ended up getting involved in wanting to champion and protect diversity in the creative industry.
LBB> There’s a lot of frustration around the industry’s glacial pace when it comes to improving DE&I across all sorts of axes. What’s getting in the way?
Megan> Gosh, so many things. I’ll start off though by saying I don’t think we should be rushing anything, we have decades of ‘un-learning’ to do if we want to truly fix this issue and I think the value comes in people taking the time to do the work and not needing it to be fixed now without a true depth of understanding of the issues.
A lack of understanding of some of the more sensitive issues that surround access; be it cultural, socio-economic, geographic, religious etc. It takes time and real effort to effect change in underrepresented communities if you’re trying to break generational misconceptions around an entire industry. I think there are a lot of companies out there who’d like to appear like they’re doing the work, but aren’t. Knowing your target audience, if you’re only speaking to the people you already work with, your board of directors or even your Instagram following, they’ve almost definitely benefited from their privilege to be there and you’ve more than likely hit the wrong audience- talk to the right people!
Money and funding, as always. If we want to be able to give people access to the creative industry, we need to be able to afford to do so and everyone needs to be able to afford to get here. I speak with schools and colleges on a regular basis who have tiny budgets to be able to afford their students just a sliver of insight and access to an industry they’re likely to never see again if we don’t get in and change that. I cannot commend enough the work these schools and colleges are doing for their students and trying to communicate a world in which anything their students want to do in life is an option to them when they’re up against cuts to a non-existent budget.
Pathways to the creative industry! Although I do see this progressing more and more I think it’s time to let go of the traditional ‘university degree required’ nonsense. Whilst I am all for higher education, when it comes to access it creates such a huge barrier as it’s something only a select portion of society gets to do and just isn’t reflective of the massive wealth of talent out there who might not have had the same options as those who went to uni.
Representation, although I sometimes think this is a bit of a moot point as we will only see that representation once we’ve effected the change. However, I think it’s always important to remember this and champion diversity wherever you can. Look inwards, how does your own company reflect and represent your journey to an inclusive creative industry? It might not be the place to start, but it’s something to consider. I think the issues surrounding representation are reserved largely for artists or creatives themselves and seeing people having ‘made it’ but I’m quite avid in this not being the only form of representation we need to showcase. Not everyone who wants to be in the creative industry wants to be a creative, so where is the representation for those people?
LBB> Outside of the advertising industry, where do you see examples of large-scale meaningful progress (if at all), and what should our industry learn from it?
Megan> I don’t know that I can hand on heart say that I see any large-scale meaningful progress which hasn’t then turned out to be some gross act of whitewashing, but one thing that’s taught me is that the real work can’t be done overnight or by paying someone to come in and tick boxes. Every week it seems there’s a celebrity who’s turned out to be awful or a company who’ve reached net zero by means that are more than questionable and ultimately, you just can’t fake this stuff as it will come back on you eventually. It may take a frustratingly long time to get things going, but that’s what needs to be done and it needs to be people like me and companies like ours who are in a position to open the door, to do so.
LBB> The dimensions of DE&I can differ somewhat according to geographic/cultural context - I’m curious, where you’re based, what are the big issues or most urgent elements of DE&I that you need to address?
Megan> I would say cultural and socio-economic understanding. I work across London and what I’ve found in most schools I’ve spoken to is that the creative industry isn’t seen as a reliable one. I myself grew up with the privilege of being able to consider a creative career if I wanted to and that’s not the reality of a lot of the students I speak with.
There are endless career opportunities which could be accessed by alternative means if you’re not a creative yourself and that needs to be relayed and understood. Explaining that with your English GCSEs or your mathematics A-Levels you could be in a hugely exciting creative company in various roles from accounting to project managing is something we have to remind people of on a regular basis and I think is a huge step missed in bridging the gap.
LBB> In your role, what have been some of the most meaningful projects or policies you’ve been involved in regarding DE&I?
Megan> We launched a ‘Logo Re-Design’ competition for Reach Out 2 Kids (ROK) with the students at Clapton Girls Academy (CGA) last year and the winner Aasiya Salahuddin-Khan was in year 7 at the time! It honestly blew our minds, we had rounds of judging and she was a clear winner from the start. We were able to offer Aasiya the opportunity to visit our London studio and she is continuing to have mentoring sessions with us to encourage her to keep developing her creative skills. I think this was a meaningful moment to me particularly because it highlighted the level of pure talent we could be overlooking and not championing if we don’t shift our attention and focus to DE&I. I was so proud of Aasiya for this, especially as ROK went on to use her new logo design all over their socials, websites and all official documents…her work is everywhere which I LOVE.
LBB> What role are clients playing in holding agencies accountable and driving better DE&I? Is this something you are seeing or would like to see more of?
Megan> Something I’d definitely like to see more of. The ‘client’ end of the loop is always a bit of a tricky one for us as seemingly there is so little we can do but I’ve definitely seen a lot more engagement and commitment to upholding company policies and mission statements with regards to DE&I.
LBB> We often see DE&I siloed or pigeonholed as an HR issue - what’s the key to ensure that it’s embraced as an agency-wide or industry-wide responsibility?
Megan> If you think it’s an ‘HR issue’…you’re part of the problem, sorry! I think it’s very easy to issue new policies, get everyone to digitally acknowledge them and there you go, you’ve got a more progressive policy in place when this has done zero for the actual cause, in fact I’d argue it does more to harm it. There are tonnes of amazing courses you could be getting your team to do which means they participate and I think it’s key that it’s a team effort and a conscious decision. Once you’ve understood where you’re placed and what that means you can do, then it’s about being accountable and upholding those efforts, don’t be afraid to push back and say no if something doesn’t feel right.
LBB> What are your thoughts about where accessibility fits in the DE&I agenda?
Megan> I think the DE&I agenda starts with accessibility issues. It’s got to be one of if not the most important aspects of it, all our efforts are futile if access to the first step on the ladder doesn’t exist. DE&I concerns created in industries are a spill over from the political, cultural and social problems we face and that’s where we need to start to make real changes. We can advertise the industry as far and wide as you like, but if accessibility issues don’t improve then it’s all just whispers in a huge vacuum.
LBB> Covid-19 changed things up across the industry. On the one hand it opened up remote working opening up opportunities to those who can’t afford city living, but on the other hand it’s had a notably negative impact on other groups, notably mothers. Now that some time has passed since the extremes of lockdowns in most territories, what’s your assessment of the positives and negatives to come out of that time of disruption?
Megan> A huge positive we realised is that we can create access where there isn’t any now that we’re all used to and have adopted more flexible working policies. Covid, although a terrible time, was really eye opening in proving how adaptable we all are and can be for others and I think that’s a huge positive we’ve run with. If we can overcome and survive a global pandemic, we can definitely give some time to focus on important issues such as DE&I.
I think the only real negative I see is people’s need for things to be fixed, and fixed now. Across the planet, we all watched our governments on a daily basis trying to work in real time to stop the spread and I think that’s an expectation that hasn’t quite gone. Covid-19 also came at a time of some social unrest (looking at you USA) and I think this heightened the need for things to change and for them to change quickly. Whilst I agree totally, I think we need to be realistic about how we tackle this and how long it might take.
LBB> What resources/platforms/programmes have you found useful on your DE&I journey and would recommend to our readers?
Megan> The Other Box – this is a really well curated course by Leyya and Roshni
LBB> If you’d like our readers to take one thing away from this interview what would it be?
Megan> I’ve been part of some really difficult, uncomfortable conversations recently around inclusivity and the feedback I get every time is that people appreciate the frankness and accountability shown and that it goes a long way. Don’t assume that you know the situation better than anyone in the room, be malleable and open to hearing people’s experiences.
One thing to take away: Ultimately, whether on the ‘huge structure’ end or the other, it’s all on a human scale isn’t it? I don’t think feeling overwhelmed is a bad thing. If anything it means you’ve acknowledged the gravity of the issue. Huge scale change like this requires small, incremental change on the ground to create a solid foundation to build on, so keep doing the good work no matter how ineffective you think it might be.
