Prior to January 2020, the AMA Omaha board determined we would implement a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Chair with the 2020-2021 year to start the overdue process of elevating voices of black, brown, indigenous communities (BIPOC), LGBTQ communities, and being more inclusive in our presentation execution for members and non-members that may have a visual or hearing disability. What we didn’t know was that 2020 was going to be the year this issue was thrust into the national and international spotlight. Our words will be met with action.
My name is Tiffany Ward, and I am the AMA Omaha Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for this board year. I have been an AMA Omaha member for the last five years serving on the Communications Committee. What experience do I bring to this role? Well, I’m a work in progress myself. I spent 2019-2020 on the Diversity and Inclusion committee for The Junior League of Omaha, and I needed to continue learning and growing in this important area to better serve the Omaha community. Marketing at its core has the power to make a difference through our words and design, creating awareness and calls to action. This year, our board leadership signed the national AMA Chapter DEI Pledge. We’ve taken the first step creating this role – now we must continue to expand representation in our programming from topics to presenters, as well as create and support greater awareness of unique learning styles that require proper accommodations to receive and interact with our programming.
Short term goals for just THIS board year include:
1. Bring in more diversity within our programming
2. Establish best practices for our programming whether that’s online or in-person
3. Set up DEI training for our board
DEI is NOT a check the box and it’s “done”– it’s on-going and needs to be woven into everything AMA Omaha does and continues to do for our marketing community today and every day. We know there’s more to accomplish than the list above, but we have to start somewhere and are proud to take these initial steps and formalize our commitment to the issue.
We cannot do this alone or in a bubble. We need all voices and experiences to join us and walk with us as we move AMA Omaha forward in DEI. I encourage you to reach out to myself, our AMA President, Belinda or our Immediate Past President, Jordan, on any topics you’d like us to cover, presenters or community partners we should connect with. If there’s enough interest, I’d love to have a DEI Committee to work together with me to move us forward.
I look forward to what DEI changes we can make for our chapter and the Omaha marketing community.
Tiffany Ward
2020-2021 AMA Omaha Vice President of DEI