Introducing The A Pledge

I’m pretty excited to share this new initiative with you! We call it, The A Pledge. “A” can stand for “agency”, or “activism”, or “alliance”…but it also is a call back to Atlanta, which is often referred to as, “The A”.

So, what is The A Pledge, you ask?

The A Pledge is a call to Atlanta advertising and marketing agencies to come together in a committed effort to create inclusive opportunities within our industry. Over the next decade, we will make the changes needed to ensure our teams reflect the diversity of our community. As we do, we will see systemic opportunity grow in our industry, our city, and our nation. (read more)

Here’s what happened.

In 2012-2013, I went through Leadership Atlanta. And then this happened. From that point forward, awakened to my privilege, I knew I needed to work hard to have an outsized, positive impact on the world (my personal purpose). 

Soon after that, I started Dragon Army, and I wanted to find a way to fight systemic racism in my business community (Atlanta’s marketing and advertising industry). For that to happen, I believed these three things would need to be in place:

1. Whatever I did, it had to include the entire community (or as many that would be willing to participate). One-off initiatives, while important, will never be as effective as they could be together. And Atlanta is a community that has a history of coming together around civil rights and social justice.
2. There needed to be a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal). Something that was ambitious enough to give people pause (“is that even possible?”) while also being a clear, measurable goal that, if accomplished, would be a clear sign of progress.
3. There needed to be public accountability over a long period of time.

That was my criteria when I first came up with the idea of this initiative in 2013. My only regret is not starting this sooner, but here we are, and I couldn’t be more excited to start this long march toward creating what we like to call, SYSTEMIC OPPORTUNITY.

And I’m so honored to be creating this with an amazing group of Atlanta leaders. If you know any of these people, please send them a note of support today :)

Time to get to work 💪🏼