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The One Club for Creativity, the world’s foremost nonprofit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the global creative community, has expanded its diversity offering with the addition of Allies in Recruiting (AIR), the volunteer-based organization dedicated to championing talent and educating the ad community to create a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable creative industry.
Established in June 2020, AIR is a collective of advertising, marketing, and tech recruiters who believe in the sharing of knowledge and expertise to create representation and belonging across the industry. These goals are achieved through continual DEI education of its members, companies, and clients through shared resources, tools, best practices, and support programs. The organization also has an education focus, introducing the creative industry as a future career option.
AIR has more than 100 recruiters as founding and active members, and more than 500 additional recruiters have taken the organization’s pledge to recruit in accordance with DEIC principles.
The move brings AIR under The One Club umbrella, providing the recruiting organization with resources and infrastructure to broaden in scope and grow. The group will continue to be run by its current leadership and board advisers.
Inclusion and diversity has long been one of The One Club’s four pillars for programming. The organization formed its One ID department in 2008 and established its annual Where Are All The Black People (WAATBP) diversity conference and career fair in 2011. Other initiatives include the groundbreaking ONE School free portfolio program for Black creatives, ONE Production free food styling program for BIPOC students, Creative Boot Camps held around the world offering diverse students, Right the Ratio Summit, Diverse Ad Talent Directory, Saturday Career Workshops for talented New York City high school students, and more.
“AIR aligns perfectly with our longstanding emphasis on DEI, and provides an important new complimentary dimension of service and support we can offer to the industry,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club. “It made so much sense to bring them on board because they’re leading the way in DEI recruiting, and share similar goals and principles.”
In a statement from partners and board advisers, AIR said: “To be able to scale and build the proper infrastructure, we feel The One Club is both in sync with our mission and core values and will provide the additional support we need to continue to thrive. This move also provides the ability to reach a much larger audience.”
AIR's leadership includes current partners Solange Collins, partner, talent acquisition lead, Blue Sky Talent; Tyler DeBoard, global director, partnerships, WPP; Mabel Liang, senior talent acquisition partner, Nike; and Alexa Zonsius, senior director, creative talent, Genuine Search Group.
Founding partners/board advisers include Hillary Black, global lead of coaching, VP, executive recruitment, WPP; Lionel Carreon, executive director, global creative recruiting, TBWA\Worldwide; Michele Daly, founder, creative recruiter, The Daly Connective; Kim Easley, principal design recruiter, Airbnb; Daniela Herrera, director, recruitment operations and DEI, R/GA; Leslie Kay, founder/CEO, Kay & Black; James Kinney, global chief of talent discovery and diversity, MediaMonks; Ayana Picariello, director of creative operations, creative recruiter, Translation; and Tammy Skuraton, lead recruiter, marketing, DoorDash.
The two organizations have a history of working together, most recently during Creative Week 2022 where AIR hosted the panel “From The Yard to The World: HBCU Grads in Advertising''. AIR will also host workshops at The One Club’s upcoming annual “Where Are All The Black People” (WAATBP) diversity conference and career fair, taking place October 6-7, 2022.
