Equity, Diversity & Inclusion.

Our Commitment.

At Smith Marketing Consulting (SMC), we are committing to listening, learning, and reflecting. We condemn any behaviour that leads to the exclusion or oppression of another person and we recognize that condemnation without action is meaningless. In alignment with SMC’s priority of operating in an equitable, safe, and empowering manner both internally and externally, our team commits to:

  1. Enrolling all executive team members in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training prior to client onboarding at the start of each academic year. 

  2. Critically analyzing the direction of our charitable donations from a culturally sensitive lens to ensure that our monetary contributions result in tangible, real impact for under-resourced or underrepresented communities across Canada. 

  3. Engaging in equitable hiring practices to ensure that all Queen’s students have access to hiring resources, recruiting mentorship, and the tools needed to succeed as an SMC candidate. 

  4. Facilitating ongoing discussions about cultural competence and intersections of privilege as both humans and marketing professionals. 

  5. Maintaining a constant desire to improve SMC’s everyday practices, with inclusivity and conscientiousness top of mind. 

  6. Providing our services to QTBIPOC-owned businesses, free of charge.

Of course, these steps are the first of many in terms of establishing a true sense of equity, diversity, and inclusion at SMC, and this Commitment is a dynamic work in progress. We are always willing to chat about our current practices in an effort to educate and better ourselves. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact smithmarketingconsulting@gmail.com. We would love to chat! 

 

Other Resources.

 
 

Sources

EDI Resources

“The theory that the overlap of various social identities, as race, gender, sexuality, and class, contributes to the specific type of systemic oppression and discrimination experienced by an individual (often used attributively).”

Some more factors include: culture, religion, socioeconomic difference, appearance, native language, accent, disability, national heritage, education level, etc.

In other words, when we acknowledge that a woman earns less than a man in the States, we need to also recognize that a Black woman still earns less than the average quota stated for a woman’s earnings; Black women earn the least.

SAP News Center (2019)

“Diversity is the presence of difference within a given setting...Diversity is about a collective or a group and can only exist in relationship to others. A candidate is not diverse  —  they’re a unique, individual unit. They may bring diversity to your team, but they in themselves are not diverse. They’re a woman; they’re a person of color; they’re part of the LGBTQ+ community”

General Assembly (2020)

“Inclusion is about folks with different identities feeling and/or being valued, leveraged, and welcomed within a given setting.”

Sometimes you can bring in diverse people in your team, but that doesn’t mean they share the same homogenous experiences as everyone due to a lack of support within a setting.

General Assembly (2020)

“Equity is an approach that ensures everyone access to the same opportunities. Equity recognizes that advantages and barriers exist, and that, as a result, we all don’t all start from the same place. Equity is a process that begins by acknowledging that unequal starting place and makes a commitment to correct and address the imbalance.”

Equity + Environmental Justice Center (2023)

Studies have shown that diverse teams tend to outperform homogenous teams at tasks because of a greater pool of skills and talents. However, without addressing equity and inclusion within a diverse team, the experiences of underrepresented groups are sometimes jeopardized. Not only are EDI efforts promoting a safer environment for everyone, but they also improve productivity in settings, as everyone is given the support they need to do their best.

Harvard Business Review (2020)