This UK Black History Month we’ve been creating spaces for black apprentices and employees to amplify their experiences, celebrate their communities and network.
Over in our apprentice community, we hosted content, events and networking opportunities designed to encourage conversation and inspire action.
In collaboration with our Multicultural Network Partner, BYP network, we hosted a virtual meet-up, ‘Celebrate and Connect’. Attendees heard from Lynn Abhulimen, Community Manager at BYP Network, who shared her experience as a black inclusion advocate followed by opportunities to share their own experiences, challenges and lessons with other members of the Community.
The latest in our Community ‘Inspire’ event series, saw Priscilla Baffour, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at TikTok and former Head of D & I at The Financial Times, talk about her career journey, how she uses data to drive diversity in her current role and how she used her position to bring about change within the media industry on a global scale.
We’ve also been posting thought-provoking content across our Community hub with our most recent post featuring curated reading lists from our Community content partners, Blinkist and Perlego. We shared the experiences of Digital Marketing Apprentice, Doneh Sappleton and Leadership Coach, Leonie Worrell who spoke about their challenges breaking into the digital and tech space.
“When I hear other people's stories on how they have tried to make it and have not been taken seriously, it’s appalling. I am quite lucky in the fact that I have black peers at my workplace that I can talk to and a community where we can share experiences.”
Doneh Sappleton, Digital Marketing Apprentice
“Navigating the workplace has come with its challenges. Before joining Multiverse, I had to take huge risks compared to other leaders in order to advance. I felt I had to work twice as hard and accomplish twice as much to be seen on the same level as my colleagues.”
Leonie Worrell, Leadership Coach
Internally, throughout the month, we’ve been highlighting the diaspora across the Black community by partnering with our AfroCaribbean Network to share a song of the day and a recipe of the week inspired by Caribbean and African cuisines for all of October. Creating a playlist and recipe book to share with everyone at Multiverse. We also hosted a celebration event in our London office, with food and drinks sourced from local Black-owned businesses for everyone to enjoy.
During our weekly All Hands meeting, Dawn Buchanan shared a ‘thought of the week’ on UK Black History Month, paying tribute to people from Caribbean and African heritage backgrounds who have made significant, positive contributions to history, society and science. Dawn also reflected on her own experiences of being a Black woman in STEM:
“During my PhD, I remember being the sole point of heterogeneity in my research group, when I travelled to other institutions to conduct laboratory experiments and when I stood on podiums presenting my work at international conferences. Today I'm proud to work at Multiverse, where as I deliver the ‘thought of the week’ I see several supportive faces smiling back at me, some of them even look like me.”
Dawn Buchanan, Data Literacy Coach
Apprentices at the BYP Leadership Conference
Additionally, through our partnership with the Black Young Professionals (BYP) Network, we sponsored this year’s BYP Leadership Conference. Five Multiverse employees and five apprentices attended the in-person conference empowering them to focus on their development and build their networks. And we took part in the virtual careers fair, hosting various events throughout the day to give candidates insights into our mission and life at Multiverse.
Empowering black apprentices and employees to succeed is central to our mission to create a diverse group of future leaders. As such, this is a focus for us all year round through our partnerships with organisations like BYP, our multicultural network for our apprentice community and programmes like our Leadership Accelerator, a route for internal talent from backgrounds currently underrepresented in our leadership team to grow within our business as we scale.
