Brownstein Celebrates Juneteenth with Agency Holiday & Community Leadership Summit

June 23, 2020 — Last week, Brownstein Group officially recognized Juneteenth as an agency holiday and as a day to honor Black friends, colleagues, and affiliates. The agency was also proud to celebrate the occasion by partnering with the Reopening Philadelphia Leadership Summit, an event hosted by WeThePeopleStage and Radio One Philly focused on elevating Black voices and creating a path for institutional and social transformation in the United States.

The free event — broadcast online and on the radio — focused on engaging community organizers, entrepreneurs, local leaders and political representatives in order to discuss how the people of Philadelphia can work together to enact systemic change in the city. As partner and sponsor of the event, Brownstein was able to provide assistance and resources to help plan, execute, and promote the show. The agency’s own Melinda Ramos, VP and Director of Talent and Diversity led efforts to provide resources for the event and Natasha Benjamin, Senior Social Media Strategist, participated as a panelist, discussing critical issues affecting our understanding of race and media today.

Brownstein firmly believes that Black Lives Matter, but also that Black lives must thrive. Two years ago, the agency announced the implementation of BG20 x 2020, a pledge to have 20% of staff comprised of talent from underrepresented backgrounds by the end of 2020. In 2019, 24% of BG’s hires were from diverse or underrepresented backgrounds, leading to a 250% growth of diverse or underrepresented team members in our staff. The agency is now on track to meet its goal by the end of the year.

Brownstein continues to run internship programs with HBCUs and local school networks like the Philadelphia School District, but the agency will expand its commitments towards several areas of focus in the coming months. These will include increasing donations to community partners and offering agency-wide educational programming and discussion sessions on race and equity — many of which have been ongoing in the past few weeks. Brownstein is also working to imbue its creative process with diversity by enacting changes to internal procedures and strategies. This will ensure that all creative briefs allow for diverse content and viewpoints from the outset.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, although it’s only recently been acknowledged by cities in the U.S. Brownstein is proud to represent an increasingly diverse group of creatives and will continue commemorating this diversity by honoring this day, and by using its resources to help make the marketing and advertising industry more equitable and inclusive.