Why Representation Matters
(Find original article here)
Growing up in a multiethnic family, it was easy for me to perceive the world as being embodied by people of many different backgrounds, races, and ethnicities. But when I looked at the ads in window stores and magazines, I rarely saw my own life reflected – a Japanese-American mother and African-American father. The images on television looked nothing like me, and I often felt excluded and uninspired to participate.
I’m not the only one who has had this experience. I work for Jopwell, a career platform that helps Black, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American students and professionals unlock opportunities for career advancement. For our community, this lack of representation in imagery has lasting negative effects. The employer branding and stock photography we see regularly in the business world can be as exclusive as the images we see in Hollywood, literature, and elsewhere. Per a refrain heard at Jopwell, it’s difficult to be what you cannot see.
So this spring, the team at Jopwell decided to do something about it. Sourcing inspiration from others in our community, we produced and launched The Jopwell Collection, an album of more than 100 free-to-download stock photos featuring leaders in the Jopwell community. The images are (in our minds) regular and relatable. They represent professionals of color like the people we know – talented and inspiring social entrepreneurs, editors, techies, financial analysts, student leaders, and more – in a modern workplace that feels authentic. We made the photos free for use with attribution under a Creative Commons license so that others would be encouraged to use them far and wide.
Seeing these photos used in outlets across the web over the past few months inspired us to take the project a step further. In August, we added a whole new gallery of photoscelebrating the amazing interns in our community. It was exciting to see these future leaders taking the time to help increase visibility for their community. Though they’ve only just begun their careers, they’re already crushing it! These students of color participated in several of the country’s most competitive internship programs, working for organizations like Google, BlackRock, The New York Times, and The Today Show. We’re so excited to have them as part of our Jopwell community, and seeing them find career opportunities that truly excite them reminds me why I do what I do every day.
Expanding #TheJopwellCollection is a project that will be ongoing for us, because increasing visibility for Black, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American students and professionals is core to Jopwell’s mission. We all need to see images of people who we can see ourselves in to build confidence in applying for jobs and envisioning our futures. I hope these photos will help make more people feel included and empowered.
As Jopwell continues to work with leading companies to build more representative workforces, we also want to challenge all organizations to not only talk about the value of diversity, but to show it. Our goal is for these images to serve as a free resource for content creators, media outlets, agencies, and companies looking to increase representation in their materials depicting the workplace.
I hope you’ll check out The Jopwell Collection, share the images, and join the conversation on increasing representation in imagery. Follow @Jopwell and use the hashtags #TheJopwellCollection and #LetThemSeeUs, we’ll be sure to follow along.