How to recognize colleagues for DEI leadership

Everyone loves awards. Winning is good! And it’s gratifying to be recognized for your talent, hard work and achievements, especially when the judgment comes from your peers.

I used to get excited about awards, especially when I or my colleagues won a national award. And I’ve judged too many competitions to list. But now I’ve become an awards skeptic. There are simply too many awards, too many categories and often these categories are divided by market size.

Over time, the high admission prices increase. It can cost thousands of dollars a year for a broadcaster to submit its best content or projects to multiple awards programs. It’s no wonder that some larger networks have a person in charge of award submissions. This fact alone reduces their chances of taking home the gold. I call this the “awards industrial complex.”

Nevertheless, victory matters. Donors, foundations and boards of directors see tangible results of what their funding enables and how exceptional the employees are. For the winners, the prize is a source of pride and joy, a boost of motivation and confirmation that your creative energy and determination have been worthwhile. It’s even better if there’s a cash prize!

The awards I like best are the ones that are free to enter. They’re just about recognizing people, not about increasing sales or making a profit (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Did you know that Public Media annually presents an award for leadership in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging? It is published by Public Media for All, the coalition of people of color, white allies and DEIB-engaged organizations. PMFA came together after the murder of George Floyd sparked a heated argument about excessive whiteness in public media. Journalist Michelle Faust Raghavan of the PMFA Organizing Committee describes it as “a community movement that provides space for public media professionals to share new ideas that better center our shared humanity.”

PMFA began honoring inspirational individuals who lead DEIB in public media four years ago. “We know that there are people who are working hard, often behind the scenes, to influence their organizational culture to be more inclusive and equitable,” says Raghavan. “We want to encourage greater recognition of this work across the industry. This award is a step in that direction.” (Note: The deadline for awards is Monday, December 16th. Find the nomination form here.) Do it!

This year, PMFA asked me if Current would be the first media sponsor for the award. Given our commitment to DEIB in public media, I quickly said “Yes!” It didn’t cost us anything. As a sponsor, I have agreed to write this article encouraging applications, and Current will run free advertising to promote this opportunity.

I can confirm that the three people who have received this annual award so far are all great, game-changers. Hopefully the PMFA award will encourage them to stay in public media! Let me tell you more about these superstars.

The first winner of 2021 was Angela Carr, vice president and chief impact officer at NinePBS in St. Louis. She oversees the station’s local community engagement work, such as the Mental Well-Being, American Graduate, Getting to Work and Getting to Work initiatives. Conscripteda groundbreaking animated children’s television series and comic book project that Current reported on in 2022. She also collects donations to support this work.

With a strong commitment to child development from infancy, Carr hosts gatherings to listen to the community, educators and caregivers. “And then we bring that information back to the content team. They then create needs-based content. And then we bring that content back to the community.” Carr says her early learning team serves about 22,000 people. “95% of them are black and brown and 91% of these children are not reading at grade level by the age of three.”^approx Degree. We still have more work to do.”

When Carr won, PMFA focused the award on those working in public media development. “It’s important that there are Black and brown people in the development sector raising dollars to support Black and brown people,” Carr says, “because that ensures that those dollars are spent in the most equitable way possible.”

The 2022 PMFA Award went to Jeanene Thompson, corporate support associate at North Carolina Public Radio/WUNC in Chapel Hill. She has worked in public media development for two decades, including nearly 14 years at WFAE in Charlotte, North Carolina

Thompson led the state network’s diversity committee from July 2021 to June 2022, which she called “a very pivotal year.” The committee focused on adopting “fundamental things” that had been missing from WUNC’s DEIB efforts, such as discussion groups, including DEI questions in interviews and increasing DEIB visibility to employees, she said.

What impact did the award have on you? “It gave me more confidence in my ability to make a difference,” she said.

Last year’s winner, JR Rudoph of WFYI Public Media, was also one of Current’s Rising Stars for 2024. JR is an engagement specialist at the Indianapolis station. The employee who named him a Rising Star wrote, “JR’s efforts help us not only value, retain and recruit talented, diverse employees, but ultimately expand beyond our traditional fan and audience base.”

Additionally, JR actively participated in Greater Public’s Our Hour, a town hall focused on connecting and empowering public media professionals of color. He wrote an introduction to how and why to form employee resource groups (ERGs) for Greater Public, which Current also republished.

I met JR at the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference in San Diego this year. His smile and style are unforgettable. And he’s a proud troublemaker in a system that needs to be shaken up, and it shows.

DEIB is the core of JR’s work and life. In addition to the ERG he launched at WFYI, he engages local professionals and speakers to educate station staff and the community about cultural heritage. “I meet with the leadership team and discuss common workplace practices and how we can improve our space to be more inclusive.”

According to JR, “The mission of inclusion is more important now than ever.” We need to encourage our organizations to embrace more training opportunities and speak openly about their experiences in and around the workplace. … We need to move from talking to doing actionable things.”

His message to those responsible for the public media: “The change you are afraid of is happening and will leave you behind if you don’t go along with it. You get more results from trying and failing than from doing nothing at all.”

Who is making a difference in DEI in your organization? Your colleague can’t win if you don’t nominate him as soon as possible.

Michelle Raghavan suggests considering people in your workplace who are “making waves to improve diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in your organization or larger public media community.” Don’t forget to think about the people who provide quiet leadership who might otherwise go unrecognized. We want to hear from them.”

These people are doing the hard work of making public media look more like the diverse America we are meant to serve. They make our stations better by pushing for DEI accountability and bringing colleagues together for honest conversations. These are your people. Nominate them by December 16th. You deserve it.