Mosaic Champion Award Winner

VMLY&R is committed to making a meaningful impact on adland through the continuous creation of connected brands. We aim to instill a similar sense of connectivity across our over 100 offices by cultivating an understanding and accepting environment for our employees. 

This work is spearheaded by VMLY&R’s Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EI&B) practice, which promotes cultural literacy, increases employee engagement, recruits a diverse workforce, and builds opportunities to sustain culture. At its helm are Tasha Gilroy, Chief EI&B Officer, and Subashini Nadarajah, Global EI&B Director, who were appointed in 2020 to build a global EI&B practice. The practice more than doubled in size by 2021, and now, in April 2023, boasts a team of 10 members across four continents. 

Thanks to VMLY&R’s EI&B practice, the agency has seen the following accomplishments and developments in the past year: 

• The promotion of Tasha Gilroy from Global Co-Director of DE&I to Chief EI&B officer and the addition of Aarti Malik to the EI&B practice as the APAC EI&B Lead.
• The creation of the Multicultural Creative Center of Excellence, a collective of diverse and dedicated employees operating as a sounding board for clients and creative teams to ensure the work we produce is culturally sensitive.
• The official investment into a dedicated EI&B resource for VMLY&R’s APAC offices, as well as into a more globally aligned EI&B strategy.
• The launch of dearblacktalent.com, a partnership between VMLY&R and the 4A’s Foundation to create a platform connecting Black professionals with advertising and marketing agencies.
• The launch of the Detroit Experience Studio (detroitexperiencestudio.com), a program addressing adland’s racial inequities by giving Detroit high schoolers an opportunity to explore marketing careers.
• The official addition of the agency’s policy on paid bereavement leave for people who have had miscarriages to the employee benefits handbook, spearheaded by VMLY&R’s employee resource group (ERG) for women.
• The launch of Ascend, a yearlong development and sponsorship program designed to enhance mid-level and rising API employee experiences and increase retention and mobility.
• The creation of the Reality Flag, a campaign to rally support for the Equality Act, landmark federal legislation to guarantee non-discrimination protections for LGBTQIA+ people across the country.
• The enlistment of over 100 volunteer EI&B champions supporting the agency’s ERGs with the production of over 40 events.
• The provision of EI&B support to clients such as Colgate, Wrangler, Sherwin Williams, GMCVB, Hallmark, Ford, Intel, Microsoft, and Nestlé.
• The continued support of the agency’s EI&B practice by Transformation, an enterprise effort driving action, measuring progress, and engaging VMLY&R in the acceleration of the BIPOC equity agenda.
• The walkthrough of the first phase of the Reconciliation Action Plan, a WPP-wide initiative designed to rectify the ways in which VMLY&R operates in Australia and engages with Indigenous communities.
• The launch of the Incubator Program, a two-week work experience that gives students an opportunity to witness the power of connected brands, customer experience, and creative commerce while exploring career paths in advertising.

Mosaic Award 2023 Winners