As a 25 year Design veteran, I believe it is incumbent on those that have achieved success and experience, to use whatever privilege, influence or resources available to escalate the disparaging differences in the racial inequity of our industry.

I have been fortunate to work for and with some of the most iconic and global sportswear brands in the world, including my current role as VP of Design at Heydude/Crocs and formerly with Puma, Vans, New Balance, Saucony & Reebok.

Though many of the brands I have worked for take Diversity and Inclusion as a key tenant to their hiring practices, there is a catastrophic gap of Black and Minority Designers in our industry, as a result of systemic privilege and/or the lack of both educational opportunities and financial resources.

As an industry, we can no longer simply post for positions with the hope, that a diverse and balanced candidate pool will apply considering the disproportionate equity of privileged applicants when compared to minorities. There is an immediate need to develop further a community that can better support the next generation of aspiring Black and Minority Designers, or the access to careers in design will always be systemically disproportional.