Ep:#78 Nazia Du Bois on holding onto the senior talent from marginalised backgrounds
There is a problem in the communications and creative industries that few people are doing anything about. It has to do with a senior ceiling that marginalised communities face when it comes to senior roles. There is a drain of really talented people that are leaving because they just don’t see a path for their progression in these companies. It not only doesn’t have to be that way, but business is worse off if this is allowed to happen. Today, Nazia Du Bois, former Global Head of Rare with Google, is going to bring all of this to life for us. Nazia is a multiple award-winning agency founder, creative strategy leader, and industry DEI champion. She most recently led Google's global DEI program, Rare with Google, aimed at raising diversity in the creative industries. Before that, she was Global Brand Strategy Director at Netflix, working on representation and global brand equity. Prior to going in-house, Nazia founded Ricebowl Strategy, which developed award-winning global brand positioning platforms for Spotify, Harry's and Popeyes amongst others. She was the founding global CSO of DAVID in Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Miami, as well as founding Ogilvy's Islamic Branding practice. Nazia has been named one of the top 5 most awarded planning directors in the world. She is from Bangladesh and holds two degrees from Oxford. Today you’ll hear stories from her time at Netflix and how being in LA when the social justice movement kicked off in the wake of the tragic murder of George Floyd then paved the way to the next stage of her career. We hear about the strategies that Google used to create more creative diversity at senior leavels of the company, with a view to change the culture of the organisation. Nazia shares some profound thinking from top thought leaders driving the inclusion revolution and what needs to happen to hold onto the senior talent from marginalised cultures. And then tells us what she learned about diversity and inclusion from being part of the mass layoffs at Google in 2023. Nazia then leaves us with an important piece of advice that all of us can take to heart. This episode will leave you with lots to ponder on, so throw on those running shoes or grab that favourite beverage, and here is Nazia. And please don’t forget to let us know what you think of this episode, leave a review and subscribe. If you would like to be reminded of future podcasts and other inspiring stories from TIE, join our newsletter here. If you would like to pre-order Return on Humanity: Leadership lessons from all corners of the earth, you can do that here.