Licensing is taking measures to become more inclusive in a series of webinars hosted by Licensing International.

In the first installment of the Diversity and Inclusion Workshop series, leaders in licensing talked about steps to accelerate the movement. 

Last year, Licensing International collaborated with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media at Mount St. Mary's University to create a diversity inclusion toolkit to help those in the licensing industry address the steps needed to make their office inclusive. The survey findings suggested that employees are often unaware of their organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, the resources and initiatives to achieve these goals and how their organization performs concerning diversity and inclusion. 

The first installment of the series included Maura Regan, president, Licensing International; Krystyna Braxton, Licensing Manager for NFL Players Inc; Madeline Di Nonno, chief executive officer, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media at Mount St. Mary's University; Marva Smalls executive vice president, global head of Inclusion & and executive vice president, public affairs, kids and family entertainment Brands, ViacomCBS; Pam Kaufman, president, ViacomCBS Consumer Products; Steven Wolfe Pereira, chief executive officer, Encantos, Payne Brown, president, Think450 and Richelle Parham, managing director, West River Group.

The series opened with the news of Pepsico announcing the renaming of the Aunt Jemima brand. The Pearl Milling Company has replaced the former name and logo following last year’s protests over racial injustice. This rebranding was referenced as how a brand can pivot and adjust to become more inclusive. 

"We know that words matter, images matter, products matter," says Regan. "What we do is important, and you can make a difference.”

To learn more about the workshop, go to www.LicensingInternational.org.