Marketing Executive Boosts Bottom Lines, Inspires Social Change By Prioritizing Inclusivity
Lola Bakare thought she’d found her dream job when she joined an online internet publication as head of marketing. There was only one problem. The executive team was all white men, and despite having an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and her Nigerian family’s resolute ambition, Bakare didn’t know how to position herself as a “cultural fit” for the executive team.
Bakare’s challenge five years ago still impacts women and minority marketers today. The number of women in chief marketing officer roles at the 100 most advertised companies topped out at 43 percent in 2019, according to a report by executive search and leadership advisory firm Spencer Stuart. Less than 15 percent of the chief marketing officers at those companies were racially or ethnically diverse.
But that hasn’t stopped Bakare. She left her director role to found be/co, a marketing strategy consulting firm that helps companies grow their revenue through racially-inclusive and gender inclusive marketing. The company also elevates women marketers into senior leadership roles.
“My goal is to create a spark that's going to transform businesses’ ability to achieve levels of success that they never thought possible,” Bakare says.
Inclusivity As An Asset
Bakare’s work catalyzes companies to grow their bottom line and create positive social impact through marketing strategies that put racial diversity front and center.
The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many more in 2020 threw racism into the limelight, prompting many companies to take a public position on racial justice. Ben and Jerry’s published a powerful condemnation of racism and white supremacy, demanded legislative action and police reform and announced the company’s support of Black Lives Matter. IBM canceled its programs providing police with facial recognition software and pledged to work with lawmakers to advance racial justice. Sephora closed all its stores for 2 hrs to educate employees on racial bias and pledged to dedicate 15 percent of its shelf-space to Black-owned businesses.
While certain companies rose to the occasion, others missed the mark. Starbucks faced a boycott after it posted that it stood in solidarity with the Black community but then banned its employees from wearing Black Lives Matter clothing. McDonalds posted a statement calling Black victims of police brutality “one of us” and then drew fire from the American Civil Liberties Union for its denial of paid sick leave to many Black workers. Righteous Gelato introduced and then quickly withdrew a chocolate-flavored Black Lives Matter gelato imagined by a white woman.
Others avoided the controversial topic for fear of negatively impacting their bottom line. Those brands missed out, Bakare says.
“If you’ve decided to de-prioritize or not prioritize inclusivity because it's too complicated, you're essentially saying that winning is too complicated, that you're not interested in doing better than your competitors because you'd rather just do what you've been doing all along.”
The companies who took strong positions and action on racial justice not only built trust among a wider consumer-base, but also increased their potential sales and longevity. About two-thirds of America’s high schoolers and college students said businesses’ reaction to the BLM movement would “permanently affect” their future purchasing decisions, according to a report by Morning Consult LLC, a data analysis firm.
“By doing something to support the world, we all deep down want to live in, you're going to galvanize loyalty and energy from clients,” Bakare says.
Maximize The Movement
Bakare’s latest offering, Maximize The Movement, guides businesses to grow revenue, increase social impact and build reputation by optimizing their existing marketing strategy. The six step program helps businesses proactively navigate a changing landscape and avoid missteps that could land them on the “cancel list.”
She does this through an opportunity audit, group strategy sessions and conscious copywriting workshops that culminate in an Inclusive Growth Strategy, a go-to-market plan and a repository of authentic conscious messaging.
“My ability to stitch together actionable advice and experience around everything from marketing expertise and life experience, to cultural appreciation and awareness really allows me to support people in a deeply powerful way.”
Elevating Women
Bakare hosts a 250-member LinkedIn group to help elevate women marketing directors to senior leadership roles. Her program, Ascend, helps women get past the director level, where they often get stalled. She teaches women how to positively assert themselves after getting “man-jacked,” when a man repeats and then gets credit for an idea a woman shared earlier in a meeting. Bakare coaches women to have the confidence to lead through uncertainty and to raise their hand for roles that they can grow into.
“I've seen women at the director level struggle with manifesting the bravado that it takes to become more than what you are. We’ve all seen men do this very well. In order to get past the director level, you have to believe that your job is not to know everything, but your job is to be the person who can create success by leading through uncertainty.”
Bakare also sends out a bi-weekly newsletter with tips, inspiration and motivation. She calls it a “love letter to ambitious marketers.”
“The industry is making progress, but we still have a long way to go,” the head of Spencer Stuart’s Marketing, Sales and Communications Officer Practice, Greg Welch, told Chief Marketer.
Bakare intends to see that progress through.
Her knack for creating simple solutions to complex problems inspired her colleague to create a catch-phrase that now sits on a letterboard on her bookshelf: “It’s magic time.”
From Disordered Eating to Self-Love and Healing: Shelby Valentine’s Path to Fitness Coaching
Shelby Manning always worked hard: in school, on the basketball court and tennis court, on the track field, in the gym, on the stage and in the office. She planned to work her way up in a 9-to-5 job, save money, meet a husband and move to the burbs.
But at age 25, on the eve of a global pandemic, everything changed.
Shelby woke up blind in one eye.
That’s when she examined all she hadn’t allowed herself to see.
Shelby had overworked and undernourished her body, abused drugs, made herself small in her relationships and frail in her body. She had put her head down and pushed hard. She had ignored the inner voice in her head, the pull on her heart, that told her she was meant to be bigger, to do more, to pursue her passion for fitness. She hid the emptiness in the pit of her stomach until she couldn’t anymore.
In February 2020, she was diagnosed with a stress-induced auto-immune disease where her eyes attack themselves. Two weeks later, she quit her job, ended her relationship, and started Shelby Sweats LLC, a lifestyle coaching business that helps women step into their healthiest lives with fitness plans, nutrition guidance and mindset coaching.
“What I have realized is that you can do whatever you want to do and create whatever life you want to create.” Shelby says. “You just have to jump.”
Shelby offers her clients loving support and insights from her own hard-earned lessons.
Growing Up Big
Shelby grew up bigger than other kids. She wasn’t overweight. She was living her best life, strong and muscular at an all girls Catholic high school where she played basketball, threw shotput and javelin on the track and field team and performed musical theater. It was cool to be smart, athletic and in plays.
“They didn’t put emphasis on your looks being tied to value.”
When Shelby got to college, she put on what she calls “happy weight.” At 5 foot 6 inches with a muscular build, Shelby typically weighs between 150 and 160 lbs. Her first year in college, she found herself pushing 200 lbs, not exercising, eating and drinking a lot.
“It was happy weight,” Shelby says. “I didn’t really think about it. I was just living. I wasn’t on paper healthy, but it was okay. I didn’t hate myself. I just put on weight.”
The summer after freshman year, Shelby decided to take control of her life. She ended that relationship and sought her revenge bod. She could not run more than 2 minutes at the time, but she dedicated herself to small goals: running every day, getting to a mile, eating salads. She lost almost 40 lbs that summer.
She felt healthy again. She ate healthier. Her heart felt stronger.
But then her healthy habit turned into a dark obsession.
The Dark Days
Shelby returned to school skinnier and blonder, and received much more attention.
“I started to associate receiving love and approval (and) just being treated better if I was smaller.”
Shelby became obsessed with the scale, limited her eating to 400 calories per day and ran six miles every day until her knees gave out. She started abusing stimulants to suppress her appetite. The more she tried to control her life and her body, the more she realized the path she was on would ultimately kill her. Shelby was constantly light-headed and freezing. She could not sleep. She struggled with hormonal imbalance. Despite everyone wanting to support her, she felt completely alone.
“At one point, I just got sick of my own shit. I was like ‘you can either eat more or you can be miserable and die eventually.’ That was pretty much it.”
She went to Spain to study abroad and started eating again. The new environment and meals with her host family brought new life.
“If you knew me then, you wouldn’t recognize me now.”
Life After Anorexia
Shelby graduated from Colgate University in 2016 with a B.A. in Spanish and Theater. She moved home to Hoboken, got a job in New York City and kept her head down.
“I was tired of doing destructive things. I was tired of overexercising. I was tired of dieting. I was tired of waking up and feeling terrible. I was tired of hating myself.”
She quickly rose through the ranks at her tech startup, getting six promotions in 4 years. She reached the highest level of a female her age. She went to talk therapy, received Reiki energy healing and spent all of her free time studying personal development, wellness, fitness and training.
It wasn’t until her left eye stopped working in February 2020, that she put all that she had studied into practice.
“A hodge podge of different things helped me get to a point where I felt at peace with what had happened, and where I felt ok being me.”
Shelby balanced her lifestyle, took restrictions off her diet, trusted her body, launched her dream business and now helps other women step into their strength and fitness in an accessible, sustainable way.
“Whenever I hear someone say I want to get back to this weight, I say that doesn’t exist because we are not who we were. We can move forward toward a new normal, toward a new best version of yourself.”
Turning Pain into Purpose: Musician Builds Community for People Struggling with Self-Worth
CJ sits in front of a fireplace where he has carefully stacked one log on top of another on top of another. He tucks a piece of cardboard beneath the logs, followed by a paper towel, then lights a match, hoping that it will catch. He knows the fire will start if he gives it enough attention. He’s prepared to sit with it until it does.
Whether he’s camping with his friends or beside his backyard fire pit, CJ opts to light the fire. He’s no stranger to the time and effort it takes to build.
He built a work life as a construction design coordinator, a music career and a family.
When his family fell apart in a divorce, he learned to build himself back up, with patience and careful tending.
He’s now building an online community to help people struggling with identity and self-worth do the same.
“My story isn't the only story. The tools that I have found aren't the only tools. But they have helped me and I wanted to share that on a bigger scale,” CJ says
CJ created the Build Your Own Fire Facebook community for people to have a safe place to share their challenges and offer strategies for self-empowerment.
He offers his own insights from his hard-earned lessons as well as the tools he’s cultivated over the years. They include mindfulness strategies such as acceptance and self-compassion as well as actionable steps like journaling, exercise and detaching from addictive behaviors and patterns.
He demonstrates how people can release external validation--the kind found on dating apps and through job promotions--and instead remember their own inherent goodness and worth by looking internally.
CJ asks participants to “be willing to rewrite who you are.”
The most crucial tool, he says, is community.
“I'm not an expert in the field who has done all this research and I don't have medals or degrees,” CJ says. “I'm a guy who's been through some things who has written down what has helped me. I hope that that inspires people to come up with their own and build each other's fires.”
CJ models and expects vulnerability, authenticity and genuine compassionate feedback. They are all part of the container on purpose.
“My hope is that people will come and share their own thoughts, share their own struggles with each other and engage in the community.” he says. “Together, we can make something beautiful happen.”