It’s Diversity and Inclusion Week!

So this week you may notice that we’re talking a lot about diversity, inclusion, and representation.

What’s that all about?

Well, this is our first official diversity and inclusion week! Actually, every week is diversity and inclusion week, but we’re taking this time to reflect, set goals, and invite you along on our journey to make Women of Cincy a more diverse and inclusive space.

Our intention here has always been to highlight ALL the women of Cincy, no matter their race, religion, political preference, sexuality, ability, or gender identity. This is always what we’ve strived for, but it’s time to step it up in both intention and action.

Moving forward, we want to be super transparent about that fact that we know that we’ll never be perfect and we’re working hard to do better. We want our community to feel represented in the stories we tell, the events we host, and even in how accessible our site is.

Here are some things we’re doing now:

• Establishing data-based goals against which we can measure representation in our feature stories

• Gathering quantitative and qualitative feedback from our team and readers

• Building relationships with influencers in communities we’re not reaching or representing as much as we should be

• Exploring multimedia in order to give a platform and engage audiences of varying styles and abilities

• Making small changes to our website to make it friendlier to folks with visual impairments

Here’s the dream:

• Every woman-identifying Cincinnatian could look at our site and see herself represented in at least one story.

• Every single one of our team members would say they strongly agree that their voice is heard on this team.

Here’s what we need your help with:

• Nominate a woman! All of our feature stories are community-driven. And there’s no criteria; we believe everyone has a story to tell.

• Join our team. Lend your talents in marketing, event planning, videography, graphic design, photography, writing, and more.

• Take the reader survey.

• Spread the word and help us make connections to those who can help us reach and represent a broader range of women.

Women of Cincy wasn’t built in a day, and a diversity and inclusion initiative is never finished. Let’s do this together!