Since 2021, we’ve been a proud partner of InnovateHer, as we continue to make positive strides towards improving our DE&I efforts. In their latest report, they highlighted that while 78% of girls are interested in tech, only 39% are interested in a career in the sector, and we believe we have an opportunity to create and elevate a new wave of female leaders that will inspire the next generation.

So far throughout our partnership, we’ve helped to support over 900 girls as they prepare to embark on their careers in the tech industry. We’ve also been making considered efforts to inspire a whole new generation of young girls to step into the digital world through various event speaking spots, where we’ve discussed our own experiences in carving out paths into the creative and tech industries.

On the other side of this partnership, Chelsea Slater, Co-Founder of InnovateHer, and her amazing wider team have helped us as we continue to commit to improving diversity and inclusion across every level of our own business. From supporting and empowering women in leadership positions to strengthening our recruitment processes to ensure they allow for equal opportunities - here are a number of ways we’ve been improving DE&I across the agency.

Investing in leadership mentoring

As a women-led business, it’s important to us at Active Profile that we invest in our talent and raise a new wave of female leaders within the agency space. Over the last six months, our Senior Growth Manager, Frankie Hutton, took part in Gather’s leadership training, where she learnt about communication styles, how to support other employees step into their power and how to build and retain a team, taking these new skills with her in a new role as a line manager within the agency.

In addition to external management courses, over the past year, we’ve also offered individual and team mentoring sessions with Sean Sankey from MuchClearer. Sean has helped the team develop better communication and interpersonal skills, as well as smart prioritisation strategies - all aiming to accelerate personal development throughout the agency.

Instilling DE&I training across the business

We actively encourage all of our team to take time away from their day-to-day tasks to attend InnovateHer’s partner events. From workshops on self-belief to webinars around allyship, our team take part in a range of inclusivity sessions where they’re able to absorb learnings that they can put into action within their roles, and ultimately strengthen the team as a whole.

Building out a strong female leadership team

One of the more significant milestones we’ve recently reached is the expansion of our wider leadership team. To guide the agency towards our growth goals, our CEO Anna Heyes has built a female-strong leadership team, including our Client Operations Director, Natalie Fox, Chief Finance Officer, Paula Amesbury, and Nicky Unsworth as Non-Exec Chair. The team meet on a quarterly basis, discussing each of our targets and plans, with a strong focus on our DE&I strategy.

Making updates to our recruitment process

Through our work with InnovateHer, we’ve made several improvements to our recruitment process to remove any potential bias and help us to attract the best talent around. With a key focus on experience, we never exclude candidates based on whether they have a degree. Plus, we ensure that we have a diverse panel for interviews to increase fairness, representation, and broaden performance to encourage diversity across our new hires.

We still have improvements to make

While we’re proud of the strides we’ve made and the diverse opportunities we’ve created as a female-led agency in a traditionally male-dominated space - we know there’s always progress to be made. That’s why we’re committed to continuing our work with the brilliant InnovateHer team to improve our policies, culture, and development processes.

Take a look at some of the work we’re doing at Active Profile and learn more about our agency culture by heading to our blog.