Keeping up with our commitment to inclusion

We've been near and far to kick off this busy fall season. September brought the Oath team to Los Angeles for the 12th Annual ADCOLOR Conference & Awards, as well as Houston for the largest gathering of women technologists at the Grace Hopper Celebration. For those who might not have been there, we thought we'd provide a little "color."

The ADCOLOR Conference

Our sponsorship of ADCOLOR this year allowed us to create an experience that was uniquely Oath. If this has you thinking about Brand Love, you're on the right track. A conference as great as ADCOLOR is about fostering community and creating connections. Several of our brands, including RYOT, RYOT Studios, MAKERS and HuffPost, plugged into this vibe with exclusive content, networking and recruiting across media/editorial, sales and technology.

Now let's talk all that content.

• Michelle Tan, Editorial Director for MAKERS spoke on the Oath stage, touching on her career as an Asian female journalist. "Because of Connie Chung, journalism was a possibility for me. The saying is that if you can't see it, you can't be it. In my case, that was absolutely true," Tan explained as she shared a video dedicated to Chung with the audience.
  
• RYOT, Oath's immersive storytelling brand, hosted a panel dedicated to diverse perspectives in immersive reality and made an open call for storytellers to connect and join their ranks.
  
• Ryot Studio and the Diversity and Inclusion team announced the Black is the New Black exhibit opening at the National Portrait Gallery in London and demoed the augmented reality app created specifically for the partnership.
  
• In a breakout session, Margaux Joffe, Associate Director of Accessibility, shared insights and lessons learned in curating the Disability Collection, a joint partnership with Getty Images.
  
• Finally, Curtis Wong, Senior Reporter from HuffPost, shared the stage with his colleagues Carolina Moreno and Taryn Finley to discuss the responsibilities and challenges of diverse reporters in the media, and said the experience was not only "motivating and inspiring, but fun."

A shoutout for Lydia Polgreen! We were there to celebrate and congratulate Lydia Polgreen, the Editor in Chief of HuffPost, on her Advocate of the Year Award for her tireless work and advocacy in the space. Bravo, Lydia!

The Grace Hopper Celebration

The Grace Hopper Celebration brought over 10,000 women technologists to Houston, including people from Verizon's Global Diversity & Inclusion, University Recruitment, Campus Relations, and Talent Acquisition teams. Oath's Diversity & Recruitment, Office of the CTO, Accessibility, and Product teams were proud to have joined them.

This was the first year that we attended in a co-branded space, which featured female engineers from across both organizations hosting product demos on a rotating basis. We also had recruiters in attendance to support general recruitment efforts and conduct onsite interviews.

Engaging at these gatherings is an important part of our work supporting inclusion in the workplace and across the marketplace. We get to hear directly from the many voices in the industry, which in turn shapes the way we work. Look out for more from us as we take our learnings into 2019!