Cablefax The Magazine - October 2021 - 17

D&I CHAMPION
Tara August
SVP, Talent Relations and Special Projects
Turner Sports
Many executives join DEI groups and even lead them, but it
takes a D&I Champion to recruit more than 40 colleagues
to join those efforts. As executive sponsor for the People
Advisory Council, an internal umbrella program which drives
DEI across Turner Sports and Bleacher Report, August has
done that and much more.
The senior WarnerMedia exec also launched an internal
mobility and career development program supporting Turner
Sports' recent tentpole event " Capital One's The Match. "
Six employees who typically don't staff such big budget
productions joined teams onsite for a hands-on learning
experience. She developed a partnership with the Obama
Foundation and hired five ambassadors for the event from
My Brother's Keeper, a Chicago-based organization that offers
diverse young men professional opportunities.
August's primary role at Turner Sports is overseeing the
talent roster, which she sees as a chance to make inroads in
a field dominated by men. Her hires have included Candace
Parks as an NBA and NCAA analyst and Cari Champion,
who hosted " The Arena, " a storytelling franchise for Turner
Sports that debuted leading up to the restart of the NBA
season in 2020. It was a forum for topics such as the pandemic,
Black Lives Matter and systemic racial injustice.
" It's refreshing to see female voices in new roles throughout
the industry-broadcasting games, coaching teams, leading
organizations and everything in between. For far too long,
women have been shut out of specific roles solely based
on gender-not experience or credibility-so the number
of opportunities which have emerged are like small rays of
light giving us hope, " August says. " But we're still on the
long journey to equality-in pay, awareness, support and
visibility. There's much more work to be done. "
Speaking of work to be done, like many other companies,
part of Turner Sports' business was in a state of crisis regarding
DEI. Rather than shrink from the challenge, August
ran to it. One issue is that parts of the organization are in
different stages of DEI achievements, with some needing to
catch up. August organized mechanisms for improvement
within the People Advisory Council, placing critical importance
on diversifying the hiring pipeline. She introduced PAC
Advisors, which help hiring managers and recruiters diversify
job listings and interviews along with holding teams
accountable for meeting with diverse candidates.
These PAC Advisors have worked with managers to socialize
more than 40 roles across a wide range of job boards, with
the end goal of meeting diverse candidates. Under her leadership,
PAC has launched a mentoring program with more
than 50 mentor-mentee pairings, with women accounting
for 63% and people of color, 51%.
PAC also launched a program designed to bring BIPOC students
into the hiring pipeline and held an inaugural Summit
attended by 200 HBCU students looking to launch careers
in sports. The Council wants to make sure efforts don't end
once new hires get their employee badge-hence the introduction
of an onboarding program that has connected more
than 20 new hires with " buddies " to show them the ins and
outs of the organization.
" Diversity is a critical force of forward momentum for any
progressive entity, " August says. " When I think of all that
has been done for generations in the fight for equality, diversity
and justice, it pains me to think of the sacrifices which
have been made while challenging me to think about the
small part I can play to ensure that the trials of history were
not in vain. Forward motion is its own reward. "
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October 2021
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Cablefax The Magazine - October 2021

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