Skip to content
Home | Blog | B2B Marketing | How to Diversify Your HR Influencer Program? An Interview with Sarah Morgan

How to Diversify Your HR Influencer Program? An Interview with Sarah Morgan

Lately, there’s been a greater push for increasing diversity and representation across all facets of life. In 2008, Barak Obama made history as the first Black President of the United States and set an example for children around the world. Since then, Mattel has announced they are releasing a gender-neutral doll line. As recent as this month, Parasite was the first ever non-English-language movie to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Across politics, kids toys, and films, more people are finally seeing people like them breaking barriers.

In HR, there’s been a push of our own to increase diversity among HR Influencers. That idea has been behind recent efforts like The Most Inclusive HR Influencer List, Victorio Milian’s #FixItSHRM conversations, and Sarah Morgan’s #BlackBlogsMatter campaign.

Getting real, though, diversity is great. But the reality is many organizations have yet to embrace it. Some, we’ve heard, are even afraid to start pushing for diversity among Influencers and contractors because they don’t even know where to start and are afraid of want to be called out or “cancelled.”

Whether you’re looking to further diversify HR Influencer voices or you’re looking for someplace to start, here are some tips from my good friend, colleague, and mentor, and founder of the Black Blogs Matter Movement, Sarah Morgan.

Please note, this is a Q&A style interview. My questions are in bold and Sarah’s answers to each question follow below.

For companies who have never worked with you or other black influencers (i.e. bloggers, podcasters, speakers), what is the best way for them to approach you? 

Sarah Morgan: Companies should approach Black influencers the same way as any other influencer. There’s no secret handshake or special door knock. Ha! 

If the company is approaching a Black influencer specifically because they are wanting to diversify their program and/or reach a target market, I believe it is important to be honest about that as early in the relationship as possible. When you are the first diversity “hire,” there tends to be more challenges because companies often haven’t prepared for how to properly navigate a different space. Some influencers are OK to work with a company on this while others don’t want to be the first through that door. 

Conversely, what are not appropriate ways to approach you?

Sarah Morgan: Companies should never approach any influencer without doing some research on the individual and having a clear idea of the work the influencer does as well has having possible options for the potential partnership. Again, this is no different with Black influencers than any other group. 

If the company is approaching a Black influencer specifically because they are wanting to diversify their program and/or reach a target market, they should acknowledge their lack of diversity and outreach as a failure and layout their commitment to do better. The company should not frame the approach as though they are doing a “favor” or providing a needed service to Black people or to the influencer. This may demonstrate a type of supremacy often called “savior complex.” While this would likely be unintentional, it is still harmful to the influencer and asserts privilege in a negative, oppressive way, which is not the company’s goal. 

How would you recommend organizations who haven’t made diversity a priority in the past start making it a priority now? Are there any resources would you recommend they read, review, ask questions to before starting? 

Sarah Morgan: If diversity hasn’t been a priority in the past, there’s no better time to start than right now. 

It is important that both individuals and organizations do research to gain awareness of the complexities of supremacy and privilege before embarking down the path. Any person or organization seeking to increase the diversity in their life and their business without doing anti-racism work is setting themselves up for failure. The efforts will inevitably cause harm and have the opposite of the intended effect, resulting in frustration for all involved. 

I recommend the following resources as a great place to start with improving awareness and starting anti-racism efforts: 

I also recommend being very intentional about engaging with content on all platforms outside of your norm. Follow more diverse people online — not just celebrities, either — and listen to more diverse types of music, watch more diverse TV, movies and documentaries, and read more diverse books. 

How should organizations measure their diversity efforts? Is it possible? What metrics should they use?

Sarah Morgan: Organizational diversity should generally be reflective of the society in which it lives. If the organization is in an area which has a diverse population yet their company’s representation does not match this, they are failing. This is a simple way to measure the diversity in their organization. 

Effort at diversity should not be measured. As with most business metrics, effort does not matter — only the results. 

Any programming created to increase diversity should have clear timelines and success measurements built in. 

What’s your favorite way to work with organizations? 

Sarah Morgan: I love writing blog posts, hosting webinars, and live speaking engagements that align with the organization’s mission and initiatives. 

WIth tech companies, I enjoy having the opportunity to sandbox within the system and give advice on ways to improve the HR-facing and Employee-facing user experience. With both tech and other types of products, I must have opportunity to test the product before working with the company to make sure it is something I can recommend to my community and my clients. 

What’s your least favorite way to work with organizations?

Sarah Morgan: For free … Ha! Seriously, though. Organizations really need to set aside reasonable budget for their influencers programs. People deserve to have some measure of compensation for their time. 

Is there any other piece of advice or insight you would love to share on this topic?  

Sarah Morgan: Organizations should be realistic about the ROI when working with Black influencers and trying to enter the market for the first time. Depending on the preceding visibility and reputation of your brand, you may need more of a long-game mentality on the investment and/or multiple influencers across genres to penetrate and achieve the success you’re looking for. Niche markets don’t work the same as the others. 

Where can people find you or your work online? 

Sarah Morgan: My website www.BuzzARooneyLLC.com  is the best way to connect with me and my work. The website connects to my blog, my podcast, my events schedule, my newsletters and my social media. It is the best place to start to learn more about me online. 

If an organization wants to book you for a gig, what’s the best way to reach you? 

Sarah Morgan: My website www.BuzzARooneyLLC.com  is the best way to reach me.

Thank you, Sarah, for taking some time to help us understand how to start diversifying our HR Influencer programs. Even though it’s not your job to help us learn more about these important issues, you continuously take the time to do it anyway to help out others.

For those reading, please connect with Sarah online and reach out if you want to book her for some gigs! For more information on where to find black or poc HR Influencers, check out The Most Inclusive HR Influencer List as well as this post on Black HR Influencers to read, share, and hire this Black History Month.

2 thoughts on “How to Diversify Your HR Influencer Program? An Interview with Sarah Morgan”

  1. Pingback: Diversifying your HR Influencers « Diversity Wins

  2. Pingback: The Most Inclusive HR Influencer List: April 2020 Preview » SocialMicole

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: