Wanderful hosted the first Moving Forward Anti-Racism Town Hall event in June 2020, with two additional events scheduled as well. These town halls are designed to bring together Black content creators, non-Black creator allies, and industry members to discuss actionable steps to foster anti-racism in the travel industry.
This first Town Hall was only the beginning.
Through ongoing discussions scheduled over the next year, we work on creating solutions together, and then we can also check in on progress, discuss modifications, and encourage the whole industry to do better.
These discussions are not for just now, but also for the long-term.
About Moving Forward: An Anti-Racism Town Hall
The Moving Forward series was created and led by Karisma Shackelford, Director of Creator Membership for Wanderful and the creator of Gotta Have Karisma, Color Me World, and more.
The Town Hall brought together content creators from across the travel industry alongside industry representatives and partners. Through conversation and open discussion, we could all come to a better understanding of the issues the industry faces and begin to implement solutions across the board.
This series of Moving Forward events is free for all to attend and open to all genders.
Speakers and breakout session facilitators include leaders in the travel industry from both the creator and brand sides.
Breakout sessions in the first Town Hall were available for Black creators, for non-Black creator allies, and for industry representatives to discuss solutions and action steps that they can start taking personally and as a group. Future events might follow the same pattern or change to open spaces for different conversations.
If you attended the first Town Hall, feel free to complete the feedback survey to share your thoughts and opinions for future discussions.
Want to learn more about the first Moving Forward Anti-Racism Town Hall?
You can watch the panel discussion recordings here
Read the breakout session facilitator notes here
Register to attend the next event here
Recap: The First Moving Forward Town Hall
The first Anti-Racism Town Hall event took place on June 27, 2020, with over 200 attendees.
The day began with a panel discussion on racial equality in the travel industry. Panelists Carol Cain, Justine Abigail Yu, and Martinique Lewis offered a status report from each of their perspectives within the industry.
A passionate discussion covering all the problems in the travel industry allowed everyone to delve deeper into the issues.
But issues aren’t the only point of discussion in such an event. We were also focused on solutions.
The second panel came together to discuss healing and unity. Panelists Lauren Pelkey, Dr. Nadeen White, and Sophia Hyder Hock offered comments on a path forward where collaboration and communication across the industry could foster anti-racism.
Breakout Sessions to Discuss Anti-Racism
After two enlightening panel discussions, all attendees joined breakout sessions of their choosing. These breakout sessions were for Black creators, for non-Black creator allies, and for industry representatives.
These spaces allowed for actionable conversations about race without putting the burden on Black people to educate non-Black people.
Review all of the breakout session facilitator notes right here
In the full-group panel discussion that followed, our facilitators then outlined the key points of what was discussed in their groups so that we might come together as a community to explore solutions.
Moving Forward: The Next Anti-Racism Town Hall
The next Anti-Racism Town Hall for the Travel Industry is scheduled for Saturday, October 17th.
We hope you’ll take the time to review the panel discussion recordings and read the breakout session notes from this first event.
And then we hope you’ll choose to join us to continue the conversation and to ensure accountability and progress throughout the travel industry.
Friends in the travel industry: Get free access to our industry resource library
So, What Will You Do?
Identifying key goals and priorities is the start of making any type of progress. We challenge each attendee of the Town Hall to come up with 2-3 metrics or priorities that they’ll focus on over the next year.
When we meet again in October, we’ll have a chance to review what we identified as key priorities for ourselves and to discuss progress.
Looking for ideas? Check out the key takeaways from our three breakouts for suggestions.
We all have work to do. Doing this anti-racism work together gives us a chance to effect actual change.
So let’s get to work.
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