Back in March this year we held a workshop for International Women’s Day and planned a year of activities to #BreakTheBias in 2022 around topics we all wanted to debate, challenge and make change. We also said we would audit how much we had (or had not) achieved over the year when we got to International Men’s Day in November. We decided not to just do a social media post on the day, but to use the International Womens Day to kick of a year of activities to #BreaktheBias
As we are now at International Men’s Day we are delighted with all that we have achieved through new initiatives, changes to the way we do things, our Book Club and our charity work this year. Along with a range of inspirational mentors who have spoken to us each month. It has been great to track and celebrate these activities each month in the team meetings.
Mentors
This year we have had some brilliant Mentors including Sarah Howard, Caireen Wackett, Josh Feldman, Jude Kelly and next week England Hockey players Giselle Ansley MBE & David Ames.
Each Mentor has challenged & inspired us in equal measure and got us talking this year on topics from childcare and careers through to domestic abuse and living with disabilities with a city of Chanel and Strictly Come Dancing thrown into the chat too!
Thank you to all of our 2022 Mentors for supporting us
Best Companies
We have made changes in our business from gender pronouns to our training plans and were delighted when our team completed the Best Companies feedback and ranked us as the Most Improved Medium Sized Company in the UK!
Book Club
Our book club initiative has had us all reading books many of us would not usually read covering topics from Racism and Suicide through to us assessing our Carbon Footprint
We were also delighted that Rebecca Lowe came and spoke to us about her journey and writing “The Slow Road to Tehran”
Charity Graphic Design
It has also been brilliant to use our design skills to support charities throughout the year too – our team created graphics, branding & exhibition stands for charities including Central Women’s Aid. This has allowed the charities to show themselves brilliantly at fund raising events,
Artwork
In March we also said we would commission a piece of artwork inspired by the topics discussed in 2022 to commemorate the work we have all done.
We commissioned Monya from or team who has taken time out from her studies at the Glasgow School of Art to create a beautiful piece which will be displayed in our offices.
Monya had this to say about her artwork:
“I have been very inspired by the conversations occurring at Leonard Design as part of Break the Bias, in a movement towards change. This led me to reflect on how change relies on dialogue and conversations between different parties, over different times.
The piece draws inspiration from the continued and repeated actions, conversations and movements that build onto each other through time. The work alludes to this through a circular pattern of waves in an overlay of screens, recalling a layering of voices.
Using a historical printing method with a contemporary architectural material acknowledges both the continuity and innovation that is necessary for change to occur at Leonard Design and beyond.”
This is not the end of this initiative; we have only just got started on the list we made in March and we look forward to maintaining the momentum in creating a team where we talk about challenging topics and aspire for change and can #BreakTheBias
Thank you to everyone who has supported us this year.
From the IWD & IMD Team at Leonard Design.
