This year’s theme is Breaking the Bias, and as a tech company where more than half of our workforce identifies as women, including 60% in positions of leadership, we’re proud of the work we’re doing every day to smash stereotypes as we strive for gender equity in the workplace.

We also recognize that what women do outside of the workplace matters, too. From building their own small businesses to volunteering to raising families, women are powerhouses of progress and change.

So we want to say thank you not only to the women of Mediavine but also to those who have blazed trails and inspired us along the way.

Why Is It Important to Celebrate International Women’s Day?

“Women are, in short, AMAZING, and should be celebrated every day in every way. The female perspective is so multi-faceted, but for me, my deepest bonds are all with women. My mother, my sisters, my female friendships. The brilliant women I work with — now and in the past. We are so often behind the scenes propping things up and helping others shine. It is so important for us to be able to step out front, and to celebrate those that have paved our way.”
— Heather Tullos, VP of Support

“I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, submitted by Heather Tullos

“Sharing our collective experiences, and honoring women and the incomparable contributions we’ve made to the world, but also how we have been suppressed, is vital to lifting each other up to our highest potentials. Knowing about the women who came before us, blazing a trail for recognition and equality, not only shows us how far we have come, but reminds us of the tremendous work we have left to do.”
— Cyd Converse, Supervising Editor, Food Fanatic

“It is always great to celebrate contributions by women which tell that we are also part of history and inspires many more women to contribute to the world.”
— Navya Jonnalagadla, QA Engineer

“Much of what I learned in school growing up was male-centered. And while I think it’s important to learn what I learned, it’s also really important to learn about women’s contributions to history and our development as humans, too. For example, the mechanical dishwasher was invented by a woman (Josephine Cochrane), as were windshield wipers (Mary Anderson), modern security systems (Marie Van Brittan Brown), and the Laserphaco Probe (Patricia Bath). That last one is so important to me right now, as my mom is about to have her second cataract surgery to save her from blindness! I can’t imagine life without any of these things, and I’m super glad I don’t have to.”
— Amber Bracegirdle, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer

“You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.”

Tina Fey, submitted by Sam Seeley

Tell Us About an Influential Woman Who Inspires You

“My mom inspires me every day! She radiates kindness and spreads happiness everywhere she goes. She has the most loving heart and I feel so lucky that I get to call her my mom. When I grow up, I want to be just like her!”
— Kristie Kovarovic, Lead Support Specialist

“My mom, Tracey, has been the most influential woman in my life. She has always been my biggest supporter and fan. My mom is the most loving, intelligent and selfless person I have ever met. I know what hard work and perseverance is because of her. My mom raised me while going to school to become a RN, and went on to have a fulfilling career as a nurse doing what she loves, helping people. I couldn’t ask for a better mom or example of a strong woman.”
— Jennifer Myers, Jr. Ad Ops Specialist

“I would say it’s not just one woman, but a group of women that continue to inspire me every day. Women in leadership roles within pet rescues. These women live and breathe animal welfare for pets. They work their day jobs, care for their children and significant others, while putting in so many hours advocating for animals. Whether it’s driving across states for the sake of one dog, or driving 20 minutes to save 40, they’ll do anything if it means a pet gets to live another day. As the Director of a local dog rescue myself, I know how tough it is, so I admire and look up to the women who are able to do all the things with the welfare of animals at the forefront.”
— Karla Greb, Product Support Manager

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou, submitted by Amber Bracegirdle

“The most influential woman in my life is absolutely my mother. My father and grandmother passed away in 2007 and 2008. During this time, I watched my mother effortlessly take on the role of caretaker. She is the strongest woman I know and I wouldn’t know what to do without her.”
— Sam Seeley, Product Manager

“My mom and my girls are my biggest inspiration. I learnt watching my mom that women can multi-task. She is my first teacher who inspired me to be bold and love unconditionally without any expectations. She has always been my huge support.”
— Navya Jonnalagadla, QA Engineer

I am woman phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me.

Maya Angelou, submitted by Jennifer Myers

The post International Women’s Day 2022: Honoring the Trailblazers appeared first on Mediavine.

November is Native American Heritage Month, or as it’s also known, American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. The month is a great opportunity to celebrate the diverse cultures, one-of-a-kind traditions and rich ancestral histories of people who were the first inhabitants of the United States.

Native American Heritage Month originally started as a weeklong acknowledgment when President Reagan proclaimed the week of November 23-30, 1986, as “American Indian Week.” But every U.S. president since 1995 has issued annual proclamations designating the entire calendar month of November as a special time to celebrate the contributions of indigenous people.

While there’s no shortage of ways to celebrate diversity and Native American Heritage Month, I’ve compiled a list of ways creators can support their Native communities this November.

Take a look.

Promote Pow Wows in Your Area

Have you ever attended a pow wow? They’re beautiful, sacred events at which you’ll hear incredible music, see some amazing dance, maybe try some scrumptious fry bread and connect with others in your community. Though the COVID-19 pandemic obviously put a lot of in-person events on hold, more live gatherings are starting to make their way back into the fold.

If you want to promote a local pow wow, you can do so by checking the official Pow Wow Calendar to see which events are happening in your area! The site has several virtual events too, so there’s something for everybody.

Support Native Businesses

With so many “Native American products” for sale out there, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between authentic Native creators and those simply looking to cash in on Native trends. That’s why it’s critical to do your due diligence and seek out only brands that sell genuine Native American goods — clothing, jewelry, beadwork, home goods, cosmetics — you name it.

But don’t just buy from Native American businesses; if you’re creating your own holiday gift guide, include them and share some of the amazing products they sell. That way these hard-working business owners can get even more exposure and continue crafting the authentic Native products we love.

Here are some of the best places to shop for genuine Native American products.

De-Colonize Your Thanksgiving Dinner

Every year in late November, millions of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving by gathering around a table of turkey and sides, and they feast. The fall holiday was actually founded in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln as a means to unify the battle-weary country post-Civil War.  

However, the narrative that’s still pushed in many public schools — that Pilgrims and Indians happily joined together for a peaceful meal — isn’t just grossly inaccurate. It’s actually quite disrespectful to Native Americans and the trauma their ancestors endured. There’s a lot more to the story. 

Thankfully, many indigenous chefs — and indigenous amateur cooks — are using food to help correctly tell the story.

There’s a lot you can do to de-colonize your Thanksgiving Day meal and actually honor indigenous people in the process. For starters, check out Sean Sherman’s The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen cookbook for plenty of Thanksgiving recipes from indigenous chefs.

Stream Native American Podcasts

Why are we seeing such a podcast boom now, given that podcasts have been around for more than 15 years?

Well, you could ask the same question about social video’s explosion in the 2010s. All the same, look for podcasts to continue to grow their share of our overall attention in the coming years. 

If you have some downtime during travel to see family around Thanksgiving and you need some good content to stream, fear not. There are a host of excellent podcasts you can listen to, all produced by Native American creators.

Bonus: Quality audio is an excellent way to learn something or get in your daily giggles without cramming more screen time into your day.

Check out our list of some of the very best Native American podcasts, for starters.

Visit a Native American Museum

Many museums took a substantial economic hit as they were forced to shut their doors for months at a time. With museums reopening across the country, there has never been a better time to show your support for these priceless cultural institutions.

American Indian museums are one of the best ways to take in Native American history and culture. Here’s a list of some of the very best Native American museums in the U.S. 

We’re thankful for Paul and his willingness to share himself and his community with us here on the Mediavine blog. In case you missed it, Paul dropped by our Teal Talk couch to chat with Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy about Building Community.

The post Honoring National Native American Heritage Month appeared first on Mediavine.

Today I’m on the blog to share a few of the ways Mediavine is a great place to work.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM).

Enacted in 1945, NDEAM promoted employment opportunities for people with disabilities and had two primary goals: to recognize people with disabilities as part of the team in their workplaces and to provide education to the public regarding the historic obstacles to employment for people with disabilities.

Here at Mediavine we’re committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce and believe that people from all backgrounds should feel supported and included in their work environments.

While advances have been made since NDEAM’s enactment 76 years ago, those who identify as having disabilities still struggle to find sufficient work, both in the US and worldwide.

61 million adults in the US live with a disability.

As a remote workforce since the beginning, Mediavine gives people who may have a hard time finding steady employment in an in-office environment, like those with disabilities, the opportunity to reach their career goals without having to worry about the challenges of reporting to an office.

While many disabilities are physical, there is an increasing emphasis on supporting mental health in the workplace.

At Mediavine we have a growing wellness program which is increasing mental health opportunities for our employees.

Employer practices are ways that businesses can be more inclusive of people with mental health conditions. Our initiatives include:

• Mindful Mondays — Stretch & Release sessions focusing on de-stressing practices and breathing exercise
• High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts encouraging body movement for those interested and able as well as supporting connection amongst employees
• Mental Health Days — Every Mediavine employee receives 5 mental health days per year, and Mediavine employees have taken advantage of 172 of these days year-to-date.
• Employment Assistance Program w/ Optum — a comprehensive resource for employee assistance in health, personal, family or work-related challenges

From providing specially requested equipment based on individual needs to utilizing work platforms that have additional support features (such as subtitles for meetings) to being intentional about mental wellness offerings, our practices serve as an effort to support our employees in all ways.

We will continue to develop opportunities and resources that support every employee because everyone has the human right to work.

(Yes, we’re hiring!)

The post Disability Employment Awareness Month at Mediavine appeared first on Mediavine.

What does that mean? It means I’m working behind the scenes to help shape Mediavine’s public voice through the media.

While my teammates frequent the blog, I spend the majority of my time in the Mediavine Newsroom and in reporters’ inboxes announcing our latest and greatest.

But today I have the honor of voicing our latest and great accomplishments to you. In fact, the topic I’m diving into is a significant reason why I joined the Mediavine team in the first place and why I decided to join the Mediavine Shine committee.

So let’s get to it: Mediavine’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.

As a person of color, I’m proud to be a part of this progressive, mindful company and excited to talk to you, on behalf of Mediavine, about the steps we’re taking to be changemakers.

Diversity and inclusion are a cornerstone at Mediavine. Creating and maintaining a community — both internally and externally — that welcomes people of all backgrounds has always been a mission close to Mediavine’s heart.

But observing the race-related tragedies and hate crimes in spring of 2020 ignited new commitments within Mediavine, not only to ensure our position was crystal clear to everyone but also to foster an inclusive environment in every way we knew how.

Over the last 12+ months, we have yearned to better our operation by listening to and learning from our publishers, team members and society at large.

We’ve taken steps to hold ourselves accountable through tangible, measurable actions and this is only the beginning of our journey as a company.

Following the tragedies of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, Mediavine took a public stand against racial injustice.

We launched the We Stand With You campaign in an effort to ensure publisher awareness and employee well-being, commissioning Black artists to create images expressing racial unity through a variety of creatives.

Since then, we’ve expanded this campaign to support the AAPI community as well, commissioning Asian artists for additional creatives. They can now be seen across many of our 8,000+ publisher websites in place of unsold ad space.

And we didn’t stop there.

We continued launching new initiatives to empower our employees to give back to their communities through donations of cultural and historical books written by African American, Indigenous and other marginalized authors to local Title I schools.

We also began offering monetary matches up to $1,000 for employee donations to social justice or equal rights organizations in particular.

We also realize that our DEI efforts must go beyond race in order to achieve our goal of a safe and welcoming workspace for all identities. So we’re working inwardly and outwardly to encourage LGBTQ+ inclusion.

We’ve input new regulations prohibiting hate speech across our publisher websites, and we’ve begun offering a pronoun display on employee email signatures.

In June, we launched a year-round PSA partnership with PFLAG National, the nation’s first and largest organization for LGBTQ+ people, their parents, families and allies.

At Mediavine, we believe in clarifying our core company values right off the bat, which is why we’re emphasizing our DEI commitments in our onboarding process.

To give potential team members as well as new hires a genuine feel for Mediavine’s culture, we’ve created “The Belonging Project” and “Diversity & Inclusion at Mediavine” videos to reflect who we are.

We also require all employees to participate in a four-segment Traliant training course that educates on Diversity, Inclusion & Sensitivity and Microaggressions in the Workplace, and Preventing Discrimination & Harassment and Unconscious Bias to understand where we stand as a company.

And when new members join our team, we have a community for them. Whether someone identifies as LGBTQ+, a person of color, dog lover, foodie, gardener — the list goes on — Mediavine provides team members with a place to come together via specific Slack channels.

By actively championing our diversity efforts, we realize that also includes intentionally working to diversify our team. We’re proud to say that in tech, an industry known for its lack of diversity on all fronts, we defy the odds.

As of June 2021, our team comprises 10% LGBTQ+ employees, 30% BIPOC employees and 54% female employees. In addition, Mediavine’s leadership is 65% female. And we’re not stopping here; this is our public affirmation of our commitment to continue improving.

As always, we’re humbled by and thankful for our publishers and employees for continuously assisting us in our progress. Your feedback is immensely valued here at Mediavine and has enabled us to reach these milestones.

With your help, we’ve earned our certification as a Great Place to Work®, earned inclusion on Inc. Magazine’s 2021 Best Workplaces list and been recognized as one of Profiles in Diversity Journal’s 2021 Diversity Teams.

During the second half of 2021, and in the many years to come, Mediavine is committed to continuing to foster our relationships with organizations whose missions and values align with our own for PSA campaigns and other projects.

We will continue to strive for even greater diversity and inclusion of all kinds in our hiring.

We want to be a workplace that reflects the communities we serve and which empowers everyone to bring their full, authentic selves to work.

Join us?

The post Mediavine Champions Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion appeared first on Mediavine.

I say this knowing that most people’s experiences growing up queer in the United States have been “interesting.” Everyone’s experience varies wildly depending on location, income, race, age — there are so many contributing factors that it’s dizzying.

But it all boils down to this: We can definitely do better.

Joining my first Big Kid job out of college only six short years ago, I was well aware that it was fully legal in my state for me to lose my job and even my place of housing simply because I was dating another woman at the time. It was an unspoken rule to remain quiet about it, not to make waves and to accept the status quo, just so you wouldn’t upset the wrong person.

If you were truly unlucky, that wrong person could be your boss, landlord or even a family member or loved one.

It wasn’t that everyone in my hometown was openly hostile. It was just that no one wanted to risk having uncomfortable conversations with people who were.

It was easier to expect the bisexual girl starting in the editorial department to keep things to herself than it was to address the elephant in the room: that the unwillingness to have this conversation was in and of itself a form of homophobia and that silence enabled even more harmful forms of homophobia.

I can’t begin to explain how alienating it can feel, living that double life — and to be clear, you have to keep that double life up in your private life, too, if you have family members that might disapprove; for plenty of people, this charade is a full-time gig.

Communication is fundamental to how you interact with the world around you. Your conversation partner might mention their spouse casually, with no one thinking anything of it; perhaps a cousin’s boyfriend stops by the family get-together to say hello. It’s casual, relaxed and not generally considered a big deal.

However, these simple things were luxuries that were almost off-limits to me as a queer person. If my then-girlfriend stopped by, she was to be referred to as my “roommate” or my “friend.”

For all intents and purposes, I was considered single despite being in a 2-year relationship.

While I was so much luckier than so many others, LGBTQ+ discrimination runs deeper than any of those things.

It pervades every nook and cranny of society.

But how can that be homophobic? This isn’t a picket line of people waving signs telling me I’m going to hell. I was fortunate enough to retain the support of my family when I came out to my parents. I wasn’t disowned or kicked out of the house. I’d never been assaulted, and I could deal with ignoring rude words from people.

While I was so much luckier than so many others, LGBTQ+ discrimination runs deeper than any of those things.

It pervades every nook and cranny of society.

The headlines rightfully go to the atrocities committed against LGBTQ+ people. We need to know about the suicide epidemic in the LGBTQ+ community; we need to hear about Mathew Shepard; about the Stonewall Riots (and not the white-washed version given to us by Hollywood).

We need to hear about the fact that 2020 was the deadliest year on record for trans individuals, with 45 people murdered — up from 26 in 2018 and 2019.

Because these hate crimes don’t come out of nowhere.

They come from a culture that prioritizes “not making waves” and keeping people feeling “comfortable” over the right for members of a marginalized community to live as their authentic selves.

So many people point towards the legalization of gay marriage as the “end” of homophobia. We clearly don’t care about whether people are gay or not anymore! Look, they can get married! Are you happy now? Can we please stop talking about things that make me uncomfortable?

Yes, that couple can get married. And that’s fantastic! But that isn’t going to guarantee a “happily ever after” situation for them.

We live in a country where sexual orientation and gender identity aren’t considered protected classes, where “don’t ask, don’t tell” has permeated into the very fabric of our day to day lives.

On the day that gay marriage was legalized, I was working as an editor in a news room. I was so excited. My heart soared. The moment I heard, I was texting my girlfriend that I would pick up something extra special that night for dinner to celebrate. And then one of my coworkers turned to me and said: “I’m happy for them. I mean, I don’t know any gay people, so it’s not like it affects me at all, anyways.”

These words were so close to support. So, so close. And while I know these words were not uttered in malice, they still hurt to this day — because she did know someone. She knew someone that this was directly affecting, and she was looking right at her.

And while I know these words were not uttered in malice, they still hurt to this day — because she did know someone. She knew someone that this was directly affecting, and she was looking right at her.

It is impossible to have discussions around the LGBTQ+ experience without acknowledging its history and without acknowledging the ways in which it was failed by our larger community for so many years.

The LGBTQ+ community came together to support one another when they could not count on outside forces to do so.

They protected each other from dangerous situations (physical and sexual assault, emotional abuse, conversion therapy and so much more) when they couldn’t count on impartial treatment from law enforcement.

Community members come together to form a found family when blood family doesn’t come through.

They pulled together to care for members of their community during the height of the AIDS crisis, which killed so many LGBTQ+ people.

We have come so far. And those wins should be celebrated!

But the marathon is not over, and we can’t allow ourselves to become complacent.

Even within the LGBTQ+ community, we have to do better. 2021 is no place for homophobia. It’s no place for biphobia, transphobia, acephobia, misogyny, racism, ableism, xenophobia or any other form of discrimination, harassment or harm.

Equal Rights are not achieved until they are attained by everyone. And I’m grateful to work for a company like Mediavine, which recognizes this.

I’m proud that Mediavine stands with me in support of the passage of the Equality Act, federal legislation that would modernize our nation’s Civil Rights laws by including explicit protections for LGBTQ+ people, as well as improving protections for women, people of color and people of all faiths.

Mediavine stands with me in support of legislation that serves to protect trans and nonbinary kids and opposes the hundreds of state bills introduced across the country this year — all of which harm trans and nonbinary people and their families.

Mediavine has been a great place to work, a place where I feel that I am able to bring myself to the table 100% as I am. Where my experiences and insights are not only accepted but encouraged.

Mediavine has been a great place to work, a place where I feel that I am able to bring myself to the table 100% as I am.

I am able to mention a girlfriend unabashedly in a work chat without it turning into a huge deal. Coworkers ask for advice about how to encourage diversity and inclusion for their LGBTQ+ coworkers because they genuinely want to make them feel more comfortable and valued.

My coworkers, LGBTQ+ and ally alike, understand and support my fervor for the charities serving my community.

There is an excitement from the entire company to include, understand and welcome members of a community that has existed on the periphery of society for so long. There is a desire to include them in the way they wish to be included.

It means more than words can even begin to describe and is a reason why I am so excited to see Mediavine partnering with PFLAG National, not just for Pride month, but throughout the year.

PFLAG’s work in more than 400 communities across the country — including towns like the one I grew up in — will ensure that queer kids who need support from their families, their teachers, their neighbors and their peers will get it through PFLAG’s support, education and advocacy programs. 

Pride is as important now as it was on June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, where trans women of color were on the front lines changing history.

Pride is a chance for us to come together and love ourselves in a world that may not always love us back. 

Pride is a chance to celebrate the beautiful, varied forms of love and acceptance that the human race has to offer.

It’s a time to come together as people, for people. Pride is first and foremost about Love — and Love Is Love.

The post We Stand With You During Pride — And All Year Long appeared first on Mediavine.

What are PSAs?

PSA stands for Public Service Announcement. In display advertising, these types of ads are served free of charge, and at Mediavine, they only serve when the ad placement has not sold through your regular auction.

We don’t and have never had a goal of 100% fill at Mediavine. Our reason is simple: Working towards 100% fill causes you to keep lowering the cost of an ad impression on your site, undervaluing your inventory in that way lowers the average CPM for your site and is basically a race to the bottom, where every ad impression you sell is devalued by that last elusive 1-10%.

When we run PSAs instead, we’re able to fill the space with messages that you and your audience find valuable, without compromising your auction floors.

How does running PSAs help me?

Before Google’s Core Web Vitals introduced the idea of Cumulative Layout Shift, Mediavine typically collapsed any ad space that didn’t sell to make the page simpler and prettier by leaving no large blank spaces. But this often caused elements of a webpage to move around during loading.

Now that Google has been more specific about their desire not to see items shift around on the page, Mediavine has introduced settings like Optimize Ads for CLS, a solution that creates a gray ad box anywhere a position is likely to be on page, reserving the space for an advertisement so that the page doesn’t shift around.

If you enable these options but aren’t running any PSAs, it’s likely that you’ll have empty gray boxes wherever an ad doesn’t sell.

You’ll pass CLS, and while it’s not a bad user experience, running PSAs for your favorite causes instead makes the experience more visually appealing, more dynamic and more interesting for readers.

What are my options?

Outside organizations

Mediavine has partnered with several organizations so far for PSA campaigns, including:

Cookies for Kids’ Cancer
Operation Gratitude
United Way
Ad Council
No Kid Hungry

With each of these, we work with the organization to decide messaging, campaign dates (if not evergreen) and to coordinate the creatives. When clicked, the PSA ads link to a landing page of the organization’s choosing, usually on their own domain.

We’re very excited to announce that as of April 27th, 2021, we are partnered with No Kid Hungry. Thanks to an introduction made by publisher (and Chicago Keynote!) Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grandbaby Cakes fame, we’ve been able to work directly with the NKH team to launch this option directly into your Dashboard. Right now we’ve got one evergreen campaign in the works, but we’ll have more from team NKH in the fall, so please watch this space!

Internal campaigns

Several PSA campaigns have been initiated by Mediavine and do not partner with or target other organizations specifically. Examples of these campaigns include our Covid-19 Awareness, We Stand With You and Pet Adoption campaigns, each of which work for worldwide audiences.

Instead of linking to an organization, each one of these campaigns links to a landing page on the Mediavine website. The landing pages link to outside resources vetted by the Mediavine Shine committee.

For our We Stand With You campaign, we worked with Black artists last year to make beautiful creatives. We’re excited to announce that as of today, there is also artwork by Asian-American artists and designers added to this campaign’s set of creatives.

Art by Ann Chen, Julia Kestner, and Rhianna Chan are now a default part of the WSWY campaign. You will also find links to their social media on our WSWY Resources page.

How do PSAs help organizations?

First and foremost, these PSAs provide awareness for the organization and particular goals they have. For example, last September we ran a special creative for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer because September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, with links back to special fundraisers they were participating in, which gave the organization a boost for their cause during this special time.

While awareness is definitely helpful, these campaigns are also able to share information on how to donate or how to participate in volunteering with each organization through PSAs. Operation Gratitude is a great example of this, running a letter-writing campaign with us not too long ago that resulted in readers signing up to write letters to first responders and service people overseas.

United Way’s 211 campaign was incredibly successful at bringing light to what 211 is and how calling 211 can help match resources to any family dealing with everything from food insecurity to mental health crises. In some cases, it might even be better to dial 211 instead of 911, which lowers stress on the emergency response teams while also matching callers with the people they need to get past the problems their family is currently facing.

We’re working all the time to bring more organizations on board with this program because we know that our publishers’ favorite causes are as varied as their website topics are.

What publishers need to do

The ad server is set up to give each PSA you’re opted into equitable distribution. That means if you’re opted into three different campaigns, each one of them will get equal distribution on your available ad impressions.

We think it’s wise to run a couple of different PSA campaigns alongside your programmatic ads to help your site have plenty of visual interest and to be sure you’re solving for CLS by filling in those gray boxes.

We know that many of you have not only your own chosen charities but also courses and services you’d like to advertise in these spaces. We’re working on the ability for you to do just that! Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

As always, if you’ve got any questions, please let us know! Email publishers@mediavine.com for questions about your account. If you’ve got suggestions for organizations you’d like to see Mediavine work with, you’re welcome to reach out to shine@mediavine.com.

The post What Are Mediavine PSAs? appeared first on Mediavine.

During a time when it would have been easy to stay silent, Mediavine said We Stand With You. We launched the We Stand With You PSA campaign in June 2020, offering Mediavine publishers the chance to opt in and dedicate their unused ad space towards education for racial justice and equity. But we couldn’t know that creating this initiative would become the starting point for something so much bigger.

Our commitment to diversity and equity has created a space for us to better shine a light on the Black content creators within our growing publisher base.

Living through the past year as a member of the Black community hasn’t been easy. We’ve seen ugly reflections of the past that have made it clear as to why the fight for diversity and equity must go on.

Despite all of this my faith remains, and even when things seem like they’re at their darkest, it’s only a fleeting moment. For light always comes in the morning along with a chance to pivot, a chance to change course and a chance for hope to manifest into reality.

There is always hope.

There is still so much work to be done and it requires everyone. Equity means nothing without unity, and diversity is the first step in that direction.

“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

The celebration and remembrance of Blackness should span beyond just this month, and I challenge you to find ways to listen, learn, create and manifest equity and diversity within your own lives.

Every Black life known and unknown to you is living, breathing, walking Black History and we, too, should be celebrated.

The post Black History Month appeared first on Mediavine.

CEO Eric Hochberger already gave the low down on our Highest Health Score award and today Mediavine’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer TQ Evans is on the blog to talk about our other incredible win.

The GCPP DEI Driver Award is a prestigious honor and something the whole company is proud of.

What is the DEI Driver award? What were the criteria for winning?

The DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award Driver) award was introduced this year and goes to the Google Certified Publishing Partner (GCPP) company who has demonstrated continuous efforts in the last year to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within their company and among their publisher base as well.

The committee looks at how each company took the initiative to advocate for, increase awareness of and create impact surrounding DEI.

We don’t have many opportunities to publicly share all of the work and effort that go into our internal company initiatives, so we were pretty excited when this award category was announced.

Share Mediavine’s journey towards prioritizing increased diversity, equity and inclusion.

As unprecedented as 2020 has been, in many ways it has become a unique opportunity for companies everywhere to use our power and influence for good.

For Mediavine, that’s meant taking a long hard look at our culture, policies and practices around diversity, equity and inclusion, and having honest and open dialogue with our employees and publishers about how we’re doing and ways that we can be better.

The murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor spotlighted issues in America that could no longer be ignored. Many companies say that they put their employees first, or their customers first but what does that really mean?

In June 2020, we crystallized our commitment to people of color by expanding this initiative. Our We Stand With You PSA ad creatives feature specifically commissioned work from Black artists, designed to promote justice and inclusion.

Publishers can opt into the PSAs in their Mediavine Dashboard, and whenever an ad slot doesn’t sell, a We Stand With You creative will show instead. When clicked, these ads lead to our We Stand With You resources, which provides vetted resources to help education for anti-racism initiatives.

Since its launch, more than 1,500 Mediavine publishers have opted in, with more than 841 million ad impressions served to highlight this important cause.

Briefly describe some of our initiatives.

For us, it meant creating safe spaces for our employees to share their feelings and experiences. We hosted town hall meetings, invited guest speakers to teach us about inclusivity and created internal interest groups like Black Voices at Mediavine and the LGBTQ Experience.

As of November 2020, the Mediavine team is 60% female and 30% self-identified people of color.

Once employees have joined our team, we empower them to give back to their communities through donations of cultural and history books written by African American, Native American and other marginalized communities to local Title I school divisions.

Mediavine puts our money where our mouth is through annual monetary donations for employee volunteerism through our Dollars to Doers Program, as well as a program through CharityVest to specifically match up to $1000 for social justice or equal rights organization giving.

Externally, we created the We Stand With You campaign, which was created in response to a publisher request, as well as the specific struggles of this year.

While these are only the start of our initiatives when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion, we’re proud of the start we’ve made and look forward to continuing to use our voice for meaningful change and impact.

My role at Mediavine has been expanded this year to drive DEI initiatives across the organization, which speaks to our unwavering commitment to providing a workplace and publisher experience where everyone feels welcomed. 

Give us a look ahead to future initiatives in this area.

As we look at 2021 we have some exciting initiatives on the horizon! Our goal is to expand our employee benefits offerings to include more Women, LGBTQ, Parent-Centered and Transgender-Inclusive benefits.

We will continue with our Town Halls and Guest Speaker Series to include awareness around disabilities, age discrimination and issues that impact minority communities.

We have made huge strides this year in our diversity recruitment and retention initiatives and have plans to expand partnerships with Historically Black College and Universities. 

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Unfortunately, many people have been faced with life-altering challenges and situations. This is absolutely evident when it comes to the extreme racial injustices Black people continue to experience and are forced to endure.

Even though 2020 keeps testing us in a multitude of ways, it’s been wonderful to see some of the positive and necessary changes that have taken place, especially right here within Mediavine.

Instead of staying silent about important issues, Mediavine chose to stand alongside its employees and publishers to help support, educate and speak out about making the blogging space more inclusive and diverse.

One of the ways we took action was by taking a good, hard look at Mediavine’s own blog and social media accounts. We aren’t here just to preach about diversity and inclusion, we’re holding ourselves accountable too.

Since our world is made up of so many different people with unique ideas, it’s very important to us that our content always reflects that. We want to encourage you to do the same with your own content channels, starting with a diversity audit.

What is a diversity audit?

A diversity audit is a simple — and potentially eye-opening — way for brands, publishers or anyone, to see if the content they are creating and sharing is diverse.

No matter what type of content you create or consume, there are ways to ensure that it’s inclusive, especially if you want to reach and resonate with a broader audience.

Ways to do a diversity audit:

Take a close look at the brands and influencers you follow, engage and collaborate with.

Much like we as bloggers take time to check out a new theme, audit plugins or research hashtags, it’s important to spend time scrolling through the social media accounts of the brands and influencers you interact with.

What exactly are you looking for?

Focus on whether or not their social feeds (or your own) showcase diverse people in the images. Do you have to scroll forever to find creators of color featured?

See if the words and messages on their timeline represent a variety of voices or only one one main sound.

If not, and you want to bring it their attention and ask why, send a DM or email the brand directly. Don’t be afraid to let them know you notice their lack of diversity. Change can’t happen if we stay silent.

Evaluate your top posts.

Determine your highest performing posts — maybe start with the top 10 — which you can quickly identify via the Mediavine Dashboard, Google Analytics or Google Search Console.

Look at your videos and images, and if you realize they aren’t very diverse, try utilizing a site like nappy or CreateHER Stock to source pictures for a post or social media. They both offer lots of free, beautiful, high-resolution photos of black and brown people.

Check your affiliate links.

This part of the diversity audit can also be for both yourself or other brands and influencers that you follow.

Take some time to check affiliate links in your posts and on social. See if you can change some out to support Black-owned businesses instead.

Also, if you’re a Black creator with a product or business, contact other bloggers within your niche to ask if they would be willing to share your link with their audience (yes! backlinks).

Make representation a priority.

Representation doesn’t only mean externally, but also internally within your brand or business.

If you’re hiring freelancers, or other members for your team, be intentional and make it a regular part of your process to consider people from different backgrounds. Be sure to listen and value their voices as a part of decision-making processes.

There are many ways for brands and content creators to take action and continue to advocate the need for representation and inclusion. A diversity audit is a great start, but there is so much more work to be done.

Remember that this is not a moment in time but an important movement for change.

The post How To Do A Diversity Audit appeared first on Mediavine.

A few months ago, Mediavine said We Stand With You, and in that we have and are committed to actively help push the continued movement of social justice and equity forward. 

The post Diversity in the Mediavine Dashboard appeared first on Mediavine.