Page 24 - BEQ Pride Magazine Iss 21 Winter 2021 v01012022

LaTricia Harper Woods, Founder and President of Mahogany Xan Communications, and RENEWPR Agency President Ben
Finzel led a conversation about diversity in PR at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Counselors Academy
Spring Conference in Seattle, May 2019. | COURTESY PHOTO
“Yes, I’m gay and that definitely puts me in a dif- collaboration and a visionary who keeps generating
ferent category and certainly it’s challenging, but I’m ideas that move us forward.”
also white. I have a responsibility to talk about this,
white people have a responsibility to talk about these “IT’S NOT PIE”
issues, otherwise, it’s never going to change,” he says.
He is beginning to see changes in his industry as When Finzel talks about pursuing equality and
more and more people realize that agencies need to inclusion, he frequently references pie. Not the actual
better reflect the communities they serve. But he is dessert — although pie is on our minds with Thanks-
not satisfied. giving dinner on the horizon — but the concept of
“You look at these lists of employees and it seems getting your piece of the pie at the expense of others.
like we put the people of color in the DEI role. Who For all that he loved working at other PR firms during
are the CEOs? Who are the CFOs? Who are the CTOs? his career, one thing he disliked was the competitive
Where are the people of color? Where are the people mindset, sometimes against his own colleagues. When
with disabilities? Where are the gay people?” he asks. he struck out on his own, he worried about finding
“It’s great that you’re focusing on DEI, you should, but clients in a town saturated with PR professionals.
if all we do is put the marginalized communities in But he quickly realized that work and opportuni-
those roles, we’re not exactly doing the work we need ties and money are not finite. It was a profound reve-
to do.” lation that altered his perspective as a business owner
Finzel is willing to do the work. In 2019, he was and as a human being.
one of six PR leaders who came together to create The “If you look at our industry and look at the work
Change Agencies (TCA), the first-of-its-kind collabo- from a place of abundance, you realize there’s enough
rative of multicultural and LGBTQ-owned public rela- work for everybody,” he says. “You having equal
tions firms in the United States focused on providing opportunity, equal compensation and equal respon-
inclusive public relations to multicultural and LGBTQ sibility doesn’t take anything away from me. I think
communities. that’s the crux of the broader societal issues we’re
“It was really an ingenious idea for a collabo- having.”
ration,” said LaTricia Harper Woods, Founder and This mindset led Finzel to partner with other
President of Mahogany Xan Communications and a agencies to create It’s Not Pie, a service specifically
founding partner of The Change Agencies. “Ben and I designed for organizations that have made the deci-
had spent year after year after year presenting about sion to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion, but
inclusive public relations. Ben called me one day and are now getting pushback from stakeholders.
pitched the idea for The Change Agencies and I was in “Let’s say, for example, you’ve already launched a
as soon as he asked. (How could anyone say no to Ben program and committed to it, but you’re getting push-
Finzel!) He really is the driving force behind the TCA back in this post-2020 world,” he says. “Maybe your

24 WINTER 2021/22 BUSINESSEQUALITYMAGAZINE.COM