The recent surge in incidents of racial injustice and murder, and people’s subsequent reactions to them, truly left us horrified. Murdering and abusing Black American citizens was already a common occurrence, but something was different this time. Maybe it was the culmination of millions of people unemployed, the increased prominence of social media, and that people were frustrated with the perceived lack of governmental action in the face of COVID. Whatever it was, people rightly hit their tipping point: enough is enough. 

As a leader, I actively and critically looked at myself and how I perpetuated systematic racism, how I could guide others to truly recognize and appreciate one another for the differences we offer, as well as become better stewards of our community.

Like most businesses, we issued a statement to our company. Unlike many toothless statements circulating at the time, we took a hard stand. These are some of the actions and promises we pledged:

• We value people’s unique experiences and perspectives. This is, and always has been, a core value at TrendSource, yet we also know that in our current moment, the experiences and perspectives of our black friends and colleagues must be prioritized. 
• Employees will never be reprimanded or censored for political statements and actions that promote racial justice. Protest and patriotism are not mutually exclusive, but rather mutually affirming, and we support everybody’s right to speak out and take action against injustice. 
• Some of that action, we believe, must be directly related to voting. This year TrendSource will be allocating our annual charity spend to the Brennan Center, a civil rights research and litigation group working to protect the integrity of voting rights across the country. We will further provide comp time for up to eight employees who wish to volunteer at a polling center during our forthcoming November elections.

As we pledged, we made our donation to the Brennan Center.  We are very excited about the CEO Pledge because we believe that the resources and guidance will assist us in making our fight for equality a movement, rather than a moment. 

Victoria C. Hyzer