From the very beginning, Aisle Planner has stood for our community. We’ve maintained the mission of building something that's powerful and life changing for every wedding and special event professional, and that our culture as a company reflected its full beauty.
Amidst the anger and frustration erupting in the streets of a country already brought to its knees by the pandemic, it was our own community who showed us with immense clarity and accountability that we were not living up to that mission. We've fallen short of truly reflecting the vast, diverse beauty of this industry centered in love. Because of this, we have an urgent responsibility to do better for our Black community, and to all communities of color. And in doing so truly, equally, and justly, we do better for us all.
This acknowledgement is our call to action, our commitment, and our eagerness to be held accountable by those we serve. While we’re educating and informing ourselves to understand, embrace, and enact the changes we must make, here are some of the things we pledge to do immediately:
- To listen: To you, to our employees, to every community that's been marginalized in our society, but especially to our Black community. We continue to hold numerous meetings and conversations with members of our industry focused entirely on the movement for absolute equality, inclusion, and social justice, and the part we must play to invoke and enforce these qualities in our business, our industry, and our society.
- To communicate: We're committed to providing communications standards that ensure we speak to our customers, the industry, and our entire community with empathy, understanding, and real, intentional support.
- To reach out: Simply holding the door open is not acceptable. We’ve relied on our community reaching out to us to illuminate and discuss the topics most important to them. That ends now. No matter who comes to our platform, no matter the topic on their mind, we'll listen. We're committed to actively seeking out, engaging, supporting, and advocating for dialog with our Black community more than ever.
- To be held accountable: We're committed to building our own Diversity and Inclusion Committee with members of our community. This committee will empower the many diverse voices within to provide insight, guidance, and accountability in addressing the topics of diversity, equality, and social justice as a brand, as a business, and as an industry leader moving forward.
- To restart: We've taken a step back to analyze and rewrite our existing subscriber publishing Submissions Guidelines & Standards so that it assures the editorial content submitted by our community is always reflective of its beauty and diversity, and reaches every corner and every color of the industry. No excuses.
- To raise up: In partnership with businesses and organizations throughout the industry, we'll explore, encourage, and support opportunities for BIPOC students and young entrepreneurs who are interested in entering or growing in the wedding and special event industry.
- To learn continually: This doesn’t end on an updated news cycle. We're committed to training and developing our teams, evolving our processes, and elevating our standards across our company. We make this commitment to ourselves, to our community, and to our industry. We promise to be vigilant in this work, and to be present and aware of how our actions and movements reflect these efforts.
We're grateful for the courage and tenacity of those in our community who actively champion for the changes we need to make within, and the greater change we must be a part of in our society. Our eyes are open to the problems of systemic racism and inequality, and our hands welcome the work toward solutions that bring substantial and lasting change. We support our Black community in continuing this fight so others can realize the same, and take action alongside us with the same honesty and earnestness.
We'll always welcome an open and authentic conversation with you. Goals and dreams are not attained without the uncomfortable, the real, and the raw. But that's what truly lies at the core of our mission: to provide a platform that empowers every wedding and special event professional to build successful businesses, and amplifies every voice in our community to be heard. It's for you that we work, and it's to you that we commit to doing the work better.
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