This year Social Impact hosted its 5th annual Social Impact Week. This year as a chapter, we have been focusing on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Our Charity of Choice for the year is the Young Artist Program, a free arts and social justice program centering BIPOC LGBTQ+ people ages 14-25 in Philly. To stay on brand with our Charity of Choice, we decided this year's Social Impact Week theme to be BIPOC and LGBTQ+ Representation in Art and Media Marketing.
Monday: The Young Artist Program
We kicked off the week strongly with a Lead Teaching Artist at the Young Artist Program, Gabby Rodriguez, a young Latinx multimedia creator and artist based in Philadelphia. They went to Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), and now enrolled at Drexel University as a Liberty Scholar. Gabby also serves as a student intern at WHYY. They talked to us about what the Young Artist Program is, their major events throughout the year, and the resources they provide for the community. We also took time to reflect on what accurate representation looks like and how to detect if a company is only presenting itself as an ally for good PR.
Tuesday: Candygram Fundraiser
The first event of Social Impact Week was a fundraiser for our year-long charity of choice, The Young Artist Program. Our Executive Board members volunteered for shifts to sell candy roses, candy hearts, and Fundip all afternoon in the Fox Business School’s lobby. Professors and students stopped by to purchase the candy, and several were thrilled to donate to our charity of choice. We had so many members buy candy for their friends and mentors buy for their mentees. Overall, it was a successful fundraiser!
Wednesday: Brandon Edelman- TikTok Influencer Speaker session
Wednesday’s speaker session was Brandon Edelman (a.k.a @bran_flakezzz on Tik Tok.) Brandon is a Philadelphia Influencer on Tik Tok and Instagram, so he mostly covered the realities of influencing as well as brand partnerships. He also covered instances when brands may not have properly represented something. Members seemed to enjoy the speaker session based on the questions asked post-presentation, many stating that they liked hearing about the other side of Influencer Marketing.
Thursday: Trivia Night Social
As Social Impact Week was nearing an end, members joined us for a Trivia night on Thursday. Members split up into different groups and joined the Trivia game, answering questions about different BIPOC and LGBTQ+ pop culture facts about the Media and Marketing. Did you know that Michelle Yeoh won best actress at the 95th Academy Awards, becoming the first Asian to win this category?
Friday: JP Morgan & Chase - Vanessa Correa Speaker Session
We concluded the week with an amazing speaker session about the ways representation and diversity, equity, and inclusion impact our identity and personal brand. Vanessa is DEI Marketing Strategy Lead at JP Morgan Chase who is also a plant mom of 50 and someone who loves coffee. She made sure to tell us that our job position is not our identity and to create values and personality outside of work; this is how you find out what you’re passionate about. She gave great insight on researching companies and creating a personal mission statement to align company values with.
