Channel Mastery - Ep. 167: Emily Newman and Renita Smith, Executive Producer and CPO of Camber Outdoors

Camber Outdoors

**the camber outdoors team and kristin carpenter discuss tools to meet the moment**

““So we advised our partners, even though you see strong statements about how comfortable folks feel, make sure you're looking outward to see what it would take to create an inclusive environment for people who are not part of the 81% white for people who are not in the majority."
- Renita Smith

episode highlights

Host, Kristin Carpenter, sits down with Renita Smith and Emily Newman to offer a look at the tools Camber Outdoors offers to “Meet the Moment”
A recent workplace survey by Glassdoor reported that 76% of employees and job seekers said a diverse workforce was very important when evaluating companies and offers. Hear how Camber Outdoors works with companies to move closer to the goals of diversifying their workforces
As we approach the one year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, it’s time to check in on the goals and promises you made as an organization over the past year

episode preview

In June 2020, Emily Newman and Renita Smith of Camber Outdoors went live on Facebook with Channel Mastery host Kristin, in the midst of protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd. During that discussion, they announced the release of new resources Camber had created to help brands and businesses in the specialty markets and outdoor industry move forward with their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Now, as we approach the one year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder in late May, Emily and Renita offered a check-in or progress report and “Tools to Meet the Moment.” The discussion invites organizations to revisit the promises made a year ago and continue to learn, act and change within their organizations.

With a recent Glassdoor workplace survey reporting that 76% of employees and job seekers said a diverse workforce was very important when evaluating companies and job offers, it’s important now more than ever to continue work in this space and continue to revisit the promises outlined in 2020.

featuring

Emily Newman

Emily Newman is Executive Director of Camber Outdoors and serves as ex officio on the organization’s board of directors. Prior to joining the organization in 2019, Emily served as Founder and Founder & Principal of Beechwood Partners, a social-impact consultancy dedicated to developing vision, strategy, operational systems and teams for foundations and field-leading nonprofit clients. Notable projects included work with the Obama Administration’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, Microsoft, Majestic Realty Foundation, PeerForward, the Los Angeles Urban League and a variety of prestigious Tribal Government and Family Foundations. Emily holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Barnard College at Columbia University and a Master of Science from the New School for Social Research.

Renita Smith

Renita Smith is Chief Programs Officer of Camber Outdoors and a proven leader in driving superior performance, financial value, and positive social impact for enterprises spanning the private and nonprofit sectors. She is passionate about creating diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces that enable companies to better reach and serve customers, employees, partners, suppliers, and their communities. In her role at Camber, Renita devises our strategic roadmap and leads the implementation of all programs, initiatives, and resources that will support the $887 Billion Outdoor Recreation Economy in building a diverse talent pipeline and creating inclusive hiring practices and workplaces.Renita serves on the boards of several organizations focused on health, education, and the arts. She is particularly passionate about helping to equip low-income, minority, and/or underrepresented young people actualize their potential in college, career, and beyond. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

topics covered

Camber Outdoors Tools to Meet the Moments, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Camber Outdoors Resources, Diversity in the Workplace

select quotes

“We developed a the Camber survey system, which is a a pair of surveys for each of our partners, both from a workplace leadership perspective and from an employee perspective, because we really wanted to understand all of those sort of formative pieces, where our partners lived with in their companies and provide our partners with that great data so that they could then build forward their roadmap, their plans around both insights into their own workplaces, as well as to insights into a cohort of similarly situated workplaces.” - Emily
“Our mentorship and allyship programs gained significant traction because it was really sort of a perfect I don't want to say storm, but perfect timing that we had our survey research results come out, that there was a need and the outdoor recreation economy amongst the cohort that we surveyed for more modeling of DEI leadership practices, more support within organizations. So we had that data coming out at the same time that companies were seeking to and nonprofits to really dig in and see, how can we provide a deeper level of support for inclusive workplaces? Our consumers are demanding it, our stakeholders in the community. Everyone is demanding this. So how do we actualize this? And mentorship and allyship is a key tool. So we essentially this year reframed our mentorship program from one that was pretty highly laser-focused on professional development of women in the program to professional development of women, mentors and mentees, plus a DEI lens, a DEI focus.” - Renita
“So we advised our partners, even though you see strong statements about how comfortable folks feel, make sure you're looking outward to see what it would take to create an inclusive environment for people who are not part of the 81% white for people who are not in the majority. And we're helping with that, with what we call future of work, focus groups, we're focusing on various communities and identities, black, Latin X, LGBTQ, plus indigenous peoples people with disabilities and Asian American and Pacific Islander.” - Renita