Your Turn!
A beauty of the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC) has been our diversity of members. With members from 27 countries, and all 50 states, our members are of all nationalities and genders. Currently, we have Country Managers in Asian and Asian-Pacific markets, Latin America, Mexico, and Canada.
In the early years, as a part of our state leadership, we had Native American, males, and African Americans as State Coordinators. We were the first in the wedding industry to appoint an Ethnic Diversity director, and to offer a course to our members about other cultures. The Far Horizons program offered firsthand experiences offshore and overseas about other cultures.
At our Annual Conferences we have shared conference space with members from other countries, and then danced the night away!
On your local level, the question is: what are you doing to expand the cultural mix of your state membership? Have you shared the ABC story with other ethnicities and cultures in the industry, and invited them to become a part of ABC? Many ethnic business cultures grow by knowing who they know. Why shouldn’t that be you? As we come out of the pandemic there are things you can do to help. Here are some suggestions:
Introduce yourself and share your story! If you are aware of a wedding professional who is outside of your culture, invite them to look at our ABC website. Let them know who we are, who we have been, and most importantly, how they may benefit from membership. Outside of the local networking, there are educational programs for all!
Help your State Manager. Share names and business contact information of owners in your area who you know own or operate an ethnic/cultural business of any kind. They, too, may be interested in learning about the benefits of ABC, but they do not know we exist.
Find out if they may be interested in showing off their cuisine or products at a local networking meeting. (Virtually or when we open back up fully.) By exposing them to new business opportunities it helps them to see a bigger picture of our organization.
The results of the US Census report have begun to be released. Each time a report is released it has shown a shift in ethnic populations. This may be the opportunity to take advantage of information that the Association has to offer.
I have received suggestions to help us improve our diversity and inclusion as an organization. I look forward to your local ideas or suggestions to keep our good thing going!
Lois Pearce - Director, ethnic diversity
Lois.abcdiversity@gmail.com
