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YOLANDE BATTELL

Title Former executive vice-president, client management
Company Jellyfish
Pronouns She/her

What does D&I mean to you?
A place where different perspectives are welcomed and embraced in order to ensure the strongest and most effective outcomes.

What’s your passion area in diversity?
Getting those people who are actually present in under-represented rooms to ensure the missing are included. Refuse to go ahead with the meeting/panel/lunch and so on until this happens!

What is top of mind for 2024?
People are aware of the importance of diversity and inclusion and there is progress but it’s too slow. How do we get people walking the talk faster?

Which three words describe you best?
Yes we can.

Who should be on the next iList?
Dan Saxby from The Elephant Room. Here is someone who has consistently walked the talk for years, including working with his co-founder and others to create the One Month Mentor programme (OMM) which champions diverse and under-represented creative talent by pairing them with C-suite and other senior leaders in the creative industry.

D&I: MY STORY

My journey as a female leader from a minority background has ignited a passion for inclusivity. I’m leveraging my platform to amplify marginalised voices through initiatives including:

- Mentoring and supporting through MEFA, NABS, OneMonthMentors, The Marketing Academy Foundation, and internal ERGs, thereby fostering emerging talent from different communities and broadening representation in the industry. 

- Sharing my story in forums like The Women In Programmatic Network’s summit, and championing self belief. 

- Enlisting male allies to help disperse inadvertent “boys clubs”.  

- Advocating flexible working solutions for multiple team members (all genders) and proving flexible working can be successful in agencies.