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ANGELINE UMBA

Title AV media buyer   
Company Republic of Media
Pronouns She/her

What does D&I mean to you?
Being seen and accepted for who you are is something I am sure many of us appreciate in today’s society. Making the workplace a safe place for people to freely express their opinions and values, and simply show up as themselves should be an objective for all of us. Diversity and inclusion for me encompasses bringing this to life.

What’s your passion area in diversity? 
It’s vital that people are celebrated. We often shine light on international holidays without acknowledging the real people that are affected by these issues. People should be at the forefront of everything we do. My passion area within diversity is creating a platform to showcase people and give them a voice to express themselves. 

What recent developments should we be celebrating in the diversity debate? 
In 2022 Channel 4 presented its Different Not Divided research. It highlighted that contrary to belief, we as a nation are not as divided as people may think and provided case studies to showcase this. 

 What is top of mind for 2024? 
While the C4 research argued some great points, I believe that to have less divisions we need to have people in managerial positions and above who reflect people from BAME backgrounds in our industry. Representation in senior positions is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed.

Which three words describe you best?
Passionate, independent, vibrant.

Who should be on the next iList? 
Muskaan Jreat for her contribution to empowering women in the Women in Programmatic Network in Scotland.

D&I: MY STORY

As part of a wellbeing initiative, I chose to highlight real-life menopause stories from the perspective of colleagues I encounter every day. We often get overwhelmed by the mountain of emails we receive and skip past the ones that don’t directly affect us.

So, to capture the attention of the agency I brought forth the idea of doing a podcast that told the stories of those affected by menopause. This enabled the conversation to go far beyond a simple email and impact the workplace culture in a positive way.