Representing diverse voices is a big thing for us at Happily.

Racism and racial bias should have no place in society, and we do all we can to uproot it from the events industry, or at least, from every Happily event.

We believe that diversity is the reason we at Happily are able to produce the contemporary and dynamic events that we do. We are committed to our diversity goal of having at least 50% representation of women, 30% of black, indigenous, and people of color, and 10% of people from the LGBT community.

So we have some basic starting points for producing an event that is intentionally anti-racist.

1. Add anti-racism in your code of conduct

Clearly outline anti-racism into the proper practices, norms and expectations of an event. This way all those involved, including contractors, will be clearly aware what values the behind-the-scenes of your event should be built on.

2. BIPOC talent first

Do not leave black, indigenous and people of color talent as an afterthought. Start with booking them first and consciously lining up a diversity of talent. An event cannot have ‘too much diversity’.

3. Research your speakers

Do some basic googling and social media research to make sure any guest speakers are not publicly (or even privately) racist. Basically, do not give a racist a platform.

4. Donate a portion of your ticket sales to anti-racism groups and nonprofits

Good folks like The Bail Project, The Innocence Project, Black Lives Matter or Stop AAPI Hate, just to name a few.

5. Be accountable for your actions

If there is a mistake on your part, own it and apologize. Publish a plan to make changes, and publicly learn from a situation or issue. It’s ok, we are all learning and growing.