Episode # 149

On Colorism, with Mita Mallick

If you’ve been on LinkedIn recently, it’s likely that someone you know has liked something that our next guest has written - because her posts are just THAT GOOD. But it wasn’t just her LinkedIn activism that made us want to sit down with her today - it was some impactful articles that she wrote, including one for Cosmopolitan in 2019 and one for the Harvard Business Review in 2021, that made us excited to talk about something that we haven’t really touched on, on the podcast to date: colorism.

If you’re sitting there asking yourself, what is colorism, or what does that have to do with race, systemic racism, and how we look at people - then marketing and advertising, as we’ve known it to always exist in the United States, has largely been doing its job. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right job - in fact, today, we’re going to talk all about why it’s so important to understand colorism as a fundamental piece of our systems that affect us all (like racism), and also the very personal impact that it can have on people. We’re here to learn in 2022, and to keep asking those questions that make us think deeper and challenge what we’ve always been told.

Have questions, comments, or concerns? Email us at hello@dearwhitewomen.com.

“That idea of colorism shows up today, still, and so it's very deep-seated, and it's very painful. Very painful.”
Mita Mallick

What to listen for:

What is colorism?
How colorism has impacted Mita personally, as she shares in her piece in Cosmopolitan
The clear ways that the marketing industry still has a problem, as she writes in Harvard Business Review
Other industries that need to be aware of the impact of our bias towards lighter skin

About Mita: Mita Mallick is a corporate change-maker with a track record of transforming businesses. She gives innovative ideas a voice and serves customers and communities with purpose. She is currently the Head of Inclusion, Equity and Impact at Carta. She was formerly the Head of Inclusion and Cross Cultural Marketing at Unilever. She has had an extensive career as a marketer in the beauty and consumer product goods space. Mallick is a LinkedIn Top Voice, a contributor for Entrepreneur and Harvard Business Review, and her writing has been published in Adweek, Fast Company and Business Insider.

She is also the cohost of the recently launched The Brown Table Talk Podcast, where she and Dee Marshall share stories and tips on how to help Women of Color win at work, and advice for allies on how they can show up.

Buy our book, Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism, and leave us a review on Amazon!

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