Small details, huge impact: Top 10 takeaways from Black Futures Month at Miro

This February, Miro’s Black Excellence employee resource group pioneered the company’s first-ever Black Futures Month. Here’s a breakdown of the major takeaways, and how we, as a global community, can shape a future that doesn’t just include, but centers, diversity.

But first, what is Black Futures Month?

You’ve heard of Black History Month, but Black Futures Month might be a new concept. Black Futures Month is a growing movement championed by the Movement 4 Black Lives that takes its name from the work of Black Afrofuturist writer N.K. Jemisin. A “visionary, forward-looking spin on celebrations of Blackness in February,” as described by M4BL’s official statement, Black Futures Month is a time when Black people and their allies celebrate Black history, Black lives, and Black futures.

Miro Events Manager and Black Excellence ERG Lead Ashley Jenkins, along with the BFM planning committee, had three goals for Miro’s inaugural Black Futures Month: celebrate Black artists and leaders, make Miro’s product more inclusive, and honor the Black experience. As the group shared in statements on Miro’s social media channels, “Black history is in the making — — across tech, art, health, and wellness, etc. — — and Black Excellence aims to highlight that.”

Here are the top takeaways from this incredible month of events and community building.

1. Support Black health and wellness

The theme for this year’s Black History Month was Black health and wellness. To celebrate, Black Excellence encouraged Mironeers to raise company-matched donations to a variety of organizations that provide support and resources to Black communities, such as the National Black Child Development Institute, the National Health Law Program, The Loveland Foundation, and Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE).

2. Lift up Black artists

Bringing to life the month’s content were the brilliant, invigorating digital collages of Maxime Manga, an Afrofuturistic artist born and based in Cameroon who “use[s] diversity to create uniqueness,” according to his artist statement.

“We felt that a Black designer would be able to best articulate what Black Excellence was trying to deliver,” notes ERG Lead Ashley. “The right artwork was pivotal to bringing Black Futures Month to life — as was working with and supporting a Black artist.”

3. Inclusive products are better products

“Small details have a huge impact,” says Ashley. “People notice the little things.”

In collaboration with the Design team, Black Excellence launched two new evergreen stickers depicting hands with Black skin tones within the existing sticker pack, which are now available to all users. They’re already huge hits, both with end users and other Mironeers, and proof that small details taken to make a product more diverse add up to a more functional product that’s better-loved.

4. Be curious

“Tech companies taking time to understand why they can’t retain Black employees or why there’s little to no Black leadership will create opportunities for Black talent,” says Jasmine Page, US Payroll Lead at Miro, in an employee testimonial series composed by Black Excellence. The series interviewed Black leadership at Miro. Each testimonial agreed: When we listen with curiosity, a new future — for work and for our communities — becomes possible.

A Black Futures Month Customer Insights panel, expertly moderated by Customer Success Manager Betty Woods, called attention to the importance of integrating allyship directly into a company’s culture, whether through OKRs that grade each employee’s allyship efforts or through company-wide initiatives to work more transparently towards diversity and inclusion.

“I’ve seen a company say, ‘We’re diverse’ and that’s it,” said Yimika Fagbenro, a Commercial Analytics Manager at Adyen, when asked what actions he’d seen organizations take that are most impactful for supporting Black professionals in tech. “You can’t just be diverse, you also have to be inclusive.”

6. Representation matters

According to 2020 diversity reports from major tech companies, 83.3% of tech executives are white in the US tech sector. “We don’t see a lot of ourselves in tech,” noted Betty during a poignant moment of the Customer Insights panel, “so it’s hard to know where to go or who to talk to unless an ally reaches a hand out.” The panelists agreed that hiring Black talent at all levels is a crucial component to fostering a diverse workplace.

Head of Sales Operations Kendall Grant brought home a similar point in his employee testimonial: “It should be an expectation that I walk into a room and see people that look like me.”

7. Learning is best when done together

Throughout Black Futures Month, Black Excellence hosted a variety of ways for Mironeers to learn more about Black history. “Whatcha Listening To Wednesdays” had everyone listening to the same playlists featuring Black artists. A Google calendar-prompted React to the Fact asked participants to test their knowledge. A virtual Black History and Culture Trivia event awarded “kick it points” for answers that definitely weren’t right but got a laugh, while the winning team received $50 gift cards to Actively Black, a Black-owned apparel company, to encourage wellness. “My team came in last place, but we definitely were the funniest team!” laughed Customer Education Facilitator Jovonee King.

Mironeers were also encouraged to share what they learned on a communal Black Futures Month Miro board, as well as in the ERG Slack channel. Everyone was able to join together in learning, no matter where they were located.

8. Clarity is vital

Another topic that arose during the Customer Insights panel: the difficulties of upward mobility in the tech industry for Black talent. Rudy De Oliveira Nunes, a Product Manager at HubSpot, put it this way: “Being in a legacy retail company where nothing has changed in 30 years, it’s very difficult to make progress.”

Fellow panelist Elisse Jean-Pierre, a Product Manager at Stash, noted that one solution is transparency around promotion and raise cycles. Moderator Betty agreed: “[It’s] so important to lay out that career path so the goalposts can’t keep moving.”

9. Rest, rest, rest

Amid the daily work hubbub, Black Excellence made sure to schedule moments for mindfulness. A virtual meditation for inner peace with Black-owned Heal Haus gave ERG members a time to pause together. Later, a Zoom discussion on non-toxic living, led again by Heal Haus, focused on practical tips on how we can make changes in our day to day lives to support wellness.

With 2022 Black Futures Month’s emphasis on health and wellness, these moments invited us to imagine a world in which “hustling” and “grinding” are not the only ways to build the future of work.

10. Blackness is the future

So, why celebrate Black Futures Month? Black Excellence said it best: “Because Blackness is central to the future.” “Diversity fuels creativity,” adds Ashley. “Diverse teams, diverse people.” Here’s to 12 more months celebrating Black histories, Black lives, and Black futures at Miro.