Meet SCBWI’s New Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer: April Powers!

After an extensive search and interview process, SCBWI brought April Powers on board in June as its first chief equity and inclusion officer. Recently Southern Breeze caught up with April to talk about herself, her job, and what’s planned for SCBWI. Here's the second part of our Q and A with April:

Q: I noticed SCBWI changed the logo for Pride Month. Is this emblematic of things to come? 

A: Making more use of social media is certainly a high priority. For instance, with the LGBTQ+ community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and others), we’re in contact with some of our members on an ongoing basis to figure out how to provide for people who are writing and providing content to and about LGBTQ+ families. I won’t speak for those members: I want to hear from you and learn your thoughts on where we’re lacking and how we can do better.

We’re also looking at highlighting some of our members’ work in months that are designated to highlight them—so when we update the profile page for you to tell us who you are, check those boxes that apply to you. Some of those months include Asian Heritage month, Hispanic Heritage month, etc.

Q: How are we addressing inclusion for students and members who are disabled? 

A: One step is to make the website and our social media accessible. For instance, if you include a hashtag in a social media post, the first letter of each word should be capitalized for the computer or translator to be able to read it aloud. Another step, which you will have seen if you’ve viewed any of the SCBWI digital workshops this summer, is we’re including an ASL (American Sign Language) translator.

Q: Any final thoughts for our members? 

A: Lin is unapologetically leading an antiracist organization. We support all creatives — every type. We can’t have an environment where any of that creativity is squashed, squandered, or made to feel less than because someone feels their story matters more. Or that their values matter more—a lot of misunderstandings are based on cultural values people misunderstand. I know we’re international, but our staff is small, mighty, and fierce, including our volunteers. I look forward to the time when we can resume in-person events. And I can’t wait to get to know as many of you as possible.

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If you’d like to connect with April on social media:

Twitter 
Facebook 
LinkedIn 

If you’d like to email April directly, she can be reached at aprilpowers (at) scbwi (dot) org.

And special thanks to ARA Lisa Stauffer for this in depth Q and A with April Powers!

Meet SCBWI’s New Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer: April Powers!

“Whether you have children or not, we are all the ancestors of future generations on this planet. Let’s leave something great for them!” —April Powers, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer, SCBWI

After an extensive search and interview process, SCBWI brought April Powers on board in June as its first chief equity and inclusion officer. She brings fifteen years of experience as the diversity, equity, and inclusion champion for a variety of companies, including such big names as Nestlé and Amgen. Recently Southern Breeze caught up with April to talk about herself, her job, and what’s planned for SCBWI.

Q: Welcome to SCBWI! 

A: Thanks! I’m very excited about this job on both a professional and a personal level. On a professional level, during the several months-long interview process, I found I really liked all the people involved in SCBWI. At this stage of my career, after working for some large companies and nonprofits, I’d worked in some positions where they weren’t committed to the work.

When you have the tone from the top, then it’s easy to say, “This is who we are as an organization.” Lin Oliver sets that tone. We’re all ambassadors for SCBWI all over the world.

On a personal level, I’m “Bluish,” which stands for Black and Jewish. I’ve been writing a kids book with my sons, and they wanted to know why my main character didn’t have golden hair.

I grew up with the angst of being a child who didn’t see herself represented in toys, stories, books, TV, or art. But our home and the media my sons see, I’d hoped, would be different. Their comment simply brought home that our society has a long way to go. I’d already begun researching how to publish a children’s book — and was planning to become an SCBWI member— when I got the job offer.

Q: What’s your top priority for SCBWI right now? 

A: First we’re training the SCBWI staff and regional leadership, since they’re essentially our main ambassadors to all the members as well as the public. As we move forward, I’m working on a way to make training in cultural competence, inclusion, and belonging accessible to all who volunteer in our regions worldwide.

Q: What steps are you taking to build equity and inclusion beyond training? 

A: At SCBWI, we’re pro-kid—we’re here for ALL children. And in the same manner we’re here for ALL of our members—writers, author/illustrators, illustrators, and translators.

So I want to know who you are. I invite members to email me or connect on social media. If you want to be more active in SCBWI in the arena of equity and inclusion, please reach out to me.

Another thing that’s in the works is to add a section to our member profile page, so that you can say who you are if you want to—it will always be optional. We’ll also be doing surveys to gain a better understanding of our membership.

As far as bringing in new members, I’m a recruiter at heart, and definitely think recruiting is a key part of what we’re talking about!

It’s important to reach out to people who are not traditionally in this space. We’ll be hunting in different fields. We know SCBWI is known within certain circles, such as among teachers or librarians. What we could do a lot better is to reach out to underrepresented writers to make sure their stories get told, too, especially BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or People of Color). We’re not taking away anything from anyone. We’re here to support all writers, author/illustrators, illustrators, and translators.

For people who would like to join SCBWI but it’s out of their budget, we have scholarships and are actively looking for some individuals and groups to sponsor really full scholarships. We’re looking into what a full scholarship would look like, beyond the membership or conference fees.

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Join us next week for more of our Q and A with April Powers, SCBWI's Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer!