Diversity Photos
Creative Empowerment Program
An initiative to economically empower Diverse Creatives
The Initiative
The Diversity Photos Creative Empowerment program is an initiative to re-invest back into diverse communities and to economically empower creatives from those communities. We do this by providing financial and educational resources, as well as industry insights and mentorships. Our goal is to help creatives successfully develop additional revenue streams and to diversify their portfolios by shooting diverse stock images and video.
While some programs have offered education and others investment, the Creative Empowerment initiative was created to be a holistic program that provides all the key tools to lead to equity and success:
- Photoshoot Funding
- Educational Workshops
- Onsite Photoshoot Mentorship
- Portfolio Reviews by Leading Industry Curators
- Copyright Grants
The Why Behind it All
“Wealth is a safety net. This safety net allows people to take career risks knowing that they have a buffer when success is not immediately achieved. Wealth affords people opportunities to be entrepreneurs and inventors.” -The Brookings Institute
After years of working with creatives, we came to better understand one of the largest barriers to participation of BIPOC creatives and other underrepresented creatives in the stock industry. It’s not interest…there is plenty of interest. It’s not talent…they are definitely talented. It’s the financial investment needed to launch into the industry. Minorities have been limited in meaningful participation in this industry by wealth gaps that have only widened through generations of systemic racism and inequalities in the US. But the world continues to evolve and the stock industry is in desperate need of diverse and representative images. Who better to capture those images than the people who represent them.
The talented creatives who complete this program and join the Diversity Photos family, gladly take on the challenge of changing the face of stock and media by creating visuals that are accurate and authentic representations. To enact change, it starts with us owning: Our Narratives, Our Images, and Our Stories.
2020 Program Cohort Creatives
Four dynamic and talented women made up our inaugural cohort of creatives. They came from different backgrounds and specialties as photographers ranging from editorial and commercial sports to portraiture and street photography. Together with Gerald Carter, Diversity Photos’ Co-Founder and Photographer, the group in just 5 months completed over 30 shoots and generated over 4,000 media assets – beautiful, meaningful and representative images and videos.

B. Alyssa
Trofort-Wilson

Melissa
Alexander

Lynsey
Weatherspoon

Mhandy
Gerard
2020 Creative Cohort Portfolio
Below are samples of the impactful work that the 2020 cohort created during the program.
View the entire Diversity Photos portfolio on Adobe Stock.
B. Alyssa Trofort-Wilson




















Melissa Alexander

















Lynsey Weatherspoon












Mhandy Gerard

















Program Sponsors

Empowerment Sponsor
Thank you to Empowerment Sponsor, Adobe Stock. Adobe Stock provided both financial and educational investment into the program to help make it a true success! We appreciate their ongoing support in creating an equitable and representative community, both in front of and behind the camera. All images from the program are available on Adobe Stock. Visit adobe.diversityphotos.com to see the complete collection of works by Diversity Photos.

Community Advocate Sponsor
CQ Fluency's support provided funding for an important medical and healthcare translation photoshoot. Helping us to fill important gaps in this industry.
2021 Coming this Spring
Applications
The 2021 Creative Empowerment Program will launch in Spring. Follow us on IG: @diversitystock on Facebook: Diversity Photos or join our email list to be the first to know when we are accepting applications for the next cohort.
Sponsorship
If you are interested in supporting and sponsoring the 2021 program, contact Nicole Carter for more information.