“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.