C Guz, Founder of OCTO Labs, champions the transformative power of DEI in creating positive candidate experiences. Fueled by personal challenges in the hiring process, her work in OCTO Labs addresses the disconnect between candidates and recruiters, advocating for transparency and fairness. With a mission to build 1 Billion Positive Candidate Experiences, OCTO Labs' approach leverages real-time data for equitable hiring, embodying her vision for a candidate-first future in HR.

Why “do you” believe in diversity?
Diversity is not a religion, it's not something to "believe in"; it's  not something that appears or disappears when you "believe in" it. Don't "believe" me? Go out the street, just take a walk, go downtown or go to a park - Look around you.  Pay attention to how they walk, pay attention to how they talk, pay attention to how they're doing what they're doing.  It's most likely very different from how you do X, how you would talk about Y, how you would think about Z. They probably don't look like you either - That "is" diversity. 

Now I'll take it one step away: how do you define Creativity?
According to Robert Sternberg, your creativity is defined by "expertise, imaginative thinking skills; a venturesome personality; intrinsic motivation; and a creative environment that sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas."

Now look around you again, each person around you has a different perspective on the world, their level of imagination, personality, motivation, social background; and they've been working at different industries, thinking solutions to problems you may not even have realized - can be digital, mechanical, but this combination of them create our society. These people around you, you included, shape the world we live in. 

And I, having studied psychology, can't understand how this understanding cannot be brought into the workplace and we "fight" or "avoid" diversity, instead of recognising it's an organisation's greatest strength. 

Creativity, diversity = innovation. 

And I can't understand how an organisation can fight against its growth.


Importance of supporting women in Marketing and Design
Supporting women in Marketing and Design is critical to combat underrepresentation and systemic biases. With only 23% of designers being women and men dominating 79% of managerial positions, the industry’s gender disparity is clear. Women face challenges like lack of role models, inhospitable work environments leading many to leave the industry by their early 30s, unconscious bias, and limited opportunities for interaction with senior leadership. Addressing these barriers and increasing support for women will drive innovation, diversity, inclusivity, along with increasing women role models and driving organizational growth. Now is more important than ever to build partnerships, allyships, and invest in greater representation of women not just in marketing and design, but in the workplace.