We spoke to OUTSpoken Speakers’ award-winning creative and consultant about founding It Takes A Village
Chloe Davies is an award-winning founder, creative, a passionate social impact consultant, chef, and entrepreneur who has dedicated much of her 20+ year career campaigning for inclusion and equality in all spaces, whether in-house at agency level, corporate organisations or through wider community engagement.
With over 15 years of experience in retail, artist management, and PR, Chloe has honed her expertise in leadership, social impact and inclusive representation. Her work centres around authentic storytelling, creating spaces of belonging, mental health & well-being, self-empowerment, culture change and workplace advocacy. Simply put, she is trying to change the world for the better.
In April 2023 she founded It Takes A Village – a global collective for Black women in advertising, media, marketing and comms whose mission is to celebrate & champion them, for their talents to be seen, heard & amplified and together shape the collective industries into a space where Black women can have agency and succeed.
OUTSpoken Speakers Network was launched on 28 September, providing a new platform to amplify, connect, and support LGBTQIA women and non-binary people. Co-founded by Polly Shute and Raga D’silva, the Network aims to provide a best-in-class speaker agency, expertly designed workshops and training, curated, bespoke panel sessions, networking events and online toolkits and digital content.
Check out Chloe’s OUTSpoken Speakers page here: outspokenspeakers.com/Speakers/Details/Chloe_Davies_
What have been some of your proudest moments during your career?
That is a very big question! I’ve been working for almost 30 years, and I’ve been lucky to have had some really great moments. From doing work experience at Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus at 16 to running a denim store on Carnaby Street in 2011, setting up my own catering company in 2015 and hosting the very first myGwork “Work Pride” to over 20,000 people around the globe (across a week) in 2020.
Lately, being a pivotal part of the Virgin Atlantic campaigns See The World Differently & Runway On A Runway whilst at Lucky Generals and now a Co-Founder for Join Our Table and Founder for It Takes A Village, my career has been broad and these are all moments that I’m proud to have achieved what I did then and am now!
What inspired you to found It Takes A Village?
Honestly, my life’s journey so far, it’s been eventful… but the original idea for ITAV started several years ago. It had a completely different name then and my vision was more focused on engaging in and showcasing broader stories. In 2018 I had been getting ready to start building the foundations and I went through a pretty life-changing event; I believe everything happens for a reason and it was the wrong time. Fast forward to March 2023, and whilst I was in the midst of another life-changing event, everything kind of just fell into place and It Takes A Village was born.
There is no universal guidebook on founding your own business, you learn or at least I have by trial and error and pivot has definitely become my middle name. Sometimes the best-laid plans can change in an instant and those are the moments that you really learn a lot about yourself as a business owner and what you’re made of. Over the last 10 months, I’ve been laying the foundations, building out our strategy and a realistic three-year plan because as a creative, I have so many ideas and I can’t do them all at once! Almost a year to the day I set up the company, we will officially launch this April so keep your eyes peeled for the save the date!
How important do you think intersectionality is when it comes to diversity and inclusion?
Context is everything and there is a depth of education and understanding of the origins of the concept of intersectionality as coined and developed by Dr Kimberle Crenshaw that I think is still missing and which further impacts when it is then applied through the lens of diversity and inclusion. How can we create truly inclusive places where our employees and communities can feel like they belong and can thrive if we don’t truly comprehend the paths that they will navigate and the cost to those individuals to even get there in the first place? I personally still have so much to learn and educate myself on the concept, how to speak on it and correctly apply it in my work.
What can people do to be a better ally in the workplace?
Listen. Actively. Listen to hear and not to respond. Ask questions and don’t be afraid of the answers. Don’t be an ‘I’ and become a ‘we’ because being an ally isn’t about you personally, it’s not an inactive thing, you can’t just say you are and that’s the end of it. Being an ally can mean you are supporting someone more marginalised than yourself. Being a better ally (in my opinion) is someone who advocates for others, and who knows when to take up space and when to step aside. They are someone who creates opportunities for others and who speaks people’s names in rooms they may not be able to access and isn’t someone who does it for self-praise but because it’s the right thing to do whether they receive recognition or not for their actions.
Do you have a favourite piece of advice to help queer women feel empowered?
There is no one else like you in all the world, it’s you against you, so go be great… what do you have to lose?!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplymschloe/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloebdavies/
Find out more about OUTSpoken speakers here: www.outspokenspeakers.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/outspoken-speakers-2888a4278/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outspoken_speakers/
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.