June 29th marks the first anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision overturning affirmative action in college admissions. The impact of this decision has resulted in numerous companies pausing or eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs along with a rise in discrimination lawsuits against these programs and policies.

Few social platforms are met with as much unreasoned trepidation as Reddit. After a strong IPO, Reddit has continued to over-deliver, reporting a 48% increase in revenue in its first quarter of public trading. The platform boasts 73.1 million daily active users (DAUs) and more than 100,000 active subreddits. This audience is a highly engaged one and isn’t afraid to express opinions.

Boathouse President Peter Prodromou previously spent over 15 years helping to build and lead Racepoint Global. His early career started in the newsroom and delivered him into the technology sector where he finds himself cautiously optimistic about the use of artificial intelligence.

America’s Test Kitchen and Boathouse will utilize data and tech to optimize the brand together. They will look to test new audiences across platforms including Reddit and TikTok, bringing ATK to more foodie audiences.

You’ve been working at agencies for 35 years, in your opinion what are the biggest changes you’ve seen?

John Connors: I believe there are three layers of change in our industry that we must constantly manage and monitor.

Marketing professional Karen Baker shares her story of starting her own company at just 24 years old to leading the social impact practice at Boathouse Group and how family legacy of civil rights activism has deeply influenced her approach to business, underscoring the need for inclusive representation in the industry.

This week, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that will ban TikTok from US app stores unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells the platform within a year. The new legislation was bundled into a foreign aid package.

Over the past year, the ad industry has witnessed a deprioritizing of DEI initiatives through a series of events: CMOs are back to focusing on hard-hitting business goals, brands are hesitant to use LGBTQ+ marketing and the data shows women make up 37% of the industry employees, still down from 50% before the pandemic.