Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Fifteen Percent Pledge founder Aurora James will invest in Black businesses, the U.S. Army developed a bra for combat, and a powerful woman in PR tells CEOs how to handle Pride backlash and more. Have a terrific Tuesday.
- PR guru. Lisa Osborne Ross is the CEO of U.S. operations for Edelman, the public relations firm. The position makes her one of the most powerful women in PR—someone CEOs trust to guide their strategies and set them on the right course during challenging moments.
And the past month has been full of rough patches. Increasingly, companies that have supported LGBTQ rights during June's Pride Month in past years are dampening down their efforts. Political polarization and right-wing backlash toward corporate support of trans people (plus concern for the safety of frontline employees meeting such hostility) have forced Target and Starbucks to reconsider how they mark Pride month.
Companies may also be rethinking their engagement with Juneteenth amid criticism that corporate efforts to acknowledge the federal holiday that celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people amounts to pandering.
Osborne Ross, in an interview with Fortune's Phil Wahba, says she advises companies to prioritize consistency. "I am Black 24/7, I am a woman 24/7, my colleagues who are transgender are transgender 24/7, and those who are gay are gay 24/7," the CEO says. "My point of view on Pride month and Juneteenth is I struggle with how you take a community and focus on it for a month, and then go about your business for the rest of the year. To truly see someone, you have to interact with them 24/7."
Action earns trust, she adds. The firms that falter are usually those that show up only once a year for these communities.
And to CEOs complaining that they have to be experts on social issues in addition to running their businesses, Osborne Ross doesn't have much sympathy. She tells them, "Yes, you have to do both since workforces increasingly require that."
Read the rest of her insight on CEOs' PR balancing act here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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