Cover art for How can brands go beyond using images to demonstrate cultural diversity? | William Hardaway (5 of 5)
Season 2, Episode 23··13:49

How can brands go beyond using images to demonstrate cultural diversity? | William Hardaway (5 of 5)

Social justice designer William Hardaway challenges brands to stop manufacturing diversity with stock photos and start letting communities tell their own stories. He shares how Nike let Kaepernick speak unfiltered and why revenue-sharing with artists beats profiting from their culture.

diversitybrandingstorytellingcultural-representation
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Show Notes

In This Episode

William Hardaway tackles the gap between brands claiming to be inclusive and actually demonstrating it. He argues that true diversity storytelling means letting people tell their own stories unfiltered — not manufacturing narratives for them. Will uses the Nike and Colin Kaepernick partnership as a prime example of a brand willing to take a real stance, endure backlash, and let the athlete speak on his own terms. He also shares a practical case study of advising a white ally artist to use revenue-sharing with Black artists instead of profiting from inclusive art alone.

Key Takeaways

  • Authentic diversity storytelling means honesty — if your brand is just beginning this work, tell that story transparently rather than pretending you have always been there
  • Let communities tell their own stories unfiltered — brands go wrong when they tell people's stories for them, adding surface-level imagery and music without substance
  • Revenue-sharing over extraction — when featuring or profiting from underrepresented communities, share the financial benefit rather than capitalizing on their culture
  • Move beyond stock photos — instead of purchasing manufactured diverse imagery, support actual artists from those communities and credit them visibly on your platforms

About William Hardaway

William Hardaway works at the intersection of social justice and design thinking. After working in each field separately for over a decade, Will combined these two disciplines to drive change in an industry that unites people and crosses borders.

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