Radical change needs to happen now for companies to stay afloat | Perspectives with Maxine Penney
Perspectives with Maxine Penney
Culture Manager of diversity, equity, and inclusion at MediaMonks
Today, a woman who needs no introduction... because you probably know her already. If you haven’t yet been acquainted, now is the perfect opportunity to discover Maxine Penney: people-magnet, networker, and entrepreneur behind bespoke recruitment consultancy Freshhh Connections.
Maxine launched her career in Amsterdam 12 years ago working for leading brands like Nike and Philips, before finding her calling in promoting and recruiting for local creative industries. She now finds herself as the Culture Manager of diversity, equity, and inclusion at MediaMonks. After years of graft, conversations, and networking to become a permanent fixture of Amsterdam’s creative community, Maxine is at the heart of a growing web of diverse and dynamic talent.
“I’m the connector. Almost like the Terminator, but the connector.”
Growing up as a person of mixed heritage in the quintessentially British town of Maidenhead, her migrant background has fostered a sense of resilience that has always driven her to grow towards her passion. She makes authenticity look easy, but we find out it took a fair bit of soul-searching and a variety of professional experiences to firmly establish her purpose:
“You have to find where your passion is. My passion is with people. Yeah, I want to make a change. I’m a change maker.”
Through her work with freshhh connections and now MediaMonks, Maxine has been sowing and nurturing the seeds of change that push companies to radically reform their culture for the better. 2020 uncovered a new urgency for creatives to tackle issues of representation; Maxine helps companies change with training and recruitment to reflect the diversity of thought and background society demands.
“Activism and radical inclusion is imperative right now. I think it’s time to make a stand...I still can’t believe we’re talking about this. I shouldn’t really have this position. We shouldn’t really be talking about it. But the fact is - we are.”
Maxine has experienced her fair share of covert racism, microaggressions, and general ignorance clouding conversations about inclusion. We discuss how the brunt of these conversations have often fallen on the shoulders of people of colour, and what individuals and companies can do to carry some of that burden:
“If you’re a friend and ally, it’s even more important that you educate yourself. I can’t explain how important that is because allies are the people that you trust the most.”
Listen to the full conversation where we talk more about taking a stand, cultivating relationships that matter, and building the bridges that lead to radical change.