B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Cannes Lions
  • WPP
  • State of Origin
  • NRL
  • Pinterest
  • B&T Women in Media
  • Thinkerbell
  • AFL
  • imaa
  • Anthony Albanese
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Meta
  • AI
  • Foxtel
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: OPINION: Pronouns In Email Signatures Equivalent To Baking Cupcakes For Pride Bake Sale
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Opinion > OPINION: Pronouns In Email Signatures Equivalent To Baking Cupcakes For Pride Bake Sale
Opinion

OPINION: Pronouns In Email Signatures Equivalent To Baking Cupcakes For Pride Bake Sale

Staff Writers
Published on: 26th February 2024 at 10:58 AM
Staff Writers
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE

With Mardi Gras right around the corner, Zoe-Chan-Iverach (centre right), out-of-home producer at oOh!media’s creative and innovation hub POLY explains why diverse leadership is essential for modern businesses and putting pronouns in email signatures simply doesn’t cut the mustard.

If you had asked me early in my career what makes a good leader, I would have been hard-pressed to give you an answer

Back then, my perception of leadership was largely shaped by the narratives of business leaders celebrated for their roles on Fast 100 companies or for their bestselling manifestos. Similarly, if you had asked me early in my career about what makes a high-performing team, I would have likely fumbled through a response, regurgitating business acumen tailored to a heteronormative, able-bodied, predominately white workforce where the employee ratio skewed against ethnic and diverse employees.

As a Chinese Australian woman and member of the LGBTQIA+ community, in 2024, as I reflect on all the ways I’ve learnt to use my voice and stand each day in my authentic self among my peers and professional network, how fortunate am I that times have evolved. Looking back, I can barely recognise the young woman I once was – when I first started my career, and for good reason. Transitioning from the fashion and ecommerce industry – where diversity often took a back seat to uniformity in body diversity and performative gender norms — into the realm of creative technology within the media industry has taught quite me a few things.

Firstly, while studies in organisational diversity exist, they have evolved tremendously. We now have more than just anecdotal evidence; we have quantitative data that points directly to the positive correlation between high performance and positive outcomes when members of diverse minority groups work in environments that support diverse and collaborative workplaces. With these statistics in hand, it’s with a bittersweet churn in my stomach that I remember my earlier days; working within environments ranging from those that scarcely acknowledged diversity as a concept, and those that acknowledged events such as Harmony Day or Mardi Gras events but held no internal policy to build true diversity from the inside out. How different my professional (and personal) development may have been, had we known then what we know now.

Although I’m now fortunate to work within a team and broader stakeholders who embrace inclusivity with respect, there is still the daily reality. For me this involves navigating moments of coming out, gender-dropping my female partner more frequently than I thought I would need to and recognising when I’m the only identity-diverse person in a room.

Secondly, I am aware of the privilege afforded by my position, which enables me to have a greater impact in shaping diverse outcomes within a creative and innovation team, that can influence audiences across oOh!’s Out of Home media network. It can be incredibly frustrating to see the media industry continually grappling with token representation. The desire for visibility from identity diverse backgrounds has evolved beyond simply seeing ourselves on a screen or in the room. After all, we’ve seen the research and we know that the positive correlation between team diversity and overall performance is only enhanced when an organisation intentionally fosters an environment that promotes inclusivity and learning from diversity.

While I confess, I am but a small voice of a larger community, it’s easy to see that allowing members of the LGBTQIA+ community to use pronouns in our email signatures is the equivalent of baking cupcakes for a Pride bake sale. Instead, true progress lies in affording minority communities more input into shaping the organisational structure and harnessing the benefits of compositional diversity. In short, it’s time to move beyond symbolic gestures — scrap the cupcakes and let us have more input into the event planning and decision-making process!

oOh! is the official Out of Home media partner for the Mardi Gras.

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

TAGGED: oOh!Media
Share
Staff Writers
By Staff Writers
Follow:
Staff Writers represent B&T's team of award-winning reporters. Here, you'll find articles crafted with industry experience spanning over 50 years. Our team of specialists brings together a wealth of knowledge and a commitment to delivering insightful, topical, and breaking news. With a deep understanding of advertising and media, our Staff Writers are dedicated to providing industry-leading analysis and reporting, both shaping the conversation and setting the benchmark for excellence.

Latest News

Telstra Launches One-Off Ad During State Of Origin Decider
11/07/2025
Clemenger BBDO Sydney office.
Agency Scorecard: Clemenger BBDO
11/07/2025
Matt Coote.
Matt Coote Takes New Senior Role At GumGum
11/07/2025
Spenser Skates.
Amplitude Acquires Kraftful To Embed AI-Native Voice Of Customer Capabilities
11/07/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?