LaToyah McAllister Jones talks equity in the creative industry

LaToyah McAllister-Jones is the Executive Director of St. Paul’s Carnival and is an inspiration to women in the creative industries.

Originally from Hackney in East London , she began her career as a change management consultant specialising in the homeless sector before becoming Head of Operations at Ujima Radio in Bristol. It was here that she first became involved in St. Paul’s Carnival, an annual Caribbean Carnival which takes place in St. Paul’s, Bristol.

LaToyah sits on a number of community, health and culture focused boards including Bristol Festivals, Brighter Places and the One City Culture Board. She is also an Initiative Member, which is Business West’s top-level membership group of 160 business leaders and individuals who want to positively influence the way the region is shaped, managed, and developed. 

It is against this background that she has been chosen to speak at Business West’s International Women’s Day event on 8^th March which will focus on how we can achieve equity in business.

LaToyah is passionate about the important role arts play in achieving equity. She said:

“One of the most important things about St. Paul’s Carnival as an organisation, is that we work with artists who tell their own story with their voices.

“That’s really important to me because quite often, particularly for people of colour, our stories are told through other people’s history books, and other people’s perspectives.

“The ability to create fantastic art and use culture and heritage to be able to tell those stories is really important in terms of equity.”

In 2020 during Black History Month, after George Floyd was murdered, St. Paul’s Carnival created a programme of activity inspired by the tragedy, the felling of Colston in Bristol and the raising of the statue of Jen Reid, a Black Lives Matter Protestor. The programme, LaToyah says, was about the ‘foundations of carnival which is about resistance and resilience.’

As part of the programme, talks were held around resistance and education, and St.Paul’s Carnival  worked with black educators and young people to help tell their stories and raise awareness of the sectors and careers which might be open to them.

When asked about the advice she would give to women starting out in their career she said:

“One of the things that has worked out really well for me is that when I had children, the career path that I was on alongside male friends took a completely different direction. They rose up a traditional ladder, whereas I took sideways roles which were interesting, but probably not as well paid.

“My advice would be to think about career progression in creative ways. It’s not always linear. Progression can mean different things, if you’re looking at it from a creative aspect and from the perspective of growing your skills.

“It’s also really important to find mentors. They’re out there and some will be in your networks. Mentoring and coaching has been pivotal for me in my own development.

“But employers need to ensure that they have diverse voices around a table too.”

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LaToyah’s team began focusing on Carnival as an event that continues 365 days of the year in 2020 and it has grown quickly since. LaToyah says that equity is something the business has been heavily focusing on.

“We’ve looked carefully at how we advertise and what the processes are for recruitment. That means being a little bit more creative. We might do outreach in the communities which includes putting posters up, so people who might not have regular access to computers know about our roles.

“This makes sure we give candidates an equal way to access our processes. In some cases we send out interview questions beforehand to give people time to prepare properly.

“We’ve seen a real increase in diverse women accessing our recruitment process and this has come from focusing on moving away from a one-size fits all approach which is what equity really disrupts.”

LaToyah says that there are challenges for women and communities of colour in the creative industries.

“There’s lots of unpaid internships when you first start out and there are lots of communities for which that is not a possibility. I think that can be a real barrier.

“We work really hard to make sure that we work with community facilitators and artists to ensure we’re offering a fair day rate for their skills.”

When we asked why she thinks its important to celebrate International Women’s Day, she said:

“There's a lot to learn from women in leadership positions. Things like International Women's Day reminds us how far we've come but also how far we still have to go.

“We should get to a point where we don't need International Women's Day, because there is equity across the board. But there's still a glass ceiling. Women with high powered jobs are still doing more than their lion's share at home.

“But International Women's Day enables us to celebrate those victories, and also the women who are leading the way.”