MILAN — Afro Fashion Association, the Italy- and Cameroon-based nonprofit actively promoting African creative talents since 2015, has launched a platform aimed at creating a bridge between companies and Black, Indigenous and people of color professionals.
Dubbed “The Unseen Profiles” and supported by Vogue Italia, the project intends to favor the introduction of people with a multicultural background in the Italian workspace across different industries, encompassing fashion, architecture, engineering, consulting and sport, to name a few.
The initiative’s ultimate goal is to give visibility to talents who have often seen their chances during job selections hampered by prejudices in the country.
The Unseen Profiles builds on the We Are Made in Italy, or WAMI, collective of BAME professionals launched in 2020 by designers Stella Jean and Edward Buchanan along with Afro Fashion Association’s president Michelle Francine Ngonmo as an answer to the lack of people of color designers in Italian fashion, earning the support of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.
Related Galleries
Since the WAMI format proved to be effective, with events such as the “The Fab Five Bridge Builders” included in Milan Fashion Week’s official schedule to spotlight Black, Indigenous and people of color designers, Ngonmo decided to extend the mission beyond the fashion boundaries through this platform.
“We are here to support the change and build a new Italian system,” said Jean at the digital presentation of the project on Wednesday. “We are not asking that [companies] change only the [facade], that’s what everybody is doing, but to change what happens behind the scenes and far from media,” she added, demanding a more equal distribution of opportunities beyond the mere exercise of embracing diversity for advertising campaigns and events.
“And be aware that we’re not demanding an opportunity in the name of belonging to a minority group,” continued Jean, underscoring the importance that job selections be made based “on merit and not chromatic factors” and stressing that “there are so many submersed skills that are waiting just for a chance.”
“The pandemic crisis has highlighted profound differences between the needs of companies and the professionalism on the market. The idea of the platform is to highlight valuable profiles to give greater opportunities to companies that are adapting their structures to the new scenarios,” said Ngonmo. “As after every crisis, the world of work is forced to completely renew itself, accepting the challenges of digitalization, sustainability and multiculturalism, which are already significantly changing different sectors.”
In particular, Ngonmo has been working on the platform’s database for six years. Currently counting more than 3,000 profiles, the website has been conceived to have a simple and intuitive layout “to be accessible to as many people as possible, no matter their age or digital skills.”
Open to everyone for consultation, candidates with a multicultural background can create an account free of charge to upload their résumé and search, apply to or save job announcements, as well as benefit from mentoring services offered by the platform. Though companies interested in posting job announcements are asked to subscribe after paying a fee, aimed at financially backing the project.