Black History Month: Building Your Own Story and Finding Your Authentic Self

At Criteo, we celebrate Black History Month every February with a series of events and activities to engage our teams across the globe. It is a time where we aim to raise awareness, promote allyship and support our BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Colour) Communities. This year we welcomed Belton Flournoy from TLC Lions to tell his story as a key note speaker to kick off our celebrations.

In Belton’s own words, ‘there is a beauty to understanding the authentic self that is you’. Teams across the globe responded to Belton’s story of understanding your own value, helping others feel included and particularly focusing on allyship for under-represented groups and amplifying their voices.

The Value of Inclusion

Belton’s message to employees across Criteo gave his story growing up in Texas in a non-diverse environment and how he learned to develop his own internal mindset throughout his early years, and even as an adult today as a Director in a global organisation. Our internal narrative, as he highlighted impacts how we feel, in addition to our actions and how we support the inclusion of others. “We can control our own narrative, but that means controlling our locus of control. We have the power to challenge those thoughts that create self-doubt, that feeling that we are in the driver’s seat, but where someone else is giving us instructions. Our locus of control can give us back that power, where we can decide how our own actions affect our destiny, and that helps us to frame our decisions differently driving real change.” said Belton It is these decisions that provide opportunities to strengthen inclusion. “We need to care about helping under-represented groups in an intentional way. Focusing on inclusion is not about helping the groups who already feel included, it is about amplifying the voices of those who are under-represented and supporting them to feel a true sense of belonging”, Belton stated.

At Criteo we have seven actively engaged Community Groups (Women, BIPOC, Pride, Critenable for people with disabilities, Education, Parent and Green). These communities focus on opportunities to drive stronger awareness of our diverse communities, amplifying stories to support allyship, creating safe spaces and networking for our community members.

Black History Month

Hearing from Belton was inspirational. In fact, the positive feedback we received is that they would have liked more time to explore his experiences and ask questions. Of the myriad of compliments for the session, one Criteo stated, ‘Amazing talk, so inspiring, thank you so much Belton for sharing your vulnerability!’

Belton highlighted the importance for organisations like Criteo, to celebrate Black History Month by amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups, especially black voices because: ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’! We are always learning, and we need to be conscious of challenging our mindset and being open to changing our perceptions. ‘Black History Month gives us a time to reflect on our past, on why we celebrate our BIPOC colleagues and work so hard to amplify the stories and where we can ensure there is a more prominent focus in society for diversity, equity and inclusion.’ stated Julia Dixon, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program Manager at Criteo. It supports the recognition of communities who are under-served because of their race or ethnicity and focuses on acceptance and value of diversity.

Belton Flournoy’s reflections

The event was received so well from Criteo’s all over the world, but we asked Belton his thoughts on how he felt the event went

“Speaking at Criteo felt different from the other talks I give. From the genuine welcome in the pre-discussion prep to the energy in the chat room, it was contagious. I felt this energy during my discussion and I look forward to stopping the auto-pilot and getting back into the driver’s seat!”

We thank TLC Lions for introducing us to Belton Flournoy, whose personal story was inspirational and rewarding. Criteo started a partnership with TLC Lions in 2021, whose mission is to humanize the working world through the power of storytelling - sharing real experiences to support a more inclusive and open culture. This is something we truly support in alignment with our diverse communities, helping us to learn and grow through awareness and learning about different experiences and life stories.

At Criteo, we firmly believe that to be your best self at work you need to be your true self. We encourage our employees to be open and to feel safe for who they are. The future is wide open when it includes everyone!