Recognizing Juneteenth: Reflections from our Head of Diversity, Equity, & Belonging (DEB)

While Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the US, since 2021, Instacart and its employees commemorate the observance with shoppers, customers, and in our communities globally. For us, it’s a time to come together to provide education, invest in our communities, and uplift our brands throughout the month of June, while paying homage and respect to the people who were historically and intentionally marginalized and excluded from the fabric of our society.

This year, our teams got involved in two major ways – internal activations and monetary impact. We’re promoting inclusion and belonging by hosting internal discussions on various topics to build rapport amongst employees. We’re also making a monetary impact by promoting our employee matching program for donations to organizations doing the work to spread the ethos of Juneteenth, up to $1k, via our internal giving platform, DEED. 

Other employees are taking it a step further and volunteering at local food banks around the country. Since the beginning of our time honoring this moment in our societal history, Instacart has created a comprehensive, scalable, and meaningful way to recognize Juneteenth company-wide.

As a senior leader working in the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) space for over 17 years, I’m proud to be able to support my colleagues in coming together throughout the month, paying respect for the historical acknowledgement of Juneteenth. This is truly meaningful work to Instacart and me. Here’s how we’re leading the work.

Educating Our Workforce

Instacart’s Juneteenth programming is anchored on its DEB pillars which prioritize race, ethnicity, and a gender equity-focused approach to achieve equality in all of our systems and processes. To ensure we always anchor to our strategy, we brought in a world-class best selling author to discuss the unspoken systems that have shaped America and other countries, and how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

However, through self-awareness, frank conversations, and a commitment to workforce equity and belonging, product inclusion, and responsible citizenship, Instacart is prioritizing spaces to have these discussions.

Supporting Our Communities

Our company-wide Day of Action anchors to our continuing investment in our communities. Some team members will invest in local initiatives near to them via our partnership with DEED, while others are #RollingUpTheirSleeves by volunteering at local food banks. Atlanta is slated to be the biggest gathering of employees in one city this year! Together, Instacart employees are united in addressing food access across the United States.

We believe that we all have a shared responsibility to lean into the opportunities where we can make an impact.

Driving Business Impact

It’s critically important to all of us that we uplift, level the playing field, and support emerging brands on the Instacart platform. To show the power of our tech and the companies who have partnered with Instacart to excel their growth and exposure, we’re bringing in two popular Black-owned CPG businesses to discuss their partnership with us. 

Alfonzo “Zo” Bolden and Troy Chivers, Co-CEOs and Co-Founders of Cajun Nation, and Brian Lee, Founder of Scratch Food Group both started their companies in the 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. They both have firsthand experience of using Instarcart to scale-up its businesses. Since their inception, both companies have created a lot of buzz on Instacart, in some instances utilizing Instacart Ads, and echo our aim to improve public health through nutrition. Prioritizing low-sodium delicious seasonings, and high-quality plant-based foods from scratch, respectively, each company is driving business on Instacart.

As we acknowledge Juneteenth, it’s important we know there’s still much work to be done. And we have a shared responsibility to lean into the opportunities where we can make an impact.

Each moment, minute, day, and year presents a unique opportunity to be vulnerable, lean into difficult conversations, show up for one another, and grow. There is more work on our roadmap as we humbly and respectfully learn from our past so we can build the best future.

Learn more about Instacart and our communities here.

Jennifer Sutton

Jennifer Sutton is Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging at Instacart. Sutton joined Instacart in February 2021 and brings over 15 years of diversity, equity, racial equity, and belonging experience across tech and finance industries.