Kering partners with Black in Corporate

Kering has partnered with Candace Marie Stewart’s Black in Corporate on a month-long virtual mentorship program for Black professionals. The program will pair Black professionals at different stages of their career with a mentor at Kering Americas or one of the brands fashion houses. Some notable brands in Kering’s portfolio include Gucci, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta.

“The majority of my experience working within corporate spaces has been in the luxury fashion sector — so to celebrate BIC’s first anniversary with our debut partnership with Kering feels like a full circle moment,” Stewart said, in a statement. “My hope for this collaboration is to open doors for other Black professionals who are eager to explore this realm, and to mitigate many of the obstacles that I dealt with in the beginning of my career in a sustainable, long-lasting way.” 

In the wake of the 2020 civil rights protest surrounding the murder of George Floyd, fashion companies also came under fire for their history of lacking inclusivity at the corporate level. To rectify this, brands began taking efforts to diversify their ranks. Partnering with a program such as Black in Corporate, allows luxury fashion companies like Kering to foster and bring in a new generation of talent.