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Our Pledge for a More Inclusive House Beautiful

Photo credit: Hearst Owned
Photo credit: Hearst Owned

From House Beautiful

The home is personal. And the best ones—our favorite ones—are those that show the unique personalities of their inhabitants, whether they've been conceived by a top designer or DIYed with glue guns and grit. In light of this, we at House Beautiful recognize that our magazine is best when its pages show a broad range of homes, lived in and loved by a broad range of people. House Beautiful has been around for 124 years; it's showcased some of the best talents in design and evolved to reflect changing styles, eras, and audiences. Now, we have the responsibility to make it even better.

We are, and will remain, committed to featuring an even more diverse lineup of design talents in the magazine as well as across our website, video, and social media—in order to best represent the tapestry of what design is now. But we also realize that so much of the inequality and discrimination in this industry happens long before these projects cross our desks (or email inboxes). As a leader in the industry, House Beautiful is in a position to make true and everlasting change. To that end, we are committing to:

Using photo resources to increase inclusivity.

We will focus our photography resources on shooting projects from underrepresented design communities, including more from creatives without formal press representation.

Diversifying our own voices.

We commit to a higher percentage of our print and digital content coming from Black writers, and to our stories featuring Black voices as experts and advisers. We also pledge to actively seek out BIPOC talent for full-time, freelance, and contributing roles as editors, photographers, videographers, and more (are you or do you know a great BIPOC creative looking for work? Email us: editor@housebeautiful.com).

In addition, we will be establishing an editorial advisory council comprised of Black design figures and allies, to hold House Beautiful accountable in our coverage and representation.

Supporting Black-owned businesses.

Inspired by the 15 Percent Pledge, we commit to ensuring 15% of our ecommerce content (shopping roundups, gift guides, product reviews) spotlights products by Black-owned shops, companies, or design studios.

Developing mentorship programs.

To address the gap of black designers, photographers, journalists, and stylists in the design industry, we will use our resources to establish mentorship programs in these fields, beginning with our Open Call Fridays, in which Style Editor Robert Rufino will provide portfolio reviews to designers over Zoom every Friday. Email styledirector@housebeautiful.com if you're interested in booking a slot.

Funding design scholarships.

We commit to raising money annually for design scholarship programs that enable more people of color to get formal design educations.

Promoting connections.

We will take a more active role in encouraging our friends and colleagues in design public relations to better reach and represent designers of color in order to amplify their talents. We will call on our advertising partners to broaden licensing offerings to include more designers of color. We will work with our partners at design centers to make sure showrooms do not have discriminatory policies.

Ensuring accountability.

In the words of Angela Davis, "it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be antiracist." We pledge to ensure that all designers and brands featured within House Beautiful uphold these same inclusive, anti-racist values. We will also begin having monthly check-ins to ensure we, ourselves, are meeting the standards we have set here—and to continue pushing them forward, forever.

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