Let's start

How to build an anti-racist brand - excerpt 1

Nov 18, 2025

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Doing the work is a reader-supported newsletter for anyone who is serious about doing the work of anti-racism. It’s a space for learning, accountability, and honest and open reflections on anti-racism, anti-oppression and what it means for brands and communications.
It’s brought to you by Collette Philip, a multi-award-winning founder, writer, coach and facilitator.

Last week, I announced that I’d be sharing excerpts from my, as yet unfinished book “How to build an anti-racist brand”. on here Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing short essays with you and I’m excited to hear your thoughts.

I would love your feedback. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Each chapter of the book starts with my personal experience of racism.
(Trigger warning)

Since this chapter is about where to start, it made sense to me to start with my earliest experience of racism.

This essay is free. If you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll get longer excerpts and the accompanying reflection exercises and resources each week, to help you sit with, apply and act on what you’ve read.

It should go without saying but this is my copyrighted work. Please don’t copy or reproduce any part of this excerpt without crediting me or gaining my permission. (Obviously restacking bits or sharing this newsletter is fine. Welcomed even).

So let’s start.

I first experienced racism at 6 years old.

We’d just moved house and we were eating at the dining table, a new family ritual for the 4 of us (me, my younger brother and my mum and dad).

Suddenly, a brick smashed through the front window. We heard shouts, coarse laughs and the revving engine of a car speeding into the night. I asked my Dad why our house was the only one that had been attacked. I remember my parents slowly, hesitantly, explaining that perhaps they didn’t like our young Black family moving into this predominantly white area.

You might be thinking at this point that “Maybe it wasn’t racism”.
Or asking “How do you know it was racism? You didn’t know their intention”.

The thing is I don’t remember a lot about the incident now (It was over 40 years ago).
I do remember the shouting wasn’t just random. It was directed at us. It might have been
“Go home” - something that was commonly shouted or said to Black people in the 1980’s.

How do I know it was racism? Because my parents said it was. And because this wasn’t the first time they’d experienced it. So they knew exactly what it was.

Why this book?

I am a big believer in the power of brands to effect change. Real change. Not selling more stuff or making us reconsider things we don’t need, and will never use.
Imagine, all brands working to make the world a fairer and better place to be in.
Big or small. Profit or non-profit. Consumer or business to business.
Brands wield immense power.

As was said by Uncle Ben to Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Brands have a responsibility to make sure their impact is wholly positive.
Not ticking diversity boxes. Moving beyond representation to tackle systemic racism (and wider oppression) head on.

Why brands?

I always define brands as the way we capture and articulate who we are, what we stand for and how we do what we do in our ownable way.

Whether this is individuals or companies, the definition is the same. And because brands help us understand who a company or organisation is and what it stands for, they help us navigate the world around us. The first way we may come into contact with a concept may be through a brand.

If brands have successfully integrated themselves into our society, they have a responsibility to make sure their impact is positive.

This doesn’t mean ticking a box so they are seen to do good. It means actively understanding and acknowledging their role in society AND identifying harms that are caused.

It means understanding the structures of oppression that they uphold just by their very presence in our society and actively working to dismantle these in favour of justice. It means identifying what their positive contribution to society should be and dedicating time and resources to delivering it - and making sure that this equals, if not supersedes the time and resources spent on achieving commercial objectives.

In fact, I could even go one step further and say that there should be no differentiation between commercial and societal imperatives. These should be one and the same, in that, a company’s commercial objectives should have positive societal impact at their heart.

It’s that belief that led me to write this book. And it’s why I work daily and tirelessly to help companies and organisations embed anti-racism into their brand strategy.

This chapter is called START because that’s exactly the action you have taken. And that’s also what we need to do, when thinking about anti-racism work.
We need to start.

Start hesitantly, start by uncovering just how much you don’t know, start tentatively - it doesn’t matter how we start, as long as we actually start. Many anti-racism initiatives and action plans fail because organisations never actually start.

Leaders are afraid to even explore the topic of racism, for fear of what they might find. Brand teams look ahead at the potential of reputation risk, should they be called out and decide that it’s better not to start. They don’t say this of course.

They’ll say things like “we have to prioritise” and “this is definitely on the agenda as part of our D&I work”. Or even “we are committed to diversity and inclusion”.
But the actual anti-racism work never actually happens. Or maybe, it hasn’t happened yet. Never is a big word and only God can see the end of it.

Who this is for

I wrote this book for people who work on, for, and with brands primarily.
Given that we work in a super branded world, its relevance and interest is likely broader. But I started this book thinking about the evolution of my work with brands and what I’ve needed to learn about anti-racism. What I’m still learning - it’s a lifelong journey.

You might be a brand director who is looking for help in leading your team in anti-racism work.

You may be a CEO, or Founder who wants to make sure you are building an anti-racist brand for your organisation or company.

You could be working in a brand, marketing or comms team and want to understand your role in tackling racism within and outside your organisation.

You could be a brand strategist who wants to embed anti-racism into the heart of your work with brands. You could be an agency specialist who works with brands on a daily basis.

Or you could be an anti-racism expert, looking to understand the role brands play in tackling racism.

You could even be someone who is looking to build (or has) a strong personal brand, and wants to explore this on an individual level.

Or none of these reasons could apply. All good. The fact that you have chosen to start is what matters and I am really glad you’re here.

Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of Collette Philip.

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