New York–Condé Nast has named Nashville native Yashica Olden as its first-ever global chief diversity and inclusion officer.
Condé Nast is a global media company that produces some of the world’s leading print, digital, video and social brands. These include Vogue, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired and Architectural Digest (AD), Condé Nast Traveler and La Cucina Italiana, among others.
In her new role, Yashica will be responsible for developing and implementing diversity and inclusion strategies across the company’s global portfolio of brands and divisions. Olden most recently served as executive director of inclusion and diversity on WPP’s global culture team, where she partnered with leaders across WPP’s brands to strengthen their inclusion strategies and support client teams in their diversity and inclusion progress. Olden’s appointment takes effect on October 26.
She will report to Stan Duncan, chief people officer of Condé Nast.
“As a company, we are committed to recruiting and developing a diverse and inclusive workplace, and as content creators it’s incredibly important that we have a team that has a broad range of perspectives and voices,” said Duncan. “Yashica brings a wealth of experience in helping elevate diversity and inclusion strategies in large companies like ours and I’m looking forward to her insight and counsel in helping move our workplace culture forward.”
“Condé Nast plays an important role in shaping culture and people’s opinions about the events taking place in our world today,” said Olden. “I’m excited to join the team and work with the incredibly talented editors, writers, designers and marketers to embed a global diversity and inclusion framework into every aspect of the business.”
For more than 20 years, Olden has been known for her work as a diversity and inclusion leader and an agent for change. She has partnered with CEOs and executive leaders to build award-winning diversity and inclusion practices by aligning them to business strategies and integrating them into people and talent processes. Olden has spent much of her career working with global organizations spanning financial services, pharmaceutical, technology and humanitarian sectors. Prior to WPP, she was the interim global inclusion lead for London-based insurance company Aviva. Olden also served as the first head of diversity and inclusion for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome. At WFP, she was responsible for creating and implementing initiatives to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals for zero hunger, gender equality and reduced inequalities.
Prior to WFP, Olden was the first global head of diversity and inclusion at Sandoz, the generic and biopharmaceutical division of Novartis based in Munich. At Sandoz, she focused on developing inclusive leaders, expanding the pipeline for diverse and women leaders and creating diversity and inclusion marketing plans. Olden has also worked on diversity and inclusion teams for Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse. During her tenure at Barclays, she served as its representative on the U.K. Government’s Department for Work & Pensions Ethnic Minority Advisory Group and the Business in the Community Race Advisory Board.
Olden attended Wellesley College, where she received a bachelor’s degree in international relations. While Olden has had a truly global career having worked outside of the U.S. for more than 20 years in London, Munich, Rome and briefly in Khartoum, she proudly hails from Nashville, Tennessee.