BAWiP is committed to cultivating a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible publishing industry. We define “diverse” as inclusive of race, gender, ability, age, beliefs, identity, sexuality, national origin, and professional and life experience. 

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Assessment and Reporting: In order to make progress on our DEI goals, we need to be assessing where we are and reporting on our progress. We commit to regular surveys of our board, committee members, and general membership. And we commit to reporting regularly on progress (or lack thereof) via our website and newsletter, to keep ourselves accountable for results.

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To that end, we have set these agreements and goals:

 

Membership: Our goal is to support, reflect, and meet the needs of a membership body that reflects the diversity of the Bay Area. To meet this goal, we will focus on proactive recruitment of a diverse membership and a commitment to regularly surveying, listening to, and responding to the needs of our members from communities historically underrepresented in publishing. 

• Current status: Per membership survey conducted in May, 2025:

  • 31.8% of respondents  identify as from underrepresented communities. 

  • 4.5% of members (1) identify as American Indian/Alaskan native.

  • 13.6% (3) identify as Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander/South Asian/SE Indian

  • 18.2% (4) Identify as Latinx/Mexican

  • 77.3% (18) identify as white/caucasian

  • 1.4% (1) have a visible disability

  • 27.3% (6) have an invisible disability

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Board Composition: Our goal is to achieve a diverse board makeup with at least 40% representation by traditionally underrepresented people in the publishing industry (including 30% representation by BIPOC women). We actively toward this goal by actively recruiting committee and task force members to build a pipeline to full board service.

• Current status (update, May 2025): 66% of board members identify as BIPOC. 22% identify as LGBTQ+. 11% identify as living with a disability.

 

Speakers: We are committed to prioritizing diverse speaker-panels for our professional development events. Our goal is 40% of speakers consistently self-identify as from communities traditionally underrepresented publishing (including 30% representation by BIPOC folks) measured by board year. The events committee now coordinates both social and educational/professional development events, and, at the rate of one event per month, now hosts fewer author talks and webinars. The committee looks to collaborate with the RSA committee and the DEI committee to co-host speaker-driven or themed events.

• Current status: In the past year:

  • Of those who responded to the survey, 80% identify as being from a traditionally underrepresented community (per gender/sexual orientation or ethnicity)

  • 80% of respondents self-identify as BIPOC.

 

Robin Seaman Award Committee: The Robin Seaman Award supports Bay Area women and non-binary people with cash grants to aid their professional growth and their efforts to make the publishing industry more diverse and inclusive. We are committed to building an award where at least 50% of the winners, judges and award committee members are from underrepresented groups in publishing. Judges for the Robin Seaman Award will be encouraged to take an implicit association test and must adhere to established rules and criteria for evaluating our applicants. 

• Current status: In 2024: 

  • Winners - 87%

  • Committee - 80%

  • Judges - 66%

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Mentorship: Given that the publishing industry is stubbornly dominated by white folks, we believe it’s critical to support the entry and advancement of BIPOC professionals. To this end, we have prioritized the selection of BIPOC applicants to our mentorship program and have set the goal that 50% of our mentees self-identify as BIPOC. 

• Current status: For the 2023-2024 cohort, 100% of mentee respondents self-identified as members of a historically underrepresented group in publishing on their applications

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BIPOC Affinity Group: BAWiP's BIPOC Affinity Group was formed at the height of BLM movements at the beginning of the pandemic to serve as a virtual space for Bay Area BIPOC folks in publishing to find community amidst so much tumult. It was relaunched in 2024 to include in-person meetups that offer a safe, welcoming space for BIPOC publishing professionals to connect and support each other. Our goal is to hold three in-person events each year.

• Current status: In 2024:

  • In-person event held on February 27

  • In-person event held on August 13

  • In-person event held on December 12

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