Maja Pawinska Sims 13 Sep 2021 // 4:11PM GMT
LONDON — Bibi Hilton, the former managing director of Golin London, has started a new role as director of communications for social enterprise Creative Access, which supports people from under-represented backgrounds to enter and thrive in the creative industries.
Hilton left IPG in July after 15 years with the holding company, including 13 years with Golin. Since 2019, she had been IPG’s cross-agency global engagement director for Unilever.
Creative Access, which was set up a decade ago, works with businesses and organisations across the creative industries to deliver on recruitment and training programmes for people from groups that are under-represented in terms of ethnicity, socio-economic background or disability.
The organisation is mainly funded by employer partners, including PR agencies Allison + Partners, Cirkle, Freuds, H+K, Weber Shandwick, Grayling, Instictif and Mischief. The BBC, ITV, Netflix, Walt Disney EMEA, Universal Music, Warner Bros and other leading broadcasters, entertainment outlets and publishers are also Creative Access partners.
Hilton’s new role – the first time Creative Access has had a senior head of communications – will cover all marketing and communications, working with recruitment team, employer partners, and the programme side of the business, which covers diversity training, mentoring, and relationships with alumni.
Originally, Hilton’s plan was to take an extended period off work to spend time with her family, but she told PRovoke Media: “I was intending to take a long break and then this came up. I’m so passionate about D&I and it was a chance to take everything I’ve learned over the past 15 years and work in a social enterprise.
“Creative Access is relatively established as a 10-year-old organisation, and now D&I is finally a priority in the C-suite there have been a proliferation of organisations, consultancies and charities in this space, so a key challenge and opportunity will be to ensure we really build a foundation for our leadership position in the sector.”
Creative Access chief executive Josie Dobrin told PRovoke Media: “I’m delighted to welcome Bibi to the Creative Access team as our first director of communications. The creation of this new role is in response to the huge growth we’re seeing in demand for candidates from diverse backgrounds and for diversity training and mentoring. As we grow and celebrate our 10th anniversary, it’s critical we ensure our communications are fit for purpose and will extend and deepen our partner, candidate and alumni relationships.”