Alicia
Latoya Richardson
FOUNDER | TED X SPEAKER
CREATOR | Podcast Host
“Doing whats next not now with employer marketing: connecting talent and employers through creators, communities, events, podcasts, and more”.
My
Journey to
Date
Let’s just say it has been a WHOLE lot of tears, laughs, successes, breakthroughs, learning and more!
2015 – There has to be more to life because…:
Graduated with an International Business degree (plus a year in San Jose studying USA style advertising, marketing,
and drama whilst working on the campus in telesales!). Briefly endured the soul-crushing monotony of fleet
coordination (Hertz, thank you but no thank you).
2016 – Corporate Events – This is a MONEY thing
Got rejected by every recruitment agency in London, then landed a Delegate sales role mid-Nando’s chicken wing (true
story). Acquired the nickname “Boss Chick” during an 18-month period of consistently selling out international
conferences in the marketing, creative, and e-commerce sectors, achieving considerable financial success.
2017- This feels somewhat fulfilling… :
Dove into agency recruitment, placing my first candidate at The Guardian within 2 weeks – NGL I felt like a bad b and
got addicted to placing candidates in both perm and contract roles. This was a time of experimentation and growth.
However, I came to understand the importance of believing in the companies I work for, which led me to transition into
an in-house role.
2019- I need OUT:
Tried to go in-house, got rejected too many times (again!), so I pivoted to embedded recruitment, hired for Spotify. then
realised, I needed OUT, the embedded consultancy literally defeated my confidence. That experience was my
awakening to the importance and definition of DEI.
2020- New Year – New Salary – Content Girl commences:
Joined a DEI-focused consultancy, then COVID happened. Salary cuts aside, the pandemic underscored the critical
importance of community and DEI support, amplifying Black voices and experiences. So it was time to get creative!
Because Money Affi Mek (Jamaican Patois google it ) On the side , with permission from my company, I worked with my
girl (Shout out Bami), started DEI training with multiple companies , building solutions, strategies, training programmes, and – then – I started the Black Create Connect group chat (July 2020)- at the time it was just a group chat for Black talent in tech and creative. I then start to experiment with content creation across Linked In and IG and build some type of audience.
2021 – Okay Community – Come through :
That little group chat blew up, became effective, helped people get jobs, form relationships, and more.. and so did my responsibilities. Meantime, I managed a team of 5 for a new creative & social agency hiring project ( 30+ people in 3 months)- then landed my ‘dream ’in-house DEI gig at Engine (now House 337) managing DEI partnerships, Recruitment strategy and internal DEI strategy.
2022 – 2023- Twists and Turn!
So thats lasted all of 6 months – due to Engine going through a sale , March 2022 I transition to the same role at Depop , then came a redundancy, July 2022, but by then, Black Create Connect had morphed into a podcast, events, and a job board. Sept 2022, I joined FutureHeads to build their DEI department, but realised my true calling was building upon what I was building outside of my day job . Companies started to reach out for me to do talks, content creation work, DEI Workshops and more – the leads and requests were coming in directly, despite my effort to grow a new department at a company. I ended the year with a TEDx talk talking about how to identify your value and it all clicked… I needed to bet on me and trust God would work through me to impact multicultural communities and organisations.
2024 – DEI DIED !
DEI budgets dried up (apparently, hiring Black people wasn’t trendy anymore), luckily I had content creation, consultancy clients and workshops paying me to sustain me, but I business failure forced my pivot again! So I launched Create Connect, an employer & recruitment marketing agency that focused on community, connection, and creative solutions to recruitment.
2025- Leading whilst learning…
Here I am… I start getting real with my journey and launched monthly recap videos on Youtube sharing the ups and downs of my journey as a Founder, and also being vulnerable about my personal development, so others feel inspired to lead whilst not being ‘perfect’.
So, that’s my story, the slightly chaotic ( and ghetto) , always evolving tale of how I ended up here. If it resonates, let’s connect.
Executed events, projects, or training with....
Word on the street....
Louise Thompson
Puig
‘Alicia is an amazing DE&I consultant! She organised and ran a really informative and specific bespoke Black History Month DEI workshop for PUIG around adding equity at work, and why it’s important. Alicia is so passionate and her expertise really inspired everyone who joined the talk. Thank you so much!’
Della Hill
National Theatre Wales
‘Alicia is an excellent DEI Consultant and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with her. Her specialist guidance and advice is invaluable and her ability to recommend and assist with implementing initiatives focused on organisational change is extremely impressive. Alicia’s unique skills offer clear strategic development opportunities and she provides a constant support to ensure KPIs are achieved on time. She is flexible, understanding and provides reassurance when last minute changes are required and reacts in a time sensitive, respectful and exceptionally helpful manner. I’d recommend working with Alicia if you’d like to improve your organisation’s commitment to DEI and well-being.’
Emily Sivey
Bippit
Alicia ran a really in-depth, detailed and specific bespoke DEI workshop for our company around adding equity at work, and why it’s important. The team felt inspired hearing the content and really took away a lot from the session to implement into their day to day work life – which was exactly what we hoped for. Thank you so much Alicia! Your expertise & passion is inspiring!.
Jess Castillian
Depop
‘Alicia put together an amazing Black Create Connect event at our Depop HQ. I was lucky enough to be on the panel of speakers and was therefore able to see first- hand how she was able to bring together an impressive talent pool of candidates from a wide variety of professional and academic backgrounds, and connect us all together as a single black community. The entire event was full of energy, and I absolutely loved it! Can’t wait till the next one.
Marian Connolly
FOLD7
We have been working with Alicia on a deep dive project across all areas of EDI. She is a fabulous and knowledge business partner, professional, empathetic, pragmatic, knowledgeable and kind. We spent a long time finding the right partner for Fold7, someone we trust implicitly to build relationships and enable a safe space for our teams to have good conversations. I would highly recommend Alicia to anyone who is looking for a trusted partner, always ready to go above and beyond.
Verity Ciole
ASOS
‘‘Alicia’s authenticity, knowledge and passion are what make her stand out as a true thought leader in the Talent DEI space. I had the pleasure of attending 2 webinars hosted by Alicia (along with many of my team at ASOS) and not only did we take away some valuable, data-led insights and actions that will make a difference in enabling us to hire and retain more diverse talent, I also felt incredibly inspired by the work that Alicia does. She’s built a strong community in Black Create Connect and is a brilliant advocate for change. I’d highly recommend Alicia to anyone who is lookingto educate themselves, their team or business leaders on DE&I.’
Ete Davis
Dentsu
Although it was brief, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of working with Alicia. As a person, she brings energy, passion, enthusiasm and integrity to an organisation. As a Talent Partner, she is strategic, proactive, very ‘plugged in’ to the creative talent market, RDEI and builds excellent partnerships with external talent partners and organisations. In her brief stint, she laid the much-needed foundations for truly inclusive hiring practices and processes within Engine, while winning over many skeptics and ‘nay- sayers’ while doing so. But then that’s Alicia – no challenge is too great, no obstacle is impossible to navigate..
Connect with us
alicia@blackcreatconnect.co.uk
alicia@creatconnect.co.uk
My Values
Accountable: I take ownership.
Humble: I’m Hungry for knowledge, humble in spirit.
Transparent: I communicate with truth no matter how ugly it may be. Truth builds Trust.
Create: I believe in using vision and perception of the world and creating solutions for the future