BBC appoints Joanna Abeyie as Interim Head of Diversity

Former FIPP Rising Star winner, Joanna Abeyie, has been appointed as the BBC’s Interim Head of Creative Diversity, on a six month contract. The move comes a day after it emerged that the corporation’s current Director of Creative Diversity, June Sarpong, is to depart later this year. 

Quoted in Broadcast magazine, Sarpong said: “As a former journalist and content producer, [Abeyie] brings a rare and unique creative lens to her DEI expertise.”

The media diversity specialist will effectively replace Miranda Wayland, who is joining Amazon this summer as Head of Diversity, Equality, & Inclusion (DE&I) for Amazon Studios and Prime Video.

Abeyie will lead on the planning and development of diversity and inclusion initiatives related to on-air talent, commissioning guidelines, diverse audience panels and monitoring and reporting, and says she is looking forward to working with “the very talented team” to “ensure all audiences can truly see themselves reflected in BBC programmes.”

As if her 2017 FIPP & UPM Rising Star Award wasn’t enough, Abeyie was awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Year Honours list for her services to diversity and inclusion in the creative and media industries.

She was instrumental in establishing the Creative Diversity All-Party Parliamentary Group with Baroness Deborah Bull, of which she is joint secretary, and advises multiple organisations and bodies including the UKRI Arts & Humanities Research Council and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) expert advisory panel.

Full Broadcast article here.