Local Impact Reports: SME Brazil Social Justice Task Force On Making a Difference

Local Impact Reports: SME Brazil Social Justice Task Force On Making a Difference
Feb 11, 2022

This article is part of our Local Impact Report series: a collection of informal catchup-ups where we connect with different members of Social Justice Task Forces within Sony Music. These Task Forces were formed after launching our $100 million Global Social Justice Fund in 2020, to ensure each region in which Sony Music operates is successfully shepherding funds in their area.

Today, as part of our Local Impact Reports series we connected with Bruna Araujo, People eXperience Manager for SME Brazil to learn more about the team’s impact in the region.

For Araujo, getting involved with the task force was a very natural process. Since the start of the fund, “several initiatives and partnerships have been developed to promote social change,” said Araujo. “We live in a country that suffers from great social disparities and structural racism, where thousands of people are deprived of basic access – especially within the education and employment space. Therefore, when the GSJF was created, we were proud to expand on our efforts to help more local organizations have a lasting impact in our community.”

So where did the team start? Since the beginning of 2021, Araujo and the team worked closely with a consultant dedicated to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) to advance internal training programs including reviewing internal policies and furthering collaboration and partnerships with community organizations committed to ethnic-racial issues around the country.

Externally, the team continues to work closely with Redes da Maré, a local organization dedicated to developing programs to increase quality of life and protect civil rights for the population of Maré. In speaking with Joelma Souza, Head of Project Development Management at Redes da Maré, Sony Music’s support “enabled the purchase and delivery of 450 food baskets and personal hygiene kits to 450 families in Maré – directly to their homes – and continue to benefit nearly 1,4000 Maré residents.” Of the relationship, Araujo said “this is definitely one partnership that we are most proud of and hope to keep supporting even more in the coming years.”

As the team continues to work with the local community, their mission is to drive towards building a just society for all. “Our main goal now is to direct all future resources from the Global Social Justice Fund toward actions that not only promote financial support for education programs designed for historically marginalized communities, but also keep engaging SME employees to act as mentors for young people who wish to join the music industry. With constant support from the GSJF, we have the possibility to build projects that connect within our office and within our community. We’re excited for what is to come,” said Araujo.

Inside Sony Music

Featured Video