Today, we talk with Jolene MacDonald from Accessibrand about disability inclusion in marketing and her inclusive marketing agency. Disability, work and entrepreneurship are important topics for Jolene MacDonald, founder, creative director and advocate at Accessibrand, a collective of design and marketing professionals whose lives have been impacted by disability.
As the founder of Accessibrand, for over a decade Jolene has known that people with disabilities needed a different work model to be able to give their full potential to their careers. Accessibrand is based on her 20+ years of knowledge in the graphic design and marketing industry, as well as her 17 years as a successful entrepreneur and award-winning designer, creative director and illustrator. Top that all off with her own personal disability experience, and out comes an innovative model for a design, marketing and communications agency.
Jolene is an advocate, wife and mother of three. She has volunteered with Little People of Ontario, Rare Disease Foundation, and sits on the Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee. She helps other parents advocate and find their voices.
Jolene owned another agency with a partner for about 15 years prior to founding Accessibrand. A mother of three and a graphic designer by trade, her youngest was born with a rare form of dwarfism. As she continued to advocate for her daughter, she realized that her own design and marketing space was very inaccessible for people with disabilities, so she started trying to educate and advocate to clients about the importance of improving their digital accessibility with websites and marketing products.
At Accessibrand, they truly believe that strength comes from adversity. So much so, they have built their business model on this belief. Accessibrand is a disability collective. All of their team members have lived disability experience and are proud inclusion advocates, making them stronger as individuals and agile in business. With Accessibrand’s disability experience, they have the knowledge to help clients expand their market, as 22% of the Canadian population has some form of disability, and they can help your business become more accessible and inclusive. As a social enterprise, Accessibrand is not looking for charity. They are skilled designers, writers, marketers, communicators and strategists, ready to do amazing work to help your company reach its goals.
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