Feeling isolated as the only Black men in the room during a packed industry conference spurred Emlen Miles-Mattingly and Dasarte Yarnway to create the
Now — on the first day of Black History Month and just a month removed from Onyx’s launch — the two men are celebrating a partnership with
Onyx Advisor Network and Advisor Circle on Tuesday announced the launch of the #RiseTogether campaign in conjunction with the upcoming
The event will also provide the site for Onyx Advisor Network’s first in-person community gathering.
“Onyx provides a welcome place for financial professionals from every walk of life, racial background, sexual orientation and origin to look out across the room and see that their community is represented,” Yarnway said in a statement. “Advisor Circle hosts some of the best and most innovative events in the industry. After its launch in October 2021, we knew the Future Proof Festival would be the best platform to bring our Onyx community together for the first time. Our partnership will be a transformational step toward our goal of creating and building equity in the wealth management industry.”
The #RiseTogether campaign will run from Feb. 1 through March 31 to coincide with Black History Month and Women's History Month. During this time, any attendee who registers for the Future Proof Festival will be able to offer an underrepresented industry colleague a complimentary ticket to the event.
Each paying attendee who extends a complimentary ticket will then be entered into a raffle to win a three-night stay at Hyatt Huntington Beach during the conference.
"Many people say they want to see increased diversity and inclusion at industry events, but then they don't know what to do about it,” Joshua Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and co-creator of the Future Proof Festival, said in a statement. “The Onyx Advisor Network and Advisor Circle have come up with a concrete solution that can actually make a difference."
Tuesday’s announcement is one that fills Miles-Mattingly with excitement. He smiles from ear-to-ear while explaining the significance of the partnership, and searchers for words adequate enough to convey the pride he feels to be a part of something crafted to crush barriers.
“I remember I was at a conference in 2018 and there were just 15 of us people of color or people from what we would call from an underrepresented background there. We were excited about that, and we took a picture. Now there's this announcement about a conference where we're trying to change that, and we're going to give people an opportunity to come for free,” he told Financial Planning. “This feels incredible. We're actually going to change what conferences look like in one fell swoop with one partnership.”
Miles-Mattingly said the cost of conferences is something he has long wanted to address and aligns with Onyx’s goal of providing greater accessibility throughout the industry. He views the partnership and #RiseTogether as the beginning of a “huge wave” that will usher in new blood while giving advosors a comfortable space to take their first steps.
He also had a bold prediction for Future Proof 2022. He believes there will be just as many minority attendees as non-minority attendees in Huntington Beach come September.
“I think it's going to be a great recruiting tool. I think people are going to come that may not even be in the financial services industry because the price is lower. As a matter of fact, I talked to someone yesterday who is a mechanical engineer … and she said she's been thinking about getting into the financial services industry,” Miles-Mattingly said. “I told her she needs to come to this conference because this is going to show you a lot of different things about the industry.”
As far the event itself, Miles-Mattingly wants Future Proof to be a celebration of culture and diversity. He wants to see different backgrounds collide, and by the end, no one in the room should feel uncomfortable.
He also teased more to come throughout the two-month #RiseTogether campaign as Onyx works to highlight the contributions of underrepresented professionals in the industry.
“I feel like for the first time, the industry is ready for change. We've always talked about change, how bad we want it and why it needs to happen. But it felt like it was always forced and there was always pushback. But now the change is beginning to come, and it's not being forced,” Miles-Mattingly said. “That's just crazy to think about because when Dasarte and I started getting into the industry, it was a fight just to get over that first hurdle.
“Change is on the way, and things are just going to be different from here on out.”
Advisor Circle CEO Matt Middleton said he was eager to work with Onyx on this effort. He believes Miles-Mattingly and Yarnway are building a much-needed platform for the industry that may be replicated by others in future.
Even before Onyx launched, Middleton was in talks with leadership about how to provide support and feedback. Aware that events often provide a snapshot of what the industry looks like at any given time, he knew that shaking things up at Future Proof 2022 could set the tone going forward.
“When you start to think of what the future of wealth is, we believe it's more diverse, it's more inclusive and it represents the U.S. population more so than what the wealth management industry once looked like,” he said, noting that Advisor Circle has a three pronged approach to aiding the movement.
First, it was decided that there would be no “pay-to-play” opportunities at Future Proof, eliminating a potential crop of speakers positioned by sponsors and more in line with the white, male status quo.
That means all speakers and companies must apply or be invited to take part in Future Proof.
“Ultimately when you're collecting dollars from a larger group and you're influenced to put speakers that you don't control onto stages, you run into this issue where your intentions might be good but your execution is poor,” Middleton said. “The worst thing we can do is talk and not deliver or execute on the experience.”
The second part of the plan is centered around fostering growth and education for the next generation of financial professionals. Like many others, Middleton talks of stumbling into wealth management after a tough upbringing in Yonkers, New York.
He is passionate about exposing potential advisors to the industry early and putting them in the same room as people who like them and have achieved success.
The third, he said, is all about #RiseTogether and filling Future Proof with people who may not have been able to cover the attendance cost in the past.
Middleton is also mindful of all the work still left to do as a growing number of entities embrace the call for a more inclusive profession. He sees many making big strides, but a lack of unity as everyone tries to improve on their own.
“I like to say that we’re in this mass awareness phase. It's a conversation in boardrooms, from top leaders down to niche recruiters. It's a topic of discussion, and mandates are happening, but it's not happening at scale,” he said. “We need to shift from mass awareness to mass adoption. Let's get together as a community … because the biggest issue is everyone is internally focused. What can I do to change my team and my business. And that's great. But we have to remember we're in a people business, so optically, for anyone looking into our industry that is not familiar with our industry, as big as your internal mandate or change might seem to you, doesn't really move the needle in perception.
“We hope that Future Proof turns into a platform and a catalyst to change that perception.”
