BBC Creative Diversity Head Joanna Abeyie to exit

The BBC’s head of creative diversity, Joanna Abeyie, is stepping down after less than a year and a half in the role, Variety can reveal.

Abeyie is leaving the broadcaster to return to her consultancy business, Blue Moon, which specializes in diversity and inclusion, and executive recruitment. Variety understands that she may consult for the BBC in the future.

Sources indicate that Abeyie’s departure was first announced by BBC director of content Charlotte Moore on June 22. Her last day in the role is Monday (July 3). When her exit was revealed to her team by the BBC’s group director of diversity and inclusion Chinny Okolidoh, it’s believed a number of staff protested why Abeyie, a well-liked exec with a strong rapport with the group, had been allowed to leave the public broadcaster. However, Variety understands that her departure reflects the exec’s choice to return to her business, which she set up in 2018.

Abeyie was appointed as interim head of creative diversity in April 2022 and was made permanent in October. She reported to and overlapped with June Sarpong, who was also head of creative diversity for two and a half years, and oversaw the BBC’s first Creative Diversity Plan in 2020. (Following Sarpong’s exit last year, the BBC restructured the position into a newly expanded ‘director of diversity and inclusion’ role, now occupied by Okolidoh, that effectively combines the creative diversity and workforce remits.)

Abeyie later reported into Okolidoh — who joined the BBC in November — and also worked closely with Moore and director of nations Rhodri Talfan-Davies.

“This is a strategically important role and Joanna will be an expert partner who will drive best practice and help fulfil the BBC’s Creative Diversity Strategy,” said group chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva and Moore in October, welcoming Abeyie permanently to the role. “She will support commissioners with editorial decisions as well as leaders across the organisation to improve diversity and inclusion on and off screen/air.”

In a letter to staff (read the full note below), Okolidoh said she will soon appoint an interim head of creative diversity, and the role will be advertised in due course.

Abeyie’s departure will be a shock to the industry given her short tenure at the broadcaster. The turnover also means that her replacement will be the third creative diversity leader at the BBC in two years.

The BBC currently has two published diversity plans in place: the Creative Diversity Plan, which was published in 2020, and the BBC Workforce Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, which runs from 2021 to 2023.

Abeyie was working on the next edition of the Creative Diversity Plan, which pertains to on-air representation and production. It’s believed she was conceiving of new measurements for creative diversity. In July 2022, a long-awaited update from the BBC on the progress of the 2020 Creative Diversity fund to improve diverse content on the public broadcaster received criticism from sceptics who questioned its criteria and how much of its £44 million ($58 million) spend in the first year of the initiative had gone towards new commissions.

Meanwhile, the BBC’s next iteration of the Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, which is separate to the Creative Diversity Report, could be released later this year or early next year, Variety understands.

Abeyie’s exit comes amid a raft of senior diversity and inclusion leaders — all of whom so far appear to be Black women — leaving top jobs in the media, particularly in the U.S. AOL