Hershey, Target and Memphis Music Initiative partner to elevate Black voices through music and art.
Music is a universal thread that crosses all cultures and has the power to connect communities. Black music, in particular, has been instrumental in creating meaningful dialogue and universally connecting diverse groups.
To honor the positive impact Black music has in our society, Hershey and Target have partnered to develop a limited-edition collaboration featuring the work of three Black female artists. The initiative was sparked by a group of passionate Hershey employees who want to use our platforms to deepen our support of the Black community and our employee community in Memphis. Memphis is the home of blues, soul and rock ‘n’ roll, and is an important cultural connector for the future.
We are supporting youth and the next generation of Black musicians through a partnership with the Memphis Music Initiative—a non-profit that helps youth thrive through transformative music engagement and equitable access to education.
At Hershey, we have a legacy of creating connection, building community and supporting children and youth. This legacy and our ongoing commitment to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace and communities inspired Beat of the Future.
Keeping with Hershey’s legacy of supporting children and youth, we partnered with the Memphis Music Initiative (MMI), a non-profit which invests in Black and brown youth through transformative music engagement.
MMI supports students in K-12 through in-school and out-of-school programs like MMI Works which provides equitable access to education for undercapitalized communities, helps students gain professional skills and network in the creative sector. Through a financial donation and a collaborative relationship that extends beyond Black Music Month 2022, Hershey will support MMI on its mission to cultivate a thriving arts and culture ecosystem that enhances the quality of life of residents, provides critical development opportunities for Black and brown youth and serves the community health and vibrancy of the city.
Since 2015, MMI has encouraged young people to become creatively immersed in their past, critically engaged in the present, and more able to determine their future through the power of music and arts.
25,000+
Shelby County students served
150,000+
hours of student engagement
$9 million
equivalent of $9 million invested in support for local public schools
The Hershey Employee Community in Memphis
Meet The Illustrators That Created The Limited-Edition Packaging
Baraka Carberry
Baraka Carberry is a multi-disciplinary, UK-based artist, with a particular love of working digitally. Bright vibrant colors, rich palettes, playful shapes, grounded in the natural world via floral representations, all characterize her work. Her background in textiles inspires the rich tapestry-like backdrop of color. Baraka uses color in her creative language to convey the message that anything is possible regardless of your background or where you are from. She wants people to know that art represents and uplifts everyone, ultimately inspiring “U” to stay uniquely “U”.
Shae Anthony
Shae Anthony is an Atlanta-based illustrator who loves to blend unique patterns and bold colors into every piece she creates. Her brand, 'She Is This,' aims to inspire girls and women alike to not just embrace their skin and hair but celebrate it and everything it comes with. Coily, curly, chocolate and caramel - be reminded of how amazing you truly are because this skin, girl this skin is beautiful.
Laetitia Charles-Belamour
From Paris and based in Guadeloupe, Laetitia Charles-Belamour studied art and design and worked as a web art director in Paris until she started drawing again while becoming an entrepreneur and mother. It took her some time to realize how her artistic passion could change her life. Laetitia says that her art has no form but rather a sensitivity. Her feelings, her overall mood, personal life events, and global current events are often perpetual interactions with her art. Women are at the center of her art. She sees them as idyllic landscapes and she has created a diverse body of themes that almost all women can find their way and relate to.
Hershey x Target
Six, limited-edition bars have been developed and will be available at Targets nationwide just in time to celebrate Black Music Month in June.
How Hershey is Creating, Long-Lasting Change
Our deep passion to create connection, culture and community, as well as our ongoing commitment to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), inspired our partnerships for Black Music Month. We have a long-standing commitment to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees around the world can bring their whole selves to work each day. This starts with our hiring practices and extends to each area of our business—from consumer insights to representation in advertising, our supplier diversity program and the many organizations we support—to create a positive impact on communities around the world.
After the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020, we intentionally paused, listened to how employees were feeling and refreshed our DEI strategy to create The Pathways Project, our five-year plan to make our workplace even more diverse, equitable and inclusive.
Having already reached pay equity for salaried positions in the U.S., by 2025, we seek to reach pay equity for salaried positions globally, increase representation of our employee base so that 30 to 40 percent are people of color, and 15 to 22 percent of People Leader roles are occupied by people of color. This is further supported by new hiring policies for 50 percent diverse slates of candidates and interviewers, training and developing our talent to provide pathways to grow and supporting new partnerships that help to improve access to education for underrepresented communities.
In 2020, we co-created The Pathways Project with employees and set ambitious DEI goals to hold ourselves accountable to creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace and communities.
We’re recognizing the countless contributions of the Black community to Hershey and society through our long-standing commitment to creating change.
Our long-standing partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund expanded in 2020 when we created a first-of-its-kind $3 million scholarship endowment to support students studying food science.
In 2020, we co-created The Pathways Project with employees and set ambitious DEI goals to hold ourselves accountable to creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace and communities.
We’re recognizing the countless contributions of the Black community to Hershey and society through our long-standing commitment to creating change.
Our long-standing partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund expanded in 2020 when we created a first-of-its-kind $3 million scholarship endowment to support students studying food science.
