Mike Roggero

A key driver of Fuse’s growth strategy as a brand targeting Latino and multicultural Millennials and Gen Z audiences, Roggero recently added interim CEO stripes to his CFO duties. He was integral navigating the company through its voluntary Chapter 11 financial restructuring, and has guided both the expansion of Fuse content availability and the content itself—including creating original short-form programs that live on digital and social media. “For Fuse, inclusion is everything—both internally, where our employee base reflects the make-up of our multicultural audience, and externally where as a brand we champion the artists and creators who use their voices to affect positive change,” he says.

What does your company/organization do to ensure all employees feel included?
For Fuse, inclusion is everything—both internally, where our employee base reflects the make-up of our multicultural audience, and externally where as a brand we champion the artists and creators who use their voices to affect positive change. We invite employee input through initiatives such as our Marketing Council, where members nominated by managers meet monthly to provide input on programming, content and marketing decisions; and through frequent Town Hall dialogues where culture, opportunity and issues are discussed openly. Just as we communicate to our audience as peers, we carry that same peer-to-peer level relationship throughout our teams at every level. We work hard to maintain an environment where everyone has a voice and is treated with the same dignity and respect our audience demands from Fuse.

How can diversity be better incorporated into the recruiting process?
For any business, it’s imperative to recognize that having an internal population that mirrors its customer population is key. And building and maintaining that population has to be a top down company goal. There is an amazing amount of talent out there and identifying them should be a company-wide priority. At Fuse, we insure that we aren’t insular in our recruiting process. Internal referrals are important as is reaching out to established and new prospect sources and expanding our aperture. Additionally, if we are succeeding as a multicultural brand and create authentic content that resonates with our audience, our inboxes should be filled with people seeking to work here. We are finding that to be true.

Can you share a successful diversity program at your company or one you’ve observed at another company or organization?
Fuse Media’s partnership with The T. Howard Foundation to introduce a diversity-focused internship program has been very successful. We plan to double the number of interns in our 2020 Internship Program.

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