Margenett Moore-Roberts
Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer
Constituent Management Group
a Division of Interpublic Group
New York, NY
In high school, Margenett Moore-Roberts was nicknamed “Human Jukebox” because she would break out in song at any moment. With dreams of becoming a stage actor, she started off studying acting at Otterbein University in Ohio, but ultimately obtained a bachelor’s degree in theater and education, with a minor in English.
“I worked at a professional theater for a few years and then decided I wanted to make more money and ended up working in Corporate America during the day and in the theater at night,” she recalls. She chased her acting dream to New York, but, “at the end of the day, I didn’t want to make the life trade-offs necessary to become a professional stage actor in New York City.”
Now chief inclusion and diversity officer for Constituent Management Group (CMG), a division of Interpublic Group (IPG), Moore-Roberts has corporate experience across a variety of sectors, from telecommunications, data licensing, content syndication and media, to graphic reproduction, and software development, much of which she gained during her six years at Yahoo. And she’s armed with inspiring counsel, such as “mediocrity is a Catholic sin,” “You can use your life and your work to inspire and change lives,” and “Anything is possible when you have the courage to go for it.”
Public relations appealed to her, she says, because of both the opportunities and urgency to keep diversity and inclusion high on the corporate agenda as well as the need for innovative ways to keep it there. Moore-Roberts would love to revamp public school systems “that continue to feed economically disadvantaged children,” and work toward a cure for fibromyalgia “so my momma can rest at night.” And as for her love of theater and performance? “I still sing at the drop of a hat, because it’s fun and I still love it,” she confesses.
