About Us
People Like Us is an award-winning not-for-profit organisation that celebrates and supports UK media, marketing, and communications professionals from Black, Asian, Mixed Race and minoritised ethnic backgrounds.
We’re also on a mission to elevate ethnically diverse professionals by dismantling workplace barriers and providing support to navigate these challenges. A fairer workplace is better for everyone.
Vision & Our Story
Our Vision
We’re a community, here to support one another - whether it’s at our community events, providing career support resources, or our long-term campaigning for the introduction of ethnicity pay gap reporting.
Who We Are
We were founded in 2019 by two brothers - Sheeraz Gulsher and Darain Faraz. They had been working in the comms field for several years, and wanted to see greater progress in breaking down barriers and creating foundations for genuine inclusion in the workplace.
What do we do?
Our quarterly flagship events are unique, making them some of the most sought-after tickets! Each event highlights ten individuals from underrepresented backgrounds, providing a platform for both job seekers and those looking to network with industry professionals. These events foster opportunities for professional and personal growth.
Behind the scenes, we offer tailored support to professionals facing various career challenges. This includes navigating difficult workplace conversations, finding mentors, optimising LinkedIn profiles and CVs, and advising organisations on inclusivity.
We also collaborate with other stakeholders on significant workplace investigations focused on equity and inclusion. Since 2021, we've partnered annually with PR Week to examine pay disparities across gender and ethnicity in the communications industry. Most participants close pay gaps year on year and enhance representation, particularly at senior levels.
Our regular research publications explore how current affairs impact communities in the UK, covering topics such as Covid-19, the cost of living crisis, and broader workplace developments.
We have been long-term advocates for ethnicity pay gap reporting legislation, raising awareness through impactful marketing initiatives like the national Autocorrected Pay Gap campaign and a reimagined "Labour Isn't Working" creative.
We've developed a free toolkit for companies of all sizes to voluntarily measure their pay gaps, preparing them for potential mandatory reporting requirements similar to those for gender pay gaps in the UK.
Following the King's speech in July 2024, which introduced the Equality (Race and Disability) bill, we are actively monitoring its progress and ensuring our community's involvement in the consultation process. While mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting isn't here yet, we're getting closer.
Supporters
Special thanks to our supporters:
Meet the team
Sheeraz Gulsher
Co-founder and co-chair
Sheeraz is an award-winning PR professional with over a decade of experience both in-house at Sky and Snapchat, and at agencies including Hope&Glory and PrettyGreen. Sheeraz is a passionate campaigner for equal pay for ethnically diverse working professionals in the UK. Sheeraz also runs talent consultancy, Braver, which is accelerating the media and marketing industries’ desire to be more diverse.
Darain Faraz
Co-founder and Director of Communications
As a People Like Us co-founder and former International Brand Marketing Director at LinkedIn (where he worked for over a decade), Darain boasts a track record of crafting top-performing, award-winning campaigns. His industry accolades include coveted Cannes Lions awards, and he is a frequent presence on Marketing Week and PR Week's top 100 lists.