There’s a difference between brands that talk about community and brands that actually build with them.
Ayesha Martin knows this intimately.
As Senior Director of adidas Purpose Marketing, she’s spent the last five years building an actual ecosystem of change inside a global corporation. And if you know anything about navigating corporate life as a Black woman, you know it’s no easy feat (we may need to pour a glass of wine just thinking abut it).
This past #GivingTuesday, her team launched Community Archives, a limited-edition zine that is part love letter, part corporate project and documents half a decade of grassroots work. The publication features Wanda Cooper-Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery and social justice leader, Dr. D’Wayne Edwards who founded Pensole Lewis College (the first and only design-focused HBCU), WNBA All-Star Layshia Clarendon, and the Quilters of Gee’s Bend. Martin calls them “architects of change” but the truth is, these are people who shaped the work from the inside long before anyone at adidas ever printed their names in a zine.
“We started by asking: What moments changed us? Who helped expand what this work could be?” Martin explains. Each story had to earn its place. “The stories in Community Archives are the ones that shifted something, whether through courage, creativity, or the way a community showed up for itself. We chose collaborators who weren’t just part of the work, but who helped define it.”
It matters. Especially now, when it seems as though every corporation has a social impact page on their website, yet somehow the dollars going to “diverse” or “inclusive” communities keep shrinking. Martin’s work at adidas starts with listening to communities rather than telling them what they need, and that’s especially rare during these times. Purpose, she says, is rooted in the brand’s belief that through sport, they have the power to change lives. But Martin doesn’t stop at whatever mission statement is listed on their “community page” (though it is a beautiful page, I must admit!). She’s measuring impact through the community’s actual experience with programming, tracking change over time, and focusing on creating what she describes as “free spaces to play.”
“Impact data measured through the lens of our community’s experience with programming is a compelling way to track change over a period of time,” she explains. But data is only part of it. “Beyond data it’s the cultivation of free spaces to play, being truly present in partnership and elevating the stories of our architects of change that defines how we create with purpose.”
So what does building that kind of infrastructure actually look like? Because plenty of companies talk that talk, but very few create long-term systems. Martin says it comes down to showing up during the moments that matter most, with intention. That means having community leaders help shape programs from the jump, allocating real resources for growth and holding the company accountable internally. “An ecosystem only works if the people within it can rely on it,” she says. “That’s what we’re building.”
For Martin, who is a Black woman leading purpose work inside a major sports company, the path hasn’t been simple (if we’re honest, for any Black woman working at any company, period). The pressures she navigates are often invisible. “It’s more than advocating for communities you’re part of, it’s designing systems, defining strategies and creating playbooks that challenges norms shaped over centuries,” she says. There’s emotional labor in translating lived experience into corporate language or pushing for change when staying quiet might be easier.
She’s had to learn to give herself grace in spaces where others might not extend it. But she’s not alone in this. Being surrounded by what she calls “a team of co-conspirators in pursuit of purpose” keeps her grounded. “And even in the hard moments, I feel a deep sense of gratitude, look at us, dreaming out loud!”
That idea of dreaming out loud is what she hopes young creators, athletes, and organizers take from seeing themselves in Community Archives. She wants them to recognize that their unique perspectives, shared purpose and love for community fuels a collective joy that reaches far beyond what they might imagine. That adidas, and the world, sees them.
Her advice for Black women who want to build careers in sports, marketing, or brand impact is to start by knowing yourself, then follow what feels meaningful. “Your intuition is a powerful, ancestral guide,” she emphasizes. Find people with shared curiosity, build spaces where you don’t have to shrink yourself, and connect with your lived experience because it’s an asset, not something to downplay.
And don’t stress about having the perfect entry point. Martin reminds us that there’s beauty in iteration, that careers and dreams shift and evolve. This is our world to shape, and your space to claim.
Five years into this journey, the work Martin and her team are doing looks and feels like more than marketing. Community Archives is the clearest reflection of that work. It’s what can happen when a company slows down long enough to listen, co-create, and show up with care. And honestly, maybe it’s time for other brands to sit down and take a few notes.