Two Sage employees have been named in the Publishers Association’s first-ever People of Publishing cohort. Delayna Spencer, Senior Commissioning Editor and Sabby Kaur Jivanji, Senior Product Manager join six other publishing professionals across both trade and academic publishing to be honored with this prestigious award.

Announcing the winners, the Publishers Association said:

Delayna stands out as a future leader and has been recognized for her work which includes driving positive change at SAGE by starting a BAME (now Global Majority) group and an LGBTQIA+ group with colleagues.  

In 2022 she launched the Social Science for Social Justice series, which provides a platform for academics, journalists, and activists of colour to respond to today’s pressing social issues. She has highlighted the need for academic publishing to train staff better on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), to think creatively of ways to improve representation at all levels within the business, and to apply a DEI lens to editorial work.

Announcing the winners, the Publishers Association said:

Sabby joined the Product Innovation team at Sage in 2021 to work on Sage’s flagship academic library product line, Sage Research Methods, which was heading into a massive overhaul. Sabby excelled and following a tremendously successful launch, Sage Research Methods won the Best Publisher User Experience (UX) Award 2023.

She is the co-lead of the Women in Technology group; an employee-led initiative with the purpose of creating an inclusive community, to challenge gender imbalance through a lens of intersectionality, discuss opportunities to support diverse voices in the field or those keen to join, and inspire colleagues to recruit and retain more diversity into technology roles.

Congratulations to both Sabby and Delayna. If you’re passionate about making a difference in the world, value flexibility and autonomy, and are looking for a supportive and inclusive environment then Sage could be your next career move.