Wizards of the Coast Hires First-Ever Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Following the announcement of the Secret Lair: Black is Magic drop, Wizards of the Coast has revealed that it had hired Jontelle Leyson-Smith as the first-ever Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Credit: Wizards of the Coast

"My mission is to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into our company culture, processes, and products," Leyson-Smith said in a Wizards of the Coast article. "All journeys include (among many things) historical contexts to understand, challenges to overcome, and plans for a brighter future…and I'm excited to begin on that journey."

"We're hard at work strategizing, building, and executing programs and change across our company," she added. "This includes products to cultivate meaningful progress at Wizards of the Coast toward better diversity, equity, and inclusion. I look forward to sharing our efforts very soon—please stay tuned."

Related: MTG Creator is Working on Roguebook, A New Deckbuilder Coming to PC & Nintendo Switch

Leyton-Smith, who previously worked as the Diversity Program Manager, Global Product and Software Engineering Recruiting at Facebook, was hired last December, according to her LinkedIn.

WotC will be revealing more promotional Magic: The Gathering cards from the Secret Lair: Black is Magic drop this month. The limited-edition product was made to celebrate Black History Month. It will be available for preorder starting February 22 through March 31, 2021 with proceeds benefitting the digital art, game design, and game development programs of Black Girls CODE, an organization that empowers girls of color in game design and other coding programs.

The Black is Magic Secret Lair drop will be available in both foil and non-foil. They will be available for preorder on the official Secret Lair website.