Words have a magical power. They can either bring the greatest happiness or the deepest despair. Sigmund Freud made this statement over a century ago however his words remain relevant today.
I recently spent 20 minutes in a faculty meeting explaining to a well-intentioned white colleague why he couldn’t say the n-word in class, even if he is quoting someone else. I told him the more...
The stories began flooding in during the month of June. Stories of Black students at USC feeling invisible, threatened and scared on the very campus they call home.
These stories were no longer contained within the walls of a classroom, dorm room or the campus grounds. They were no longer whispers in the halls or forgotten complaints tucked away in file cabinets of administrators. They...
The Hollywood Commission for Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality was founded in 2017 by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and talent attorney Nina Shaw and is Chaired by Anita Hill. In 2019, it conducted the first large-scale survey of the entertainment industry to understand the experience of working in Hollywood and identify gaps that increase exposure to harassment and...
Black people are tired, and yes, angry. Waiting so long, for so many decades and generations, for the communications industry to begin, in earnest, to take down the Wall of institutionalized racism, brick-by-brick. It has not. Some companies have hired a few Black employees to handle diversity and inclusion projects. Others made Juneteenth an annual holiday once they recently learned the day...
In 2020, we are battling two converging crises that highlight inequalities within American institutions: COVID-19, which has a disproportionate impact on Black and Brown communities, and the sustained outcry surrounding the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others, which has unveiled a deep societal need to address systemic racism. The collision course of these crises...
What a difference a year makes.
Last September I was honored to receive the Page Society’s Distinguished Service Award for contributions to our profession. Page is the association for the communications industry’s senior executives. I focused my acceptance speech on the declining state of civil discourse and increase in polarization in our society.
In my remarks, I announced...
This summer, the mainstream news media discovered fan activism when a group of K-Pop (Korean popular music) fans hijacked the registration system for Donald Trump’s Tulsa rally, causing his campaign staff to grossly overestimate turnout. This was not the first time K-Pop fans had interjected themselves into contemporary political debates, whether helping boy band BTS raise several million...
Years ago, the role of the Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer (CIDO) was more figurehead than business head, a symbol of an intention versus a commitment. A placeholder for action that would begin as soon as other business priorities and investment dollars cleared up and could be reallocated to “nice to have” initiatives. Although corporations instinctively understood the need for a...