Category: Media Messages

10 Awesome Women to Follow on Instagram

Before I get into my list, I want to say that my ENTIRE social media community is worthy of a loving shoutout (and a zillion fist-bump emojis!). The daily messages we create and share about empowerment, equality and inclusion would be nothing without an awesome community to exchange with.

In honor of Women’s History Month, I wanted to share 13 of my favorite Instagram accounts owned and operated by women. These women create inspirational, educational, and empowering content that I could spend hours scrolling through (and do). If you don’t already know them, check them out and give them a follow.

  1. In the Insta-world of fitness models, we tend to see little size diversity. Enter @louisegreen_bigfitgirl who uses her platform to represent and showcase fit bodies of all sizes. She’s also got a great new book coming out that I (ahem, ahem) wrote the foreword for. No big deal. Get it now!!
  2. @usowomen…Obviously! The work that the United State of Women do everyday is shaping the culture that our next generation of girls will experience. The work we’ve done together (hello 2016 summit anyone??) will always be one of my most valued experiences. They have their work cut out for them in 2017, but look to them on great, tangible ways to join the #Resistance!
  3. This is my OG girl crush for all things empowerment: @amypoehlersmartgirls. Without a doubt, one of the best pages to turn to for global girl power and smart, cutting-edge leadership. Special squeezes to @puzzlesmom who leads this awesome parade!
  4. @euniquejg is my new girl crush. She’s the real deal, full of heart and fire, and has created a vital account with @becauseofthem. They had a beautiful Black History Month campaign (you can still go check it out) and their content is important to share with everyone (especially your kids!).
  5. @Amani speaks truth and power and her her Insta-platform for @muslimgirl is no different. She’s created the most popular digital platform for Muslim women and they have phenomenally talented writers who pen their perspectives on current news and experiences; a definite must-share for everyone!
  6. @laflowers has created the most incredible Latina blogger community of almost 20k strong over at @weallgrowlatina. You can count on them for funny, poignant, and powerful content – te adoro!
  7. My senator @kamalaharris has one of the best political Instagram accounts I’ve seen. Even after her campaign, she continues to be a trailblazer for change through the informative content she shares everyday. 2020 anyone?
  8. The girl crushes continue with @senduckworth. She frequently posts updates on what’s happening in government and is such a superstar bad ass that you will wish that a zillion more Tammy Duckworth’s were in government. (Psst… see #9 for help with this!)
  9. Since the election, over 6,000 women have enrolled in an incubator program to help them run for office. And who’s behind this incredible program? One of my favorite organizations @sheshouldrun. If you have ever thought about running for office or know someone who should, definitely check them out!
  10. Another one of my favorite nonprofits out there is @shesthefirst. They are literally changing the game for girls (and therefore the world) with their vision to help women around the globe become the 1st in their families to receive education.

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Sometimes, We Need A Digital Detox

In 2017, unplugging and disconnecting from technology and the social world sounds like the last thing we want to do.

 

We feel the need to stay up-to-date with the news, which ironically can tend to wear us down. Nevertheless, we scroll through our feeds and timelines and run endless searches for “How can we impeach Donald Trump?” Information overload – it gets exhausting. How are we supposed to bring justice and equality when we’re overstimulated and low on energy?

 

Our hyperconnectivity can also create unnecessary obstacles along our self-care journey; the important journey that unlocks the ammo for the fight. There’s no way we can stay plugged into every tragedy or scandal in the news while staying sane at the same time.

 

But I can’t lie, I’m living right along with the 84% of cell phone users who claim they could not go a single day without their device. Detachment from our screens is necessary, and those of us who are dedicated to improving self-care have to learn how to unplug. It’s important for us to learn to power-down with the intent to recharge and refocus internally.

 

We won’t find solitude outside of ourselves. Solitude is found within and helps keep us grounded in the noisy outer world.

 

So I challenge you (and myself) to do yourself a favor and look up. There’s an abundance of beautiful, inspiring life happening right in front of our faces, but we have to look up beyond our phones, laptops, and tablets to experience it. Observe our world IRL (in real life).

 

Unplug long enough to go out and collect information in the real world and use it to create content and solution instead of spending hours of time consuming other people’s content and information. You have something special to contribute. And we need you fully charged to continue to help change this world.

 

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Why You Need to See “Hidden Figures”

If you haven’t seen Hidden Figures yet, do not wait any longer! The story of Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan, three African-American women who provided NASA the mathematical data to launch one of our country’s first successful space missions, is one that has never been told in Hollywood.

 

This is why representation matters. How often do we see a Hollywood film where women, especially women of color, are being brilliant human computers? Not often. And this story is real American history! Right now, I urge everyone in this country to see this film and bring a little girl in your life along with you. Our girls need to see this inspiration. We all do!

 

Fun fact to add motivation, Hidden Figures became the #1 movie in America at the box office after opening weekend! Let’s keep it going! Let’s prove that these are the stories and films that Hollywood should spend millions of dollars in producing.

 

This story is one of the most important stories that could be told in the current state of our society. We need to continue to encourage the Katherine’s, Mary’s, and Dorothy’s of tomorrow. Let’s start by sharing the truth today. Go see #HiddenFigures!

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Meijer Eliminates Plus-Size Section

The fashion industry has a history of making Plus-Size women feel more like the “other.” Go shop in the “other” section. Select from these “other” styles and designs, and pay these “other” prices.

From my own experience (and the 200+ comments on my Facebook post), treating plus-sized women like the “other” can make something as ordinary as shopping a real self-esteem downer. It comes with many inconveniences and, if you LOVE fashion like I do, it can make you feel unworthy of being stylish in your own skin.

When one of my favorite actresses, Leslie Jones, couldn’t find a designer to make something for her to wear to her “Ghostbusters” premiere, she took to social media to express her frustration.

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You are not alone @lesdoggg!

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Anyone who has ever had to separate from friends at the mall while on a shopping trip knows how frustrating it is. You just want to shop for the same cute styles as the next girl—in YOUR size. Yet, we have to part ways and enter the section of over-priced and under-fashioned clothing (and why on earth is the Plus-Size section always by the appliances anyway?).

 

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Did you know that the average American woman now wears between a size 16 and a size 18? The industry calls us “plus-size women,” a term that fashion consultant and television personality Tim Gunn would like to erase. He says the fashion industry needs a makeover “because plus-size women deserve fashion – and we deserve the same amount choices offered to straight sizes.”

I couldn’t agree more, and Meijer agrees too.

 

Meijer recently announced that by 2017, they’ll have eliminated the “plus-size department” — combining all sizes on the same rack across 230 stores in the Midwest. Finally, an open-door invitation for all people who love fashion to enjoy a positive shopping experience — and that’s good for business!

 

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This will completely change the shopping experience at Meijer, creating a space that allows all women shop together based on fashion trend, not size. They are also selling all clothing in all sizes at same price — THANK YOU!!! 🙏🏼


Check out this video from Meijer’s “Plus-Size” elimination and inclusion announcement. You can really feel the happiness and joy in JoElla’s heart in this video – I feel it too! This is a great example of what brands can do to make consumers feel connected, included and SEEN.  Love it! More please!

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2016 Saw The Most Inclusive Emmys Ever (But There’s Still Work To Do)

Sunday night, The 68th Primetime Emmy awards honored the best of American TV from this past year. From the Emmy presenters to the actual award recipients, The 2016 Emmys were the most diverse and inclusive celebration entertainment has seen yet.

 

Anyone tuned-in to The Emmys was sure to notice the bold presence of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. We saw names like Sterling K. Brown, Courtney B. Vance and Rami Malek take Emmys for their lead and supporting acting roles. Jordan Peele and Michael Keegan-Key won awards for Outstanding Comedy Variety Series (and many more behind-the-screen) for “Key & Peele.” Regina King reached out to share a touching moment with fellow Black actress Taraji P. Henson (Cookie from “Empire”) as she gracefully walked to the stage to accept her award for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie in “American Crime.” And although she didn’t receive the Emmy award, Tracee Ellis-Ross made history as the first Black woman in 30 years to be nominated for lead actress in a comedy series for “Black-ish.” Not one, but two female directors went home with Emmys; Susanne Bier for “The Night Manager” and Jill Soloway for “Transparent.”

 

Soloway accepted her award with a powerful speech that spoke to the world-changing impact of taking women, people of color, trans people and queer people, and putting them at the center of the story, making them subjects instead of objects. She ended her speech with an unforgettable closing statement,

“We need to stop violence against transgender woman and topple the patriarchy! Topple the patriarchy!”

Actor Jeffrey Tambor, who plays a trans character in “Transparent”, proclaimed that, he “he hopes to be the last cis gender actor to win an Emmy award for playing a trans character.” Leslie Jones addressed her experience with sexual assault and cyber bullying head-on, making light of it through a joke of course.

 

A majority of the award presenters we saw on our screens were women and/or people of color such as Constance Wu, Damon Wayans, Kerry Washington, Aziz Ansari, Laverne Cox, America Ferrera, Anthony Anderson and Leslie Jones. This year, 24.6% of the acting nominations went to non-white actors, an increase from last year’s ceremony. (That still falls behind the approximately 28.3% of speaking characters on television who were black, Latino, Asian or Middle Eastern in 2015, according to a USC Annenberg report released in 2016.)

 

Time Magazine’s “diversity roundup” of the Emmys breaks down the progress. While this on-screen representation was a monumental step forward for the entertainment industry, this momentum should continue building and create more intersectionality behind the camera. Many news recaps are showcasing the diversity of The Emmys, but the primetime awards show doesn’t highlight the winners from “other” categories.

 

One place where the Emmys are still lacking diversity and inclusion is behind the screens in the director’s chairs and on production crews. Explore many of the non-primetime categories; there are few cases of minority team members winning an award. In 2015–16, women comprised 26% of creators, directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and directors of photography working on broadcast network, cable, and streaming programs. This represents an increase of 1 percentage point from 25% in 2014–15, and no change from 26% in 2012–13 (from the Boxed In 2015–16 report by Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film, San Diego State University). In the 2015–16 season, 153 directors who had never worked in episodic television were hired by employers (studios, networks, and executive producers) — 15% were ethnic minorities, and 23% were women (DGA Study: Women and Ethnic Minorities Continue to be Overlooked for Critical First Breaks in Television Directing). The study also revealed that 81% (619) of all first-time episodic directors during a seven-year span (2009–16) were male and only 19% (144) were female; 86% (656) were Caucasian while just 14% (107) were minority directors.

 

This data presents a huge wake-up call to the entertainment industry in the way that stories are being written and told, and also for the investment the industry is making in developing minority talent. Directors like Ava DuVernay and Jill Soloway make it a priority in their process to hire diverse production crews for “Queen Sugar” and “Transparent,” respectively.

 

At the 68th Emmy Awards, Aziz Ansari and writer Alan Yang accepted theOutstanding Writing for a Comedy Series award for Master of None episode “Parents.” In his acceptance speech, Yang reminded us of the harsh truth that there are just as many Asian-Americans as there are Italian-Americans, yet they Italian-Americans have The Godfather, Goodfellas, Rocky; Asian-Americans have no representation. He assured to all Asian-American parents watching that,

 

“If a couple of them [Asian-American parents], get cameras for their children instead of violins, we’ll be all good.”

While Yang delivered this bit of advice in a humorous tone, there is a lot of truth to his statement. The earlier people are exposed to storytelling professions in our entertainment and media industry, the sooner they explore interests and talents. What’s the best way to impress a young person? Through a combination of exposure from media representation and personal conversation.

 

But on the other hand, it’s appropriate to shed light on the fact that many industry executives are simply afraid of adding color to the old white canvas. But it’s time to do a very courageous thing called “getting over fears” for the sake of humanity. All people of all ethnicities, genders, abilities, sizes and ages deserve equality and truthful depiction, especially in America. Now more than ever, there’s a critical need for more representation in mixed media images. There’s a need to amplify more media that will inspire, inform and ultimately create the sparks of connectivity among people around the world. The storytellers of media are the authors of culture.

 

Looking back in history, this moment, The 68th Emmys, will be remembered as a peak in the journey of the fight for equality. For those optimistic about change, rightfully so. But there is still a long way to go before our true cultural representation has been lifted.

 

America Ferrera appeared on stage to present an award, but there were no Latinos nominated for any category across the board; on-screen or off. Yang and Ansari were two of the few minorities to win an award for a role behind the camera of a television production. Shout-out to Will Smith for winning the Outstanding Comedy Series award as a Co-Executive producer for “Veep.” Other than them, Key and Peele, and Asian-American dance crew, Quest Crew, for Outstanding Choreography, television industry minorities making things happen behind the screen continue to appear on the Emmy award-winning list (and nominees) few and far between.

 

And it’s not that the minorities qualified for these jobs don’t exist. Hollywood has to do a better job at intentionally opening the doors and supporting development for minorities when it comes to hiring, storytelling and marketing our content. These stories matter, too.

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10 Creative Women In Hollywood You Should Be Following

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Diversity.

Inclusion.

Equality.

 

These words are hot topics of discussion in the entertainment industry lately. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware that Hollywood has a huge diversity & inclusion problem. Our media is supposed to represent the extremely diverse society we live in, yet far less than half of American TV and film is created by people who don’t identify as white or male.

 

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The Media, Diversity & Social Change (MDSC) Initiative at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism calls this an #InclusionCrisis. Their newest study shows that,

 

“Behind the camera, female directors were just 4.1% of those hired on the 800 films evaluated between 2007 and 2015 (excluding 2011). Women of color were almost absent from these ranks, with just 3 Black or African-American females and 1 Asian female in the director’s chair. Overall, directors from underrepresented racial groups fared poorly. Only 5.5% of the 886 directors examined were Black or African American and 2.8% were Asian or Asian American.”

 

A common excuse I hear for this #InclusionCrisis is that executives “can’t find” women creatives (up-and-coming and seasoned veterans) to hire for work.

 

Well, I’m here to give them a shout; loud and proud! Here are 10 stand-out, creative women in Hollywood we should ALL be paying attention to.

P.S. It was actually extremely hard to narrow my list down to 10 because there are actually so many to choose from. (Here’s a list of 90 more women where these came from.)

 

1. Ava DuVernay

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Ava is the director of Selma, I Will Follow and Middle of Nowhere. Her newest production, OWN TV’s Queen Sugar (television show), was created in collaboration with Oprah Winfrey. She is the first black woman to direct a film nominated for Best Picture (Selma) and the founder of ARRAY; a distribution company geared toward female filmmakers and people of color.

 

2. Debbie Allen

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Debbie Allen is an actress and well-seasoned television director (countless episodes over nearly 30 years). Recently, she directed episodes of Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy (where she also appears as a character in a recurring role).

 

3. Elizabeth Banks

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Elizabeth is the producer of Pitch Perfect, both the first and the sequel (as well as acting in it as a cappella commentator, Gail). Rightfully so, Universal Studios hired her to direct the upcoming third Pitch Perfect. She’s also said to be working on a Charlie’s Angels reboot.

 

4. So Yong Kim

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So Yong is a writer-director who’s made 3 drama films: In Between Days, Treeless Mountain and For Ellen. She picked up a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for her first film, In Between Days, about a Korean girl navigating immigrant life in Canada.

 

5. Gurinder Chadha

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Gurinder directed Bend It Like Beckham, helping to launch the careers of many actors (like Keira Knightley, Parminder Nagra, and Archie Panjabi). She also directed British film, Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging, which raised the profile of Aaron Taylor-Johnson. She’s currently working on an animated DreamWorks musical about Bollywood.

 

6. Martha Coolidge

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Martha is the ONLY female president in the history of the Directors Guild of America. With a few decades of working in the industry, she’s also directed a plethora of interesting films like: Real Genius, Valley Girl, Rambling Rose and Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

 

7. Anne Fletcher

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Ann Fletcher revitalized Sandra Bullock’s acting career in 2009 by directing romantic-comedy, The Proposal (which gave Bullock her biggest success ever at the time). She also helped put Channing Tatum on the map by directing the first Step Up film.

 

8. Julie Taymor

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Julie directed a huge (over $6-billion-gross-huge) musical stage production of Disney’s The Lion King. She’s also directed content about some of the world’s most iconic artists: 3 Shakespeare adaptations, a Beatles musical, an Oscar-nominated biopic of Frida Kahlo

 

9. Dee Rees

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Dee is the writer and director of Pariah; a refreshing “coming-out” story about a young black lesbian in Brooklyn, NY (Adepero Oduye). She also directed the recent HBO mini-series, Bessie (starring Queen Latifah).

 

10. Gina Prince-Bythewood

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Gina is the director of 2014’s highly-underrated Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees, and the 2000 classic romance film Love & Basketball. She has also written several episodes of the iconic American TV show “A Different World.”

 

And there we have it. 10 women creatives who definitely deserve seats in the director’s chair for Hollywood’s blockbusters.

 

Learn their faces and their accolades. Bring these directors up in conversation. Share this list with a friend. If we shout out these incredible women loud and long enough, Hollywood will have to listen.

 

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#BlogHer16 Closing Keynote Recap

It’s not often that we get to have honest, public discussions with a few hundred folks about intersectional feminism and activism. That’s exactly what we did at the closing keynote of the #BlogHer16 conference this past Saturday. I was honored to moderate this inspiring panel conversation about how people in the public eye can use their platform for activism. As well as about how we all can serve to be better allies to the causes that move us.

 

My long-term partners at Dove kicked off the panel sharing about their new campaign #MyBeautyMySay and it’s right on time for the Olympics! The media too often makes comments about female athletes and their appearance rather than focusing on their accomplishments. And have you read these headlines lately?? Now accomplished female athletes are being described by their husbands rather than their own achievements!

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So leave it to our panel of bad asses to break it all down! I was joined by the incredible: Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Matt McGorry, and professional boxer Heather “The Heat” Hardy. As actors and athletes in the public eye they are also fighting for social justice – whether it’s HIV/AIDS awareness, civil rights, racial and gender equality or equal pay. They are all utilizing their privilege and public platforms to speak out.

 

We dug into what makes a good ally – especially to causes where you are not the predominant demographic effected (think: how to be a good white ally for Black Lives Matter) and also how to fight injustice within your own field of business (think: how to challenge sexism and racism amongst your co-workers and bosses). Not easy subjects for sure. But this panel handled it with such clarity, grace, and courage. We could have gone on for hours more. So much work still left to do. But catch up on some of the highlights below.

 

And remember this is a conversation that is just in its beginning stages – we have to continue to work together and have the hard conversations because #ChangeIsAWeThing.

Panel Conversation Highlights:

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Too bad I didn’t enjoy myself.

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The whole BlogHer team!

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Jess’ Bookshelf: All the Single Ladies

In honor of Independence Day, let’s put our attention on the largest growing demographic of women who are poised to change our world – Single Ladies!

 

If you let mainstream media and advertising paint the picture of single women – they are usually lovelorn, seeking marriage or partnership and generally feeling incomplete about their lives.

 

But cue reality: today’s single women are more satisfied personally, professionally driven, and delaying decisions like marriage and children until, when or if they are ready.

 

They are seeking a life that unites their value system with their circumstance. Many are single by choice, choosing powerfully to re write their own family legacies, expectations and societal impositions.

 

Oh, and in case you aren’t convinced yet – Single Women are also basically going to decide our next President.

 

In 2012 single women were 23% of the vote for Barack Obama and a major player when it came to getting Obama re-elected! Think about that for a second, in 2012 single women made up almost an entire QUARTER of votes in the United States.

 

If you haven’t picked up Rebecca Traister’s new book – please do. It was this descriptive sentence that made me click “Buy” on Amazon Prime:

 

“All the Single Ladies” is a remarkable portrait of contemporary American life and how we got here, through the lens of the single American woman.

 

Covering class, race, sexual orientation, and filled with vivid anecdotes from fascinating contemporary and historical figures, “All the Single Ladies” is destined to be a classic work of social history and journalism.

 

And you can catch more of Rebecca’s incredible insights here:

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United State Of Women Photo Recap

This past Tuesday, I was honored to both attend and speak at The United State of Women Summit!

 

The Summit brought together thought leaders and community members passionate about gender equality, served to celebrate the progress we’ve made throughout the Obama administration and to discuss solutions to continue the work we are doing.

 

But for me, this event also served as a gorgeous coming together of my career tribe. I’ve been working in the women and girls empowerment space for over 20 years. You meet A LOT of incredible people over the course of two decades, and it was fulfilling and energizing to see hundreds of those people all together at this momentous event.

 

USOW2On Monday night, we kicked off this incredible event with my partners at Mattel and She Should Run. Our welcome dinner brought together leaders from all areas of women’s empowerment from bloggers to entrepreneurs, educators, public servants, and brand executives. I believe Change is a we thing, and this photo only touches the surface on how excited I get when all of the amazing people I know are in the same room!

 

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Lisa McKnight, SVP, Marketing, North America at Mattel
(check out Erin Cutraro trying to photobomb us! 😉 )

 

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Oh, there she is! Erin Cutraro, Co-Founder & CEO of She Should Run

 

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The next morning we headed out to The United State of Women Summit. Over 5,000 leaders were in attendance making so as you can imagine, the energy that filled the space was exhilarating!

 

The day opened with an address from Vice President Joe Biden. He addressed sexual assault and violence against women, leaving everyone with a very clear message: it’s on us to change the culture for survivors.

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From L to R: Juliana Chugg, Ana Flores, Jill Biden Owens, Jess Weiner, Jamia Wilson, Amy Poehler, Meredith Walker, Dr. Stacy Smith

After the VP’s speech I had the pleasure of hosting a panel on Revolutionizing Gender Norms. We had an AH-MAZING group of women including Meredith Walker and Amy Poehler – Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party, Jamia Wilson, Executive Director of Women Action Media, Ana Flores, Founder of Latina Bloggers Connect, Juliana Chugg, the EVP and Chief Brand Officer at Mattel, and my colleague Dr. Stacy Smith of the University of Southern California Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative.

 

Together this panel explored solutions around how to increase diverse representation in the media, deconstruct gender norms, and own our voices and stories.

 

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Two of my favorite Smart Girls!

 

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After the panel – we raced downstairs to get a good seat to hear The PRESIDENT of the United States, Barack Obama, who gave one of the best speeches of his career.

 

Best line of the President’s speech which was chock-full of amazing sentiment about women’s empowerment was: “I may be a little greyer than I was 8 years ago, but this is what a FEMINIST looks like”. Boom.

 

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And then this happened. I was invited to meet THE FIRST LADY!

 

I could barely speak but I did manage to utter, “I love you” about a zillion times. I’ve been fortunate to work with The First Lady’s office on important issues like gender stereotypes.

 

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As if all of this excitement wasn’t enough for one day – I had a chance to do a West Wing tour with my friends from Starfish. Starfish is a spectacular organization that is dedicated to unlocking and maximizing the potential of young women in Guatemala to lead transformational change. The two lovely women featured here are leaders in their community and are fighting for education reform in their country.

 

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The next day I definitely had a happiness hangover. I then headed over to the National Academy of Sciences to speak to other thought-leaders about explicit and implicit bias in media and how it impacts our families and children.

 

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In her closing remarks, Michelle Obama spoke about how important it was to open the doors of the White House for people who normally wouldn’t have access. I feel lucky to have been one of those people and they have allowed advocates (or advo-consultants) to use their powerful platform to raise the important issues impacting our women and girls.

 

It’s events like this, moments in history really, that make me take a step back and reflect on all that has happened over the course of my career. I can hardly believe all of the change I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of throughout my time in this space, and I can hardly wait to see all that’s yet to come!

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Inclusivity and Diversity: What’s the Difference?

“I really hate the word ‘diversity.’ It suggests something…other. As if it is something special, or rare. Diversity! As if there is something unusual about telling stories involving women and people of color and LGBTQ characters on TV. I have a different word: normalizing. I’m normalizing TV. I am making TV look like the world looks.” – Shonda Rhimes

 

There’s a lot of buzz around words like “diversity” and “inclusivity” in everything from media to business… but what do these words even mean?

 

They’re often used interchangeably, but really the two words are very much distinct from one another.

 

Diversity is simply variety. It is abstract, random, malleable, and, border-line SFSN (sounds fabulous, signifies nothing!)

 

What we should be striving for is inclusivity.

 

Shifting the conversation from diversity to inclusivity changes a person’s experience from:  

 

“I’m here because of my race/gender/sexuality/disability. I’m here because I’m different.”

 

To:

 

“I’m here because what I have to say is important, and I’m working with others to overcome the systemic barriers that keep my story from being told.”

 

Inclusivity incorporates the wholeness of individuals. People are more than their labels, more than their upbringing, more than their social status, more than their job.

 

Inclusive media is important so people can see themselves represented in culture. It makes them feel connected, rather than abnormal or “other.”

 

Being inclusive is beneficial for businesses, organizations, and other institutions, too. If you want to make something better, you need to bring in different types of people and their ideas.

 

Working toward consistently being more “inclusive” you are able to take in every part of the multifaceted individuals who make up your team.
Working toward being more “diverse,” not only do you miss out on every special component that make up the whole persons you work with, but you miss the point.

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