Blogs

Last week I had the amazing experience of speaking on a panel at South by Southwest (SXSW) with National Geographic on imagery in the media, and how if we don’t approach it with a level of consciousness, visuals can reinforce old stereotypes about groups of people, absent them from certain narratives, and make fair and accurate storytelling impossible. Much of my work deals with inclu...

There were too many wonderful highlights from Oscar’s 90th and most diverse Academy Awards show this past Sunday to go into all of them here. But two things things in particular made us diversity and inclusion strategists jump for joy. One was Jordan Peele’s win for best original screenplay—which you know we were rooting for because it was a genius way to talk about racism through a horr...

First things first: Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t seen Jordan Peele’s Get Out yet, stop reading after number one below. Then go straight to your TV or computer and start streaming, because you have to see this film. And see it before the Oscars on Sunday night if you can, because it’s up for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Actor (Daniel Kaluuya)—a quadruple...

Last year, my son Tres, who lives in Brooklyn and is a social activist and musician decided that we absolutely needed to find out where we were from. For Christmas, he gave our family the gift of ancestry DNA testing. When the results came in a few weeks ago, he wanted to make an announcement to the whole family at once. Since it’s not easy getting all of us together in one place, we ...

It’s Black History month, and I am definitely in celebration mode. I saw a new documentary on Malcolm X by the Smithsonian Channel. I’m also checking out “hidden figures” in black history like the Forgotten Four, four black football players who integrated the NFL the year before Jackie Robinson did the same in major league baseball, featured in a documentary airing on Hulu. I had no idea...

Finding deep connection means celebrating both our similarities and our differences. Last week I wrote about how moving it was to witness my sister’s graduation from her PhD program. This week has me thinking back on my own education—specifically my time as an undergraduate at Barnard College. An article I wrote for my alma mater just went live, and it happens to come right on the he...