Featuring industry leading expert presentations, live discussions, and meet ups, the ALL IN, a free virtual event taking place May 24-27, organized by HPA ALL, the foundational program driving Hollywood Professional Association-led actions focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the industry, aims to be an important and engaging event facilitating conversations about this important work between community members in locations around the world. In order to make the event accessible to a wide number of participants, all presentations of ALL IN are scheduled between 11 AM and 12:30 PDT.
Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) serves the professional community of businesses and individuals who provide expertise, support, tools and the infrastructure for the creation and finishing of motion pictures, television, commercials, digital media and other dynamic media content. The HPA ALL program strengthens the media & entertainment community by supporting and highlighting career pathways and creating opportunities for contributions by and visibility for underrepresented groups. ALL will drive HPA-led initiatives for outreach, education, and networking, and partner with advocacy and identity based entities and leading industry organizations toward the benefit of our industry as a whole.
On Monday, May 24, ALL IN kicks off with a presentation from Rajkumari Neogy entitled “Understanding Humans @ Work.” Neogy has spent 25 years at the intersection of technology and culture, working with some of the most important technology companies in the world. In her session, she will explore the brain’s circuity of emotion and motivation and how it directly shapes our leadership styles and our levels of engagement from meeting to meeting.
This session is the first in a four-part series sponsored by HPA. The sessions with Neogy offer a unique and important opportunity to engage with one of the industry’s most prominent executive coaches. Subsequent sessions begin in June and further details are available at hpaonline.com. The week culminates on May 27 with the HPA League Honors, announced previously, when five industry visionaries will be recognized for their groundbreaking work.
Hollywood Professional Association has shared some more information about the free virtual event now announced, which you’ll can read below.
Monday, May 24: Inclusive Leadership & Community
Servant leaders, inclusion, allies, collaboration, and a more inclusive workplace and industry. Our impacts as individuals and organizations. HPA is proud to present an invaluable series with a compelling thought leader, Rajkumari Neogy.
- Rajkumari Neogy: Understanding Humans@Work
Have you ever considered where leadership styles come from? Have you ever given feedback repeatedly to a co-worker only to find yourself frustrated with the lack of acknowledgement, or improvement or even simply the willingness to be accountable? Come explore the brain’s circuity of emotion and motivation and, how it directly shapes our leadership styles and our levels of engagement from meeting to meeting in this 45-minute introductory session, with 15 Q&A at the end. You’ll walk away with a handout that outlines each of the circuits and their direct influence on leadership styles, along with some self-reflective questions. - Commitment to Action: Profiles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs
An important conversation with HPA partners to learn about their current and future DEI initiatives. Participants include: - Avid – the Avid Customer Association (Jeff Rosica, CEO)
- Dell Technologies (Sarah Ramirez, Social Justice Advocacy & Partnerships)
- National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) (Alexandria Latimer, President, Capital Region chapter)
- Core Conversation: Netflix
Tuesday, May 25: Bridging the Gender Gap
How can we be more inclusive to all genders? Discussions facilitated by several female leaders examine where we need to focus on corporate and technical levels.
- Core Conversation: Samata Narra (Senior Vice President of Enterprise Inclusion, WarnerMedia)
Samata Narra is senior vice president of Enterprise Inclusion, content strategy for WarnerMedia. She is responsible for building innovative tools and global systems across the company to help facilitate the advancement of equity and inclusion in our storytelling. Prior to joining WarnerMedia, she was senior vice President of Comedy Development and Current Programming for FOX where she developed and oversaw live action and animated comedy series. While there, she had the pleasure of working with the creative forces behind The Last Man on Earth, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, Bob’s Burgers, and the Mindy Project. She is on the board of Film2Future, a non-profit providing equitable access to the entertainment industry for underrepresented LA youth. Her other board work includes Colour Entertainment and South Asian Women in Entertainment (SAWIE). - SMPTE Panel: Bias & Ethics in Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence
An exploration of the influence of human bias on machine learning and modeling. What are the effects? How can data be used to remove bias? Is it possible to have a completely unbiased model that would lead to a truly unbiased and ethical artificial intelligence environment? What are the ethical dangers and how can we mitigate within the media and entertainment space? Panelists include Poppy Crum (Chief Scientist, Dolby), Nicole Thrakulchavee (Delivery Coordinator, Company 3 and HPA YEP ’01), and Dr. Haile Owusu (SVP of Analytics, Decisions and Data Sciences, Turner Broadcasting Systems); moderated by Renard Jenkins (Vice President of Content Transmission, WarnerMedia).
- HPA Women In Post Hosted Conversation
An opportunity to participate in a guided discussion of the day’s theme and suggested content HPA
Wednesday, May 26: The Next Generation
How do we create a more equitable future for the next generation, including neurodiverse people?
- Core Conversation with David Siegel (Executive Director, Exceptional Minds) and Camille Proctor (Executive Director and Founder, The Color of Autism)
David Siegel is the executive director for Exceptional Minds, a Los Angeles training academy and digital arts studio for people with autism. He will be in conversation with Camille Proctor, the mother of a son on the autism spectrum and founder of the Color of Autism Foundation, which supports African American families with children on the autism spectrum.
- HPA Young Entertainment Professionals: A YEP Perspective on DEI
Vignettes from our current Young Entertainment Professionals class on what diversity, equity, and inclusion means to them - HPA Young Entertainment Professionals Hosted Conversation
An opportunity to participate in a guided discussion of the day’s theme and suggested content.
Thursday, May 27: Celebrating Role Models
We celebrate some amazing people in media and entertainment who bring diversity of thought and inclusion to a broader audience.
- Core Conversation with Chris White (Visual Effects Supervisor, Weta Digital)
Award-winning VFX Supervisor Chris White has more than 25 years’ industry experience creating compelling digital environments, creatures and effects. Chris has played a pivotal role in the development of Weta Digital’s new water pipeline for the Avatar sequels, bringing technical and artistic expertise to this cutting-edge technology that is setting a new industry standard for the creation of digital water. He has been supervising Weta’s work on Netflix’s Umbrella Academy series, creating Pogo and the talking fish AJ Carmichael. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for ‘The White Violin’ episode in Season 1 (2019). Chris also recently supervised the space-travelling chimp Marcus for the comedy Space Force (2020).
- The HPA League Honors
Recognizing diverse members of the HPA community who shine as examples of innovation and leadership
In addition to each day’s presentations and discussions, curated content linked to the day’s theme will be available from Tone Networks, a video-based learning and leadership development platform empowering female employees through expert content, live coaching and a vibrant online community. The playlists are expert-driven, compelling information on important topics.
Hollywood Professional Association ALL IN is supported by the generous support of event sponsors Adobe, Blackmagic, Company 3, Dell Technologies, and WarnerMedia; trophy sponsor Deluxe; and contributing sponsors Envoi, Prime Focus Technologies, Tone Networks, and Xperi.
For more information about Hollywood Professional Association, HPA ALL, and the HPA League Honors, visit hpaonline.com.