We brought together more than two hundred visionary speakers for this summit - and the topics they spoke about were equally ambitious. The overall event was divided into central themes based on the topics we covered.

About This Session:

How can meeting planners or anyone with a stage to fill or event to host ensure they are being as inclusive as possible? In this dynamic session, you'll learn from the people who are already transforming live experiences by including more diverse speakers and reimagining how we decide who takes the stage. This session will also offer a behind-the-scenes look at how our team curated the entire experience of this Non-Obvious Beyond Diversity summit. [EX3]

Tash Thomas

DICE, EUROPEAN COWORKER ASSEMBLY

Dino Meyers-Lamptey

DIVERSE SPEAKERS

Monica Sack

SXSW

Bonnie Stetz

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

About the Speakers:

• Rohit Bhargava: Rohit is the founder of Non-Obvious Company and the #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Non-Obvious Megatrends. He has dedicated his career to helping leaders and professionals learn to see what others miss. Rohit also co-founded Ideapress Publishing with his wife Chhavi and previously spent 15 years as a marketing strategist for Ogilvy and Leo Burnett. He also occasionally teaches marketing, innovation and storytelling at Georgetown University.
• Tash Thomas, Director of DE&I for the European Coworking Assembly - As a queer, black woman, Tash is passionate about highlighting the intersections within DE&I, as well as creating more positive LGBTQ+ visibility.
• Dino Meyers-Lamptey, Founder, The Barber Shop - Dino Myers-Lamptey is the Founder of The Barber Shop, and Diverse Speakers. He was a founding member of Media For All (MeFA) also sits as Co-Chair of The Alliance of Independent Agencies and is a member of the Snapchat Creative Council.
• Monica Sack, Head of Programming Advancement, SXSW - As Head of Programming Advancement, Monica Sack oversees the general timeline and logistics for the SXSW Conference. In addition, she manages the Government & Politics, and Health & MedTech tracks of programming.
• Bonnie Stetz, Director, Conference Content Design at the National Association of REALTORS® - Bonnie is a global business event strategist reimagining the attendee experience. She’s currently designing content strategy for the marquee events of the United States’ largest trade association, the National Association of REALTORS®.

About This Session:

In this exclusive interview from the Non-Obvious Insights Show, director Aneesh Chaganty shares the evolution of the unique style he used for his award-winning film Searching, talks about the process of finding and casting a disabled lead star for his latest film, and what it was like being a minority director breaking into the industry. [ET4]

Aneesh Chaganty

WRITER/DIRECTOR

About the Speakers:

• Rohit Bhargava: Rohit is the founder of Non-Obvious Company and the #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Non-Obvious Megatrends. He has dedicated his career to helping leaders and professionals learn to see what others miss. Rohit also co-founded Ideapress Publishing with his wife Chhavi and previously spent 15 years as a marketing strategist for Ogilvy and Leo Burnett. He also occasionally teaches marketing, innovation and storytelling at Georgetown University.
• Aneesh Chaganty, Filmmaker - Aneesh Chaganty is the writer and director of "Searching" and "Run"
  

About This Session:

How can access be increased to high-barrier opportunities in film and television? This cast of speakers discusses few and inaccurate representations of underrepresented communities in popular media, along with opportunities for increasing their visibility with depth, authenticity, and nuance. [ET2]

Panel was produced in partnership with SRC Partners

Zora DeHorter

CASTING DIRECTOR

Y. Shireen Razack

PRODUCER, NEW AMSTERDAM

Charlene Polite Corley

NIELSEN

Lydia Dean Pilcher

CINE MOSAIC

About the Speakers:

• Lydia Dean Pilcher, President, Film Producer and Director, Cine Mosaic - Lydia Dean Pilcher is a two-time Emmy Award winning independent film and television producer and director, and the founder of Cine Mosaic, a leading production company with a wide range of business partners in the US, Europe, India, Turkey, Africa and the Middle East.
• Y. Shireen Razack, Co-Executive Producer, New Amsterdam - Y. Shireen Razack is the co-executive producer for NBC’s New Amsterdam and the co-founder and co-chair of the Think Tank for Inclusion & Equity, an association for TV writers dedicated to improving working conditions for TV writers and to increasing inclusion.
• Charlene Polite Corley, VP, Diverse Insights & Partnerships, Nielsen Media - Charlene Polite Corley is responsible for thought leadership and strategic partnerships that advance the communities Nielsen measures, and demonstrates the imperative of a more inclusive media ecosystem.
• Zora DeHorter, Casting Director - Zora DeHorter Casting - Zora is a Nigerian born, British raised, Hollywood independent/freelance film, television and commercial CASTING DIRECTOR. Zora is on the Board of Directors for the prestigious “Casting Society of America” as Co-VP of Communications.

About This Session:

Join major creators Deniese Davis (Co-Founder ColorCreative, Co-Executive Producer, Insecure) and Meera Menon (Director, Ms. Marvel) - two bold producers who are bringing the diverse faces of America to our screens. These inspiring women will discuss their industry experiences and share their vision for a movement that’s reshaping the entertainment landscape. [ET1]

Panel produced in partnership with SRC Partners

Meera Menon

DIRECTOR - MS. MARVEL
FARAH GOES BANG
GLOW - THE MAGICIANS - OUTLANDER

Deniese Davis

HBO PRODUCER - INSECURE
BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW
COLORCREATIVE

About the Speakers:

• Monika Samtani, Founder, Ms. Media & The Fem Word - Monika Samtani is the president of Ms. Media and co-founder of The Fem Word, a global network broadcasting transformative conversations and real stories of bold womxn in creative spaces. She is a TEDx speaker, impact producer, and media coach. Monika is a producer of “Power of Priya”, India's first female superhero named a gender equality champion by UN Women.
• Deniese Davis, President, Reform Media Group / Co-Founder, ColorCreative - Deniese co-founded the management company ColorCreative with Issa Rae and is currently a Co-Executive Producer on the HBO comedy series INSECURE and a Producer on HBO's variety series, A Black Lady Sketch Show.
• Meera Menon, Filmmaker - Meera Menon is a Jersey born, LA based filmmaker whose directing credits include the feature films EQUITY (Sundance Film Festival) and Farah Goes Bang (Nora Ephron Prize winner, Tribeca Film Festival) and television shows such as Glow, Halt And Catch Fire, The Magicians, Outlander, The Terror, Man In The High Castle, The Walking Dead, and Snowfall. She is a graduate of Columbia University and USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and was a fellow of the Fox Global Directors Initiative.

About This Session:

How can barriers be broken so that access to the stage and theater is more attainable and equitable for underrepresented groups? There are barriers from education and training through to production and audience development. Join this troupe of theater experts and aficionados for a discussion of the immediate opportunities to expand the stage—on and off Broadway. [ST3]

Panel was produced in partnership with Pass the Mic and SRC Partners

AnaSofía Villanueva

THE COLLECTIVE PERSPECTIVE PODCAST

Miranda Gohh

THEATRE PRODUCERS OF COLOR/INDUSTRY STANDARD GROUP

Nicole Brewer

DIRECTOR / EDUCATOR

Jesse Cameron Alick

PUBLIC THEATER

About the Speakers:

• Pun Bandhu, Steering Committee Member of the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) and co-writer of The Visibility Report - Award-winning Actor, Producer and Advocate
• AnaSofia Villanueva, Producer and Collective Member of the podcast, “The Collective Perspective: Reclaiming and Reshaping Theater” - AnaSofía Villanueva is a theater producer, director, writer, and activist.
• Miranda Gohh, Founder of Theatre Producers of Color (TPOC) and Founding Member of The Industry Standard Group (TISG) - She is an Asian American theater producer and manager originally from Providence, RI. She served as the Company Manager at New York City Center with Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) and has worked with 101 Productions, Arena Stage, The Playwrights Realm, Goodspeed Musicals, and Trinity Repertory Company. She serves on ATPAM's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, and also a recipient of the Broadway League's 2019-2020 Rising Star Fellowship and served as a panelist for their 2019 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Summit.
• Nicole Brewer, Anti-Racist Theatre Facilitator, Director, Educator - Working to make my ancestors proud through Joy, Resilience, and Love.
• Jesse Cameron Alick is a poet, playwright, producer, and Zen Master. Jesse is the Literary Manager at The Public Theater, where he manages the flow of plays in and out of the building, reads and sees a very high volume of plays, and feeds plays into the Public’s season pipeline.

About This Session:

Even today the book publishing industry remains overwhelmingly white. Will this ever change? Join this important discussion about the future of publishing and meet the pioneers who are working to evolve this typically slow-moving industry towards a more inclusive future. [ST1]

Samina Ali

AUTHOR / ACTIVIST

Joy Pope

DECATUR BOOK FESTIVAL

Sacha Chadwick

INKLUDED

About the Speakers:

• Rohit Bhargava: Rohit is the founder of Non-Obvious Company and the #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Non-Obvious Megatrends. He has dedicated his career to helping leaders and professionals learn to see what others miss. Rohit also co-founded Ideapress Publishing with his wife Chhavi and previously spent 15 years as a marketing strategist for Ogilvy and Leo Burnett. He also occasionally teaches marketing, innovation and storytelling at Georgetown University.
• Samina Ali - Samina Ali is an award-winning author, curator, and popular speaker. Her debut novel, Madras on Rainy Days, was the winner of France’s prestigious Prix Premier Roman Etranger Award and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award in Fiction. She is currently writing a new book based on her popular Tedx talk, “What Does the Qur’an Really Say about a Muslim Woman’s Hijab?”
• Joy Pope, Director of Decatur Book Festival - Joy Pope is the Executive Director of the popular Decatur Book Festival, one of the largest independent book festivals in America. She holds a dual-genre MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
• Sacha Chadwick is a Brooklyn native with a passion and love for publishing. She works as a publishing professional and is also an associate member of Inkluded Academy, a non-profit committed to recruiting, training, placing, and retaining BIPoC into the publishing industry.

About This Session:

An overwhelming lack of diversity pervades the newsrooms of print and digital publications: racial and ethnic minorities make up only 17% of staff, despite being 40% of the US population. How can diverse journalism and journalists be supported in a way that brings action instead of platitudes? This panel discussion covers the current issues, and immediate opportunities to diversify newsrooms. [ST2]

Seb Joseph

DIGIDAY

Leonor Ayala Polley

NBC NEWS

Aaron Foley

NEWMARK CENTER FOR
COMMUNITY JOURNALISM

About the Speakers:

• Sree Sreenivasan, Co-Founder & CEO, Digimentors - Sree Sreenivasan is cofounder of Digimentors, a digital and virtual-events consultancy and Marshall Loeb visiting professor of Digital Innovation at Stony Brook University.
• Seb Joseph, Senior news editor at Digiday - Seb has been covering the media and advertising industries for the last decade for titles including New Media Age, Marketing Week, The Drum and now Digiday.
• Leonor Ayala is a devoted mama, adventurer, idealist at the core. She is currently Senior Director, Diversity, Equity + Inclusion, NBCU NEWSGROUP.
• Aaron Foley is a journalist and writer originally from Detroit based in New York. He is currently director of the Black Media Initiative at the Center for Community Media at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Recently he was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University in the class of 2020 and is currently working on his third book about cities and gentrification.