Leaders from Women in Technology Hollywood (WITH) will discuss everything from talent development to ageism in the industry to creating a diverse workforce May 23 at the Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS) at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles.
In the WiTH keynote “Powering Scalability and Innovation through Governance” Albertina Cardiel, IT governance, risk and compliance director and diversity and inclusion leader for Softtek will dive into why a holistic approach to governance is essential to powering scalability and innovation in the production environment.
Attendees will learn about Softtek’s unique approach, which combines IT best practices with talent development programs, workflow technology, and collaborative methodologies. Additionally, they’ll hear how Softtek’s commitment to empowering women in technology is building a more diverse and talented workforce.
In the panel “Film Forward: Transforming Workforce Training with Award-Winning Films” Filiz Bahmanpour, VP of product for Gracenote and WiTH board member will lead the discussion around Film Forward, an experiential learning platform for a dynamic, creative and diverse workforce, replacing boring corporate training videos with groundbreaking learning journeys built around award-winning short films from around the world.
The platform delivers a range of curricula as monthly learning modules — from employee onboarding to DEI education to management and inclusive leadership training — that build capacity for employees and deliver deep insights for leadership. This session discusses how innovative training within your organization (or business unit) helps increase psychological safety, the individual, team, and organizational aptitudes that drive innovation and an equitable company culture. It also looks behind the scenes at how their content ecosystem increases access and career sustainability for the creators on whose work the programs are built.
Emily Best, founder of Seed&Spark and Film Forward; Zack Hall, VP of people and organization for Sony Pictures Entertainment; and Hilarie Holt, VP of U.S. scripted programming for Sony Pictures Television, will discuss.
Then in WiTH Connection Corner panel “Challenging Age Stereotypes: Creating Synergy and Building Stronger Teams” experts will tackle to issue of ageism in the industry. We’ve all experienced it – being judged or judging someone for being too young or too old. As workplaces today often consist of people from four distinct generations, how do we acknowledge and overcome the challenges inherent in cross-generational culture? Panelists look at our own bias surrounding Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers, addressing common misconceptions and communication barriers between generations.
Attendees will learn how to transform generational friction into an inclusive learning culture and gain increased self-awareness of your own sentiments toward other generations, as well as practical ideas for fostering unity and promoting positive change. Discover how you can turn communication challenges into learning opportunities that strengthen teams through experience-sharing, curiosity, and asking the right questions.
Beate Chelette, growth architect for Chelette Enterprises, Inc. leads the discussion with iAsia Brown, producer for Xbox Game Studios Publishing and WiTH board member; Liz Husarik, managing partner of Maverix Insights & Strategy; Niamani Knight, founder of S.T.R.E.A.M.; and Linda LoRe, CEO of InJoy Global and Linda LoRe Consulting.
The annual Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS) Spring event is the industry’s largest gathering of media and entertainment’s CIOs and top technology minds, bringing together the IT, data, and security communities of the industry.
Held as a “hybrid” in-person and virtual event, those not in Los Angeles can attend via Zoom or the MESAverse, MESA’s virtual work environment for its members and communities to watch live presentations, network, and step on the stage to share opinions.
The MESAverse uses ICVR’s RendezVu, a proprietary, interactive 3D-world application that will allow for hybrid live and virtual events and regular day-to-day interactions that go far beyond video conferencing.
The Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit event is produced by MESA in association with the Hollywood IT Society (HITS) and presented by Amazon Studios Technology, with sponsorship by Fortinet, Genpact, Prime Focus Technologies, Signiant, Softtek, Convergent, Gracenote, Altman Solon, AppTek, Ascendion, Coresite, EPAM, MicroStrategy, Veritone, CDSA, EIDR and PDG Consulting.
To register for the event, click here.
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