Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Inclusion of women, disabled, cultural diversity focus of talks
Festival co-founder Geena Davis participates in discussion
BENTONVILLE — Celebrities and company executives at the Bentonville Film Festival on Wednesday discussed ways to make workplaces more inclusive for women, the multiculturally diverse and people with disabilities.
Panel discussions were at the Record building as a part of the festival, which celebrates increasing the amount of women and diversity who act in, direct and produce film.
Geena Davis, festival co-founder and Academy Award-winning actor, participated in “Inclusion: Does That Mean Me?,” a discussion with female executives centered on underrepresentation and identifying unconscious biases.
Panelists included Stuart Kronauge, senior vice president of customer marketing for The Coca-Cola Company, Mita Mallick, director of diversity outreach and inclusion for Unilever, Tracey Massey, president of Mars Chocolate North America, Laurel Wilder, founder and CEO of Wonder Crew and Gisel Ruiz, vice president of operations for Sam’s Club.
Moderator Nely Galan of Galan Entertainment kicked off discussions seeking their thoughts on whether inclusion is an active or passive practice.
Massey said women shouldn’t wait to be accepted in the workplace or expect others to pave the way for their success. They should instead forge their way, she said. Ruiz pointed
to a responsibility she feels, as an executive, to make the workplace more welcoming to others by giving employees space to be themselves.
Davis said more women in technical fields would be retained if their work environments were more amenable and made them feel more at ease.
“It’s a big responsibility on the part of the company and everybody else who’s there to make sure you feel that way,” Davis said. “It has to feel authentic, it has to feel real and welcome.”
Galan turned the conversation to the competitive spirit in the workplace and asked if panelists still felt pitted against other women to get ahead.
Ruiz instead sees women who could advance through corporate ranks more quickly but prefer to elevate other women along the way. Mallick agreed empathy gets workers much further. She illustrated with an anecdote about Unilever’s reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement, in which the company dedicated a few hours for African American employees to share their stories and company executives were asked to simply listen and learn. Kronauge agreed such discussions are important as long as everyone involved understands it may not turn out perfectly.
“It’s just like a family, we have to fight and work it out,” Kronauge said. “If we’re going to have conversations we’re afraid to have, you have to forgive people for saying things that might be wrong.”
In talks about catering more advertising efforts toward women, who make up the largest share of consumers in the country, Ruiz recommended a constant dialogue would improve the landscape. Silence wouldn’t encourage change, she said. Mallick said those interested in making change should be prepared for a certain amount of pushback.
“It gets to be very emotional,” Mallick said. “A lot of white men friends in my life say ‘I feel excluded from your agenda.’ You can treat it like a business, but it’s emotional.”
Massey said a good first step was taken by Walmart. The more large suppliers who set a good example will truly change the industry, she said.
Responses to Galan’s inquiry of how companies should go about finding more multicultural women to hire assigned a mix of responsibility. Companies should create more initiatives to find them, such as the program Google used to hire more black women to code, Mallick said. Galan said more women would also have to be more proactive about their entrepreneurial efforts.
Actor Joey Travolta and Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jane Seymour participated in “Lights! Camera! Inclusion!,” a discussion about new options for people with disabilities to live more independently and break into the film industry. Panelists included actress and comedian Maysoon Zayid, Tari Hartman Squire, founding CEO of Ein Sof Communications, Bonnie Boaz, transition coordinator of Arkansas Transition Services, Maryanne Caldwell of Arkansas Rehabilitation Services and Deborah Swink, special education director at Clinton School District.
Most speakers shared anecdotes for how they’re personally helping individuals with disabilities. Travolta began Inclusion Films, a teaching studio for filmmakers with developmental disabilities. “What I do is create opportunities,” Travolta said. When officials with the NBA asked him how they could help with his company, Travolta requested Inclusion Film students be given internships. Rather than continue to accept speaking engagements only for himself, Travolta now finds speaking engagements for his students.
“They’re the reason we’re here at the festival,” he said.
Seymour recounted working with Jenni Gold on CinemAbility, the 2013 documentary exploring whether film and TV is more inclusive of roles for people with disabilities; working with Christopher Reeve on the 1980 film Somewhere in Time, and with Exceptional Minds, a nonprofit organization placing adults with autism in post production work for major motion pictures such as X-Men and Spiderman.
Seymour also recalled her experience of working on 2006 film Blind Dating, in which a blind character gets set up on dates by his brother. Chris Pine, who was chosen as lead actor, is not blind. Zayid, who has cerebral palsy, questioned the decision to cast him instead of a blind person and Seymour chalked it up to his being “cute.”
“No matter how cute, no matter how many consultants you have, there is a massive community that doesn’t believe a disability can be acted,” Zayid said. “It’s clownish, cartoonish, fake and offensive. There’s a real disconnect between the community and Hollywood.”