Diversity + Media Career Summit

SAVE THE DATE
Wednesday, June 26th, 2024

BRIC 
647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM

Tickets on sale soon - be the first to know!

Get ready for our 7th Annual Diversity + Media Career Summit!

The Summit is designed to help students and recent graduates break into the business and succeed in their careers. You'll hear wisdom and actionable advice from trailblazers across the industry and have the opportunity to network with representatives from leading media organizations.

Our thanks to our sponsors A+E Networks, Disney, FOX, Hearst, Mattel, Nielsen, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Special thanks to our Knowledge Partner, McKinsey & Company.

The Center's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Our Partners


In Partnership with

cc-partner-logos8.jpg

Knowledge Partner:


View Last Year's Agenda Below

2024 Line-Up Coming Soon!

8:15 AM — Registration + Peer-to-Peer Networking Breakfast


  • Alia Jones-Harvey is the Associate Commissioner of Workforce Development and Educational Initiatives for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment. She joined the agency in 2015 as director of education & workforce development. By successfully building partnerships with employers, unions, non-profit organizations, schools, and City agencies, Jones-Harvey has launched educational and training programs that have served over 10,000 New Yorkers. She launched and manages the NYC Women's Fund for Media, Music and Theatre, providing $5 million in grants for women-identifying film, music and theater creators—the first municipal program of its kind in the country.

    A native of Largo, Maryland, Jones-Harvey earned, concurrently, a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from Spelman College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech. She completed her MBA in Finance and Marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business. The Olivier Award-winning and 4-time Tony Award-nominated Theatre Producer has been lead producing on Broadway for 15 years. She has successfully mounted or co-produced 8 plays and 3 musicals for Broadway and London’s West End.

9:00 AM — Welcome Remarks


9:15 AM — Opening Keynote Session: A Conversation with Ryan Smith

  • Ryan Smith joined ESPN in February 2017 as a host on ESPN’s Outside the Lines and E:60 and as a New York-based correspondent. He added anchoring SportsCenter to his role in 2019 and now anchors weekday morning editions of ESPN’s signature news and information program.

    In addition to his role as a host, Smith reports feature stories and investigative pieces while providing legal analysis across multiple ESPN platforms and ABC News.

    Prior to taking on his new role in February, Smith had contributed to ESPN as a legal analyst and fill-in host for Bob Ley on Outside the Lines since he joined ABC in 2014.

    Before joining ABC News, Smith served as the nightly news anchor at CNN’s Headline News where he reported on a variety of stories including the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School and some of the most high-profile trials including those of Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman.

    A graduate of Syracuse University and Columbia Law, Smith served as a lawyer for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and practiced Sports and Entertainment Law in New York City.

  • Sabina Ghebremedhin serves as the Coordinating Producer, Head of the Race & Culture vertical where she directs and leads the multi-platform reporting efforts of the team. Sabina is an Emmy award-winning journalist and was most recently recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a Peabody Award for the 20/20 Special, “Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor,” Front Page Television and Webby Award for her work on the cross-platform project "Their Painful Bond: Black Mothers Speak Out Together on Their Unimaginable Loss," originally launched on GMA digital. She has produced for a number of ABC News’ special projects, including Peabody award winning 20/20:“Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor,” “Nowhere to Run: the Ahmaud Arbery story," George Floyd, Soul of A Nation, Soul of a Nation: Black in Vegas, Corazon de America, Pride: To Be Seen, Together as One: Celebrating Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, America in Pain, Turning Point, and Juneteenth. She previously served as the West Coast coordinating producer for Good Morning America, landing scores of exclusive interviews on some of the most challenging stories, including multiple mass shootings, riots, natural disasters, the deaths of Michael Jackson, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, Kobe Bryant and covered the Academy Awards for nearly two decades.


10:00 AM and 10:45 AM — Breakout Skill Workshops

CHOICE OF TWO:

Overcome Career Roadblocks

If you've been laid off, passed over for a promotion, or not getting the responses you deserve looking for a new job, learn how to reflect and redirect your career goals, improve your resume and LinkedIn, and get access to the decision makers who will hire you for your next best job. Every workshop attendee will get a free digital copy of Rob's book, NEXT JOB, BEST JOB: A HEADHUNTER’S 11 STRATEGIES TO GET HIRED NOW.

  • Rob Barnett is a headhunter, author, and guest speaker. He founded Rob Barnett Media in 2018, an inclusive platform for thousands of job-seeking professionals and industry leaders placing the right people in the best jobs.

    Rob has discovered, hired, and led hundreds of talented creators and executives in senior management roles at MTV, VH1, and Audible/Amazon. He was President of Programming at CBS Radio. A digital pioneer, he founded My Damn Channel, one of the first original online studios and networks.

    Representing diverse careers, companies, and opportunities, Rob’s multi-platform content and no-nonsense approach inspires people to define and sell their best professional brand. Next Job, Best Job: A Headhunter's 11 Strategies to Get Hired Now is available now.

Breakthrough Bootcamp: Networking, Resumes & Portfolios

An introduction to networking concepts and tools specifically relevant to media professionals. Students will learn how to build and maintain a network of industry contacts and develop effective communication strategies for career success in the media industry.

  • Gaby Flores-Sanchez
    Gaby Flores-Sanchez pronouns she/her/hers is a Early Talent Recruiter at WBD focusing on roles within sports, corporate communications, DE&I and CNN en Español. She started her career within Human Resources over 7 years ago while focusing specifically in early talent and working with students a little over 4 years ago. Gaby has a BA in Public Relations and Event Planning from Rider University and a Master of Professional Studies in Human Resources & Employment Relations from Penn State University. She focuses on connecting students with major opportunities while also hoping to increase diversity within her talent pipeline.

    Tyler Crowe
    My name Is Tyler Crowe, and I am recruiter on the early talent team at WBD. I’ve been with the team for approximately 2 years now, and I oversee internship recruitment for all of our Finance & Accounting, Legal, Corporate, & Data Science functional areas. In addition, I also oversee all of WBD’s MBA Intern roles & trek and lead up the teams HBCU strategy.

    Taylor Mazzarella
    Taylor Mazzarella is an Early Talent Recruiter for editorial and production internships at Warner Bros. Discovery. Passionate about helping candidates as they navigate their job search, she started her career as a recruiter after graduating from the University of Delaware in 2017. As a campus recruiter, she strives to develop engaging programs where students can learn, build their networks, be immersed in the WBD culture, and kick start their careers with their best foot forward!

Understand Your Compensation

Whether you are an incoming candidate or an employee on the rise, you need to understand the value you bring before you can demand what you're worth. In this workshop, we'll cover the components of compensation and explore strategies for negotiating a salary that reflects your true value.

  • Yrthya A. Dinzey-Flores is an innovative ESG leader with cross-industry expertise in philanthropy, social responsibility, diversity, equity, and workplace inclusion in the private, non-profit, and public sectors. Yrthya’s success rests on her formidable skills to outline a vision, build exceptional teams, and engage diverse stakeholders around a common goal.

    Yrthya kicked off her career in the non-profit and philanthropic sector at the Robin Hood Foundation to identify and recommend grant investments to organizations aligned with Robin Hood’s mission.

    She spent the next three years at the venture philanthropy partnering with grantees to further advance the foundation’s mission for traditional portfolio areas and new cutting-edge social investments. During that time, Bosch Foundation invited her to move to Germany to work as a fellow and convey her thinking and methodology to several European foundations.

    In her current role leading ESG at Justworks, Yrthya collaborates closely with CEO Isaac Oates and the entire leadership team to embed DEI, Social Impact and Sustainability into business practices.

    Yrthya’s previous position as Culture and Operations Chief of the Open Society U.S. foundation, Yrthya led all business activities including, but not limited to, a budget of over $200M, human resources, compliance, operations, organizational design, and work culture. She joined the foundation to help unstick a protracted two-year restructuring and has enabled the complete nearly all the transformation objectives for the U.S. region.

    As Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, Philanthropy, Diversity & Inclusion, she headed WarnerMedia’s social responsibility standing and created coherent, enterprise-wide philanthropy programs that exceeded $50 million in annual giving, thereby transforming the company’s visibility messaging and impact. Yrthya also redesigned Warner’s social impact strategy and corporate responsibility reporting practices, including designing and implementing the media and film industry’s first diversity and inclusion scorecard and production policy.

    Before joining WarnerMedia, Yrthya served as Senior Director, Corporate Responsibility & Inclusion for the Canadian multinational company Thomson Reuters from 2013 to 2015. Directly reporting to the company’s executive leadership, Yrthya built and developed the company’s first enterprise-wide inclusion and diversity practice. Her work in standing up this practice included partnering with the Financial & Risk business to design and create a diversity and inclusion financial index.

    Before joining Thomson Reuters, Yrthya became New York State’s first Chief Diversity Officer (2011–2013). In this role, she rebuilt the State’s programs to meet their policy mandate to over 100 separate state entities, encouraged the growth of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (m/WBEs), and drive governmental workforce diversity across New York state. She delivered a new ethos in a balkanized statewide internal culture and initiated outside projects that resonated in the public domain. The result; a 200% increase in total dollars (over $1B) awarded to small businesses owned by women and people of color. She became the principal advisor to Governor Andrew Cuomo concerning supplier and workforce diversity practices and set the standard for success in this role.

    Previously, Yrthya served in management and leadership roles for Toyota Motor North America (2007–2010), the New York City Department of Education (2005–2007), and the NYC Municipal government.

    She is currently serving on the boards of the Hispanic Federation and The Public Theater of N.Y.

    Yrthya earned a B.A. from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and a Master’s in Public Administration from the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.


11:30 AM — Peer Networking Lunch


12:30 PM — Panel: See the Big Picture

  • Crystal Barnes is Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG at Paramount. In this role, Barnes is responsible for Paramount’s social responsibility program including employee engagement, global giving and cross-portfolio campaigns and partnerships. She also leads the expansion of the company’s Content for Change initiative – which focuses on leading the industry to drive systemic change, across the entire content creation lifecycle, through inclusive storytelling. Her work spans the areas of philanthropy, volunteering, cause marketing, disaster relief and pro bono investments. Barnes also leads Paramount’s ESG efforts inclusive of strategy, external reporting and assessments and is responsible for driving culture initiatives across the organization.

    Prior to joining Paramount, Barnes served as Senior Vice President of Global Responsibility and Sustainability at Nielsen, and Executive Director of the Nielsen Foundation. She held positions leading the Industry Relations team, focusing on developing strategic alliances with industry, trade and business associations, and worked on the communications and public affairs team where she initiated and managed Nielsen’s partnerships with civic, social service and business organizations. With diversity, equity and inclusion as pillars in her career, Barnes also worked closely with Nielsen’s African American Advisory Council to drive diversity efforts across the company.

    A native of Pennsylvania, Barnes received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Broadcast Telecommunications and Mass Media from Temple University. She serves on the board of The WICT Network and Get Schooled and resides in New Jersey with her husband and 3 children.

  • Karen Gray is Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) & Chief Diversity Officer for A+E Networks® Group, which encompasses A&E®, Lifetime®, The HISTORY® Channel, Lifetime® Movies Channel, and FYI™. Karen has been at the company since June 2019 and has oversight of the company’s human resource functions globally, including culture, diversity, inclusion and all people-focused initiatives.

    She brings to the role a unique mix of human resources, legal and business expertise and serves on the executive management team, reporting directly to A+E Networks Group President and Chairman Paul Buccieri.

    Previously, Karen worked at Christie’s Inc., where, at various times during her tenure, she served the Americas as Senior Vice President, General Counsel; Chief Operations Officer; and Head of Human Resources. Prior to Christie’s, Karen worked at Reuters as Senior Vice President and Principal Legal Counsel for the company’s business support group. Karen began her career as an attorney with the law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

    Karen graduated with honors from Williams College and Harvard Law School.

  • Adwoa Dadzie is chief people officer of Hearst Magazines, one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, with more than 25 brands in the U.S. and nearly 250 international magazine editions. In this role, Dadzie oversees the division’s people and culture department, which comprises the HR business partner, people operations and talent acquisition teams.

    Dadzie joined Hearst Magazines in 2022 with more than 15 years of experience working across various functions in human resources. Previously, she served as vice president, head of people experience, for the fitness and lifestyle brand SoulCycle.

    Prior to that, Dadzie was vice president of human resources for Comcast Cable, where she was responsible for designing the global employee experience and partnering with leadership on performance management, talent strategy and cultural and organizational health.

    In 2007, Dadzie joined the human resources team at PepsiCo, gaining valuable knowledge in the consumer product industry, before joining Nestlé USA and later Nestlé Waters, where she held several senior-level human resources roles.

    Dadzie is a graduate of Trinity College and received her master’s degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology from New York University. She currently resides in New Jersey.

  • Tasja joined Mattel as VP, Global Consumer Insights in February 2021. She has an extensive background in consumer insights across multiple disciplines focused on generations, categories, multicultural research, as well as an emphasis on trends and innovation. As leader of Mattel’s Global Consumer Insights team, her goal is to continue to advance the team’s mission to bring the ‘voice of the consumer’ to the forefront of Mattel, as global explorers of people, purpose, and play.


1:50 PM and 2:40 PM — Partner Networking + Skill Workshop Session

Attendees will begin this session in either the Partner Networking or the Skill Workshop, and will switch halfway through the session.

PARTNER NETWORKING

Meet recruiters and representatives from ABC News, BRIC Arts Media, Hearst Magazines, Hearst Television, Mattel, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, NBCUniversal, Paramount, TWPR, and Warner Bros. Discovery.

SKILL WORKSHOP

The Do’s and Don'ts of Building Your Brand: Online and In the Workplace

Building your brand is crucial to your success in the media industry, but it's important to do it right. Learn the do’s and don'ts of brand-building to ensure your efforts are effective, authentic, and appropriate for the workplace. 

  • Jacqueline Peros of JMP Brandling, LLC is a Master Certified Personal Brand Strategist inspiring and preparing underserved women to confidently seek fulfilling careers. As a strategist, social branding analyst, keynote speaker and Fashion Institute instructor, Jacqueline provides clients and audiences alike a competitive edge through training and consulting in communications and the importance of what she calls "your digital dress code."


3:30 PM — Closing Keynote Session: A Conversation with Sara Sidner

  • Sara Sidner is co-anchor of CNN News Central, airing weekdays from 9am-12pm ET, out of CNN's New York City Bureau. She is also CNN's multiple award winning senior national and international correspondent.

    Recently Sidner led the network's coverage in Minneapolis of the protests following the death of George Floyd and the trial of Derek Chauvin. She also extensively covered the protests in Ferguson, Missouri after an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a white police officer. She was there for weeks while a grand jury looked at evidence and ultimately decided not to indict the officer. Their decision sparked two nights of violence in Ferguson but it also lead to nationwide protests and a national conversation about race and policing in America, as well as a state commission and Presidential task force on policing.

    As an international correspondent, Sidner reported on a wide range of subjects, from terrorism to business to social and cultural issues. She has reported from a multitude of countries, including Libya, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Taiwan.

    In the Middle East, Sidner was part of the team that won a Peabody award for CNN's coverage of the Arab Spring. Her work in Libya reporting in the midst of rebel fighters during the fall of Tripoli has been recognized all over the world. In 2011 Sidner shared the Achievement of the Year Award from SKY WFTV Women in Film & Television in the United Kingdom for her war coverage in Libya.

    While in India, Sidner headed the coverage of South Asia from the New Delhi bureau. One of her first major international stories unfolded when terrorists attacked several places in Mumbai, including the famed Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, on November 26, 2008. Sidner was live throughout the 2008 siege that lasted 60 hours and took more than 170 lives. Her stories from South Asia also included a documentary on the 25 year civil war in Sri Lanka, several stints reporting in war-torn Afghanistan, and live coverage of violent political eruptions in Thailand and Bangladesh. She also explored many stories about the social and economic developments in India, culminating in a series of stories for CNN International's award winning "Freedom Project." Sidner also traveled to Chile and Haiti to cover the aftermath of devastating earthquakes in those countries.

    Sidner has collected two Asian Television Awards -- one for her 2011 report on the horrors faced by young Bangladeshis forced into begging and a second for the 2012 Freedom Project documentary 'Operation Hope', which chronicled the extraordinary journey, from suffering to recovery, of one of these children, a seven-year-old boy who was castrated and left for dead when he refused to beg.

    In 2013, Sidner received two Alliance for Women in Media Gracie Awards; one for her coverage of India's unwanted girls where she explored the issue of female infanticide in India and a second for her breaking news coverage of the 2012 Gaza-Israel conflict from Gaza & Israel. In 2014, Sidner also reported from Malaysia on missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370, from Ukraine on the downed Malaysia Airlines flight 17, and from the Israeli border during the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza.

    Prior to joining CNN, Sidner was an anchor and reporter at local television news stations in San Francisco, Dallas, Florida, and Missouri. She received multiple awards during this time, including a regional Emmy Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and several Telly Awards. Sidner received her journalism degree from the University of Florida and was named an Alumni of Distinction in 2011.

    Follow Sara on Twitter @sarasidnerCNN

  • Sabina Ghebremedhin serves as the Coordinating Producer, Head of the Race & Culture vertical where she directs and leads the multi-platform reporting efforts of the team. Sabina is an Emmy award-winning journalist and was most recently recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a Peabody Award for the 20/20 Special, “Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor,” Front Page Television and Webby Award for her work on the cross-platform project "Their Painful Bond: Black Mothers Speak Out Together on Their Unimaginable Loss," originally launched on GMA digital. She has produced for a number of ABC News’ special projects, including Peabody award winning 20/20:“Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor,” “Nowhere to Run: the Ahmaud Arbery story," George Floyd, Soul of A Nation, Soul of a Nation: Black in Vegas, Corazon de America, Pride: To Be Seen, Together as One: Celebrating Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, America in Pain, Turning Point, and Juneteenth. She previously served as the West Coast coordinating producer for Good Morning America, landing scores of exclusive interviews on some of the most challenging stories, including multiple mass shootings, riots, natural disasters, the deaths of Michael Jackson, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, Kobe Bryant and covered the Academy Awards for nearly two decades.


4:30 PM — Closing Peer-to-Peer Networking

Our Partners


cc-partner-logos8.jpg

Knowledge Partner: