Highlights - TOM LIN - Author of The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu - Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2022

Highlights - TOM LIN - Author of The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu - Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2022

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Author of The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2022

When I was growing up, it was all about representation. I think that was the thing that was being championed: we need more people of color in books, movies, across all media. And then I think what we saw was an extremely cynical and capitalistic-minded ruthless optimization of that, where someone said: Oh, you want representation? Then we'll just throw in token people of color into projects. And then we'll check that box. And I think that became so prevalent in so many pieces of media that that became what we thought of as representation. I think it's a salvageable concept because, I mean, when I encountered books growing up, they were all with white people in them. Front to back, start to finish. It was just white characters. And so when I started writing stories of my own in school as a middle schooler they - surprise - they had white people in them, right? There were just white people talking about other white people. I went to public school in Queens. I knew very few white people. And so I think what representation does at its best is that it informs the boundaries of possibility. By seeing yourself represented in media, you become able to imagine your own stories transpiring in media and being made available for everybody else to witness.

And so I think the point of representation is not just if we do a checklist of this piece of media, can we find a person of color. But I think the idea of representation is more that we want to be expanding the realm of storytelling, expanding what's possible by telling these stories that are not normally told.

TOM LIN - Author of The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu - Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2022

TOM LIN - Author of The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu - Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2022

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Author of The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2022

When I was growing up, it was all about representation. I think that was the thing that was being championed: we need more people of color in books, movies, across all media. And then I think what we saw was an extremely cynical and capitalistic-minded ruthless optimization of that, where someone said: Oh, you want representation? Then we'll just throw in token people of color into projects. And then we'll check that box. And I think that became so prevalent in so many pieces of media that that became what we thought of as representation. I think it's a salvageable concept because, I mean, when I encountered books growing up, they were all with white people in them. Front to back, start to finish. It was just white characters. And so when I started writing stories of my own in school as a middle schooler they - surprise - they had white people in them, right? There were just white people talking about other white people. I went to public school in Queens. I knew very few white people. And so I think what representation does at its best is that it informs the boundaries of possibility. By seeing yourself represented in media, you become able to imagine your own stories transpiring in media and being made available for everybody else to witness.

And so I think the point of representation is not just if we do a checklist of this piece of media, can we find a person of color. But I think the idea of representation is more that we want to be expanding the realm of storytelling, expanding what's possible by telling these stories that are not normally told.

Highlights - Abby Ajayi - Creator of “Riches” - Writer/Producer “Inventing Anna” “The First Lady”

Highlights - Abby Ajayi - Creator of “Riches” - Writer/Producer “Inventing Anna” “The First Lady”

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Creator of the Amazon series Riches
Writer/Producer on Inventing Anna · The First Lady · How to Get Away with Murder

I do feel that if one has the desire and the ability to be a much more big-picture showrunner, I think that's to the best. That benefits the show because there's a creative voice running all the way through. This isn't a movie, where it's a director's medium. It is the writer's medium, so I think the writer should be across producing and also empowering the director, but there is a clear vision. I think Riches has all the hallmarks of the things I've worked on before in terms of complex, slightly subversive women. At the heart of it, it is negotiating power dynamics. And at the heart of it, there are two very complex and yet vulnerable black women, but I've always loved family drama shows and particularly family businesses, whether it's fictional ones or in real life.

Abby Ajayi - Creator of “Riches” - Writer/Producer “Inventing Anna” “The First Lady”

Abby Ajayi - Creator of “Riches” - Writer/Producer “Inventing Anna” “The First Lady”

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Creator of the Amazon series Riches
Writer/Producer on Inventing Anna · The First Lady · How to Get Away with Murder

I do feel that if one has the desire and the ability to be a much more big-picture showrunner, I think that's to the best. That benefits the show because there's a creative voice running all the way through. This isn't a movie, where it's a director's medium. It is the writer's medium, so I think the writer should be across producing and also empowering the director, but there is a clear vision. I think Riches has all the hallmarks of the things I've worked on before in terms of complex, slightly subversive women. At the heart of it, it is negotiating power dynamics. And at the heart of it, there are two very complex and yet vulnerable black women, but I've always loved family drama shows and particularly family businesses, whether it's fictional ones or in real life.

Highlights - Aniela Unguresan - Champion of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion in the Workplace - EDGE Cert

Highlights - Aniela Unguresan - Champion of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion in the Workplace - EDGE Cert

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Co-founder of EDGE Certified Foundation (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality)
Champion of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace

I co-founded what has become EDGE for gender and intersectional equity back in 2009, and at that time workplace gender and intersectional equity were still very much seen as a societal issue rather than a business issue. Organizations were asking themselves if it's within their role to tackle these issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace, or if they are the mere recipients of what is going on in societies, following the beliefs around what men and women should be doing at work and at home. So at that time we wanted to contribute to this transition from making gender and intersectional equity a business issue and help organizations see that how they manage their talent and how they are able to attract, develop, motivate, and retain diverse talent is a key component of their sustainable business success.

Aniela Unguresan - Co-founder, Economic Dividends for Gender Equality - EDGE Cert. Foundation

Aniela Unguresan - Co-founder, Economic Dividends for Gender Equality - EDGE Cert. Foundation

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Co-founder of EDGE Certified Foundation (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality)
Champion of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace

I co-founded what has become EDGE for gender and intersectional equity back in 2009, and at that time workplace gender and intersectional equity were still very much seen as a societal issue rather than a business issue. Organizations were asking themselves if it's within their role to tackle these issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace, or if they are the mere recipients of what is going on in societies, following the beliefs around what men and women should be doing at work and at home. So at that time we wanted to contribute to this transition from making gender and intersectional equity a business issue and help organizations see that how they manage their talent and how they are able to attract, develop, motivate, and retain diverse talent is a key component of their sustainable business success.

Highlights - Dr. Stanley Andrisse - Founder and Author of From Prison Cells to PhD

Highlights - Dr. Stanley Andrisse - Founder and Author of From Prison Cells to PhD

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Endocrinologist Scientist · Founder & Author of From Prison Cells to PhD
Assistant Professor, Howard University

I kind of thought there was justice in the criminal justice system and that there was care for people, like you matter to me within the system, and in that moment it hit me. There wasn't. And in fact, it's the opposite. In order for the system to work the way it does, it needs to de-humanize the people that it puts in these cages.

Dr. Stanley Andrisse - Endocrinologist Scientist - Author of From Prison Cells to PhD

Dr. Stanley Andrisse - Endocrinologist Scientist - Author of From Prison Cells to PhD

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Endocrinologist Scientist · Founder & Author of From Prison Cells to PhD
Assistant Professor, Howard University

I kind of thought there was justice in the criminal justice system and that there was care for people, like you matter to me within the system, and in that moment it hit me. There wasn't. And in fact, it's the opposite. In order for the system to work the way it does, it needs to de-humanize the people that it puts in these cages.

(Highlights) JON YATES

(Highlights) JON YATES

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Executive Director of Youth Endowment Fund
Author of Fractured: How We Learn to Live Together

I think humans really need to feel valued and loved. The question is where do you get your value from? And I try to get my value from–faith plays a big part of my life, but not everyone has that way of thinking about the world, so I'm not going to major on that, but that's only part of it, the sense that I believe there's a God who thinks I'm of worth, but it's more than that. I believe that my closest friends and my family think I'm of worth. And so I think that's probably made me more comfortable in saying if I start a charity and it fails, and I have started things that fell apart, it's not the end of the world.

JON YATES

JON YATES

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Executive Director of Youth Endowment Fund
Author of Fractured: How We Learn to Live Together

I think humans really need to feel valued and loved. The question is where do you get your value from? And I try to get my value from–faith plays a big part of my life, but not everyone has that way of thinking about the world, so I'm not going to major on that, but that's only part of it, the sense that I believe there's a God who thinks I'm of worth, but it's more than that. I believe that my closest friends and my family think I'm of worth. And so I think that's probably made me more comfortable in saying if I start a charity and it fails, and I have started things that fell apart, it's not the end of the world.