Women in Tech Hollywood Spotlight ‘Leading in A Crisis’ at Annual SoCal Leadership Summit

Diversity, Leadership, Remote Work, Data and Technology Take Center Stage at Women’s Leadership Conference

Women in Technology Hollywood (WiTH), focused on  elevating women in today’s dynamic tech-driven entertainment industry, will host their Annual SoCal Leadership Summit featuring more than 40 industry-leading female executives who will speak on the theme, “The Changing Nature of Leadership: Navigating Pandemics, Social Change and Remote Work” during the virtual event on Wednesday, October 7 from 9:30 am to 2 pm PT.

The summit will begin with the keynote “Stories from a Technology Informed Diversity Journey,” presented by Jeanne Holm, senior tech advisor and chief data officer for the city of Los Angeles. The session will deliver an exclusive first-hand look at how data and analytics have informed the city’s programs, and importantly, provide the tools, knowledge and roadmap for others to follow when starting their own organization’s diversity and equity journey.

Produced by MESA, the virtual event is designed to inform and inspire attendees on today’s most pertinent topics and challenges, such as diversity, leadership, and technology.  Attendees will hear from a range of experts on how emerging trends and new applications of data, AI and more in the smart content space are impacting the decision making of leadership today.

Sessions of note include:

• Driving Social Impact and Empowering Women of Color in the Media and Tech Worlds — a fireside chat with Jeanine D. Liburd, chief social impact and communications officer for BET Networks, who is curating and leading initiatives that empower and measurably impact the Black community
• COVID-19: Remote Work Now and Beyond — addresses remote work challenges most impacting Hollywood organizations and the best practices to get people safely back to work
• Leading Through Critical Times — a conversation with WiTH’s Women’s Leadership Award winners

Midway through the day attendees will be invited to join one of four breakout tracks — “Professional Development,” “Mentoring & Networking,” “Community,” and “Diversity, Equality & Inclusion” — with studio execs, vendor reps, and diversity experts offering a bevy of insights into the state of today’s M&E industry.

For complete details and program updates go to event website.

About WiTH

Women in Technology Hollywood (WiTH) is a vital professional organization of over 600 members that focuses on the unique position of women in today’s dynamic tech-driven entertainment industry. This powerful consortium began in March 2014 in an informal women’s reading circle at Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and quickly evolved into a full-fledged employee business resource group at the studio with over 250 members. Managed by MESA, WiTH, was established to facilitate cross-studio women’s group communications and to address pressing issues specific to women technology executives in Hollywood: leadership, business and technology skills development, mentorship, negotiation, career development, vision, management, community engagement, empowerment, self-confidence and work/life balance.  For information, visit: https://www.withollywood.org/