This year, the Tribeca Film Festival kicked off its event with a day dedicated to honoring women in digital storytelling. The Daring Women Summit brought together the industry's leading female filmmakers, producers, hosts, editors, and directors to discuss how they took on gender inequality in their field and how young entrepreneurs should navigate the landscape. If you missed this year's summit, don't worry! We are sharing a few of our favorite talks with you.
The Daring Women Summit went all out to have its first lineup ever. Tribeca Film Festival director Genna Terranova felt it was time to have a day of talks devoted to women and their experiences in the industry to inspire attendees. Terranova was followed up by Full Frontal with Samantha Bee producer Allana Harkin, entertainment industry educator-in-chief of Google Julie Ann Crommett, and founder of Donna Karan Co. and Urban Zen Donna Karan, who talked about how to see the change you want to make in your industry.
Crommett, for example, researched why girls aren't pursuing careers in computer science. Her findings helped her team create a strategy around working with storytellers to change the culture of computer science and engineering. That way, the career can become more interesting and accessible to a diverse group of people.
Later on, founder and CEO of The Muse Kathryn Minshew spoke about the importance of women creating companies and having a voice in the tech space — one that is usually heavily populated by men. "The venture capital industry has to make sure that they back more women and that they don't hold women to a different standard than they do to, let's say, a male founder."
Then, comedian, writer, and co-host of the 2-Dope Queens podcast Phoebe Robinson talked about how digital storytelling is slowly allowing women of color to be seen in a multidimensional way. Podcasts, YouTube, and social media platforms are allowing black women to put themselves out there to be discovered and make their own careers.
Finally, showrunner of Fresh Off the Boat Nahnatchka Khan called out studios in Hollywood for not creating programming for a diverse audience that doesn't feel represented. She commented that progress will happen when shows start to look different and are more diverse.
After hearing all of these women speak, it's hard to imagine a world without their voices and how many ceilings had to be broken in order to hear them. Women are strong and want to tell you their stories. We just need the opportunity and a community that allows voices like this to be heard and respected.
RELATED:
Daring Women: Rachel Sklar & Samantha Bee At Tribeca Film Festival
Daring Women: Cindy Gallop And Bridget Todd At The Tribeca Film Festival
Rosie Perez Interview At The Tribeca Film Festival
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
Azealia Banks Apologizes For Racist & Homophobic Slurs Aimed At Zayn Malik
Jennifer Lawrence Calls Robert De Niro "Gay" In GLAAD Tribute