M+E Connections

Industry Leaders Become Mentors for Knowledge Circles for Impact Program

Industry leaders from Amazon Studios, Google, Meta, Lionsgate, EIDR and more have taken on the role of mentors for Women in Technology Hollywood’s (WiTH) Knowledge Circles for Impact endeavour, which offers mentorship “circles” in data science, design and product, emerging technology, cybersecurity, and women in leadership.

WiTH designed the popular mentorship programme to support and inspire women in the industry, and offer valuable career guidance, unparalleled industry insights, and a supportive community through peer groups and executive mentors. This mentorship program is considered particularly crucial as the challenges of the past few years have had a disproportionate impact on women, and even more so on women from diverse backgrounds.

Here’s a look at the Knowledge Circles for Impact programs offered, and who’s mentoring them:

• “Emerging Technology” with Eric Iverson, director of product strategy at Amazon Studios. We’re in an incredibly exciting age of emerging technology and the potential for applications to be part of the media and entertainment sector. This circle will focus on various topics in the emerging technology available to revolutionise the entertainment industry such as AI, metaverse, NFT, 5G, streaming and more.

• “Product Design/UX” with John Solaro, head of UX for search verticals at Google. This circle will focus on the career path around product design and user experience. The process of imagining, creating, and iterating products that address users’ needs. Learn from some of the best in the industry regarding current trends, necessary skills, and much more!

• “Career Pivot/Levelling Up” with Jean Chin, executive producer, Oculus Studios at Meta. This circle will explore the strategies, methodologies, and techniques that can be leveraged to either change career paths or to level up in the current role to take the attendees’ careers to a whole new level. Join the opportunity to investigate different career options, transferable skills, utilise your current network, and direct advice.

• “Mentorship/Coaching” with Melanie Hildebrandt, CIO and EVP at Endeavour. This circle will provide the overall processes of what mentorship and coaching may do for one’s career. Learn what to look for when seeking a mentor or coach to drive careers forward through executive advocate experiences, recommendations, and guidance.

• “Women in Leadership” with Nancy Faginas-Cody, former SVP of IT enterprise business systems at The Walt Disney Co., and Steve Tran, former CISO at MGM.  All are welcome to join this diverse and inclusive circle as we manage opportunities on how to find allies, learn to work together in all industries by creating new pathways for women and men to engage, work in tandem, act with power, navigate the workplace, take the lead with new strategies and tactics you can leverage throughout your career.

• “CIO – Chief Information Officer” with Theresa Miller, CIO and EVP of IT at Lionsgate, and Alex Grimwade, former CIO and SVP at The Walt Disney Co. This circle is for the media and entertainment individual interested in pursuing the career path to CIO. Get recommendations and the inside scoop from those who have already accomplished this goal. Discover trends in the industry, what skills are truly needed to be successful and much more!

• “Media Metadata” with Hollie Choi, managing director at the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR). This circle will explore the Entertainment Identifier Registration which is the industry-curated public registry of media assets. It registers “unique media assets with a universal identifier, which is the DNA of intelligent automation in entertainment”. This is a deep industry with lots of job opportunities that are data/tech driven since all entertainment assets require an EIDR identifier throughout the world.

The Knowledge Circles for Impact program will officially launch with an opening ceremony on March 16 at 5 p.m. PT. The programme runs for five months with periodic meetings held to facilitate the programme’s purpose of learning and growth. Each group can determine the frequency and length of each meeting with a minimum average of one hour per month.

To apply for the programme, click here. To connect with KC4i on LinkedIn click here.