USC Own It

Our Communities

Sep 25

By Grace Carballo ‘17

Last Saturday, September 24, I had the privilege of attending the inaugural USC Own It women’s leadership summit. Luckily as soon as I heard about it a few weeks ago, I booked my spot immediately, because tickets eventually sold out. To give you an idea of the scale of all this, over 450 students and 65 speakers attended.

Own It was started by two Georgetown students in 2013, with the first summit taking place in 2014 and being so successful that it expanded nationwide. The Own It network now encompasses 8 universities including USC, and we are certainly in good company.

The focus of this summit is to address the leadership gap, as evidence shows women are underrepresented in science and technology careers, C-level positions (think CEO, CFO, the big shots), government, and other leadership roles.

The motivation behind Own It, therefore, is connecting attendees with successful and driven women from these and a variety of other fields. We, the attendees, benefitted by learning from their experiences and advice and the speakers and panelists gained this amazing platform to give back and directly connect to future leaders.

As the USC Own It website explains, “We already know you cannot be what you cannot see. Own It seeks to provide young women with an opportunity to not only see, but also learn from and connect with women who are living out leadership in a variety of fields and positions.”

This is increasingly important since the Center for American Progress estimated in 2015 that, at the current rate of change, it will take until 2085 for women to reach parity with men in key leadership roles in the United States.

I was only able to attend the second half of the summit, so I started my day with the afternoon breakout session I signed up for. Four eloquent, yet relatable panelists, all of whom are leaders in the entertainment industry, shared their stories and advice with those in attendance.

Afternoon Breakout Session: “EntertainHER”

Nora Skinner (HBO), Lyndsey Parker (Yahoo Music), Tania Missad (Warner Brothers), and Rylee Ebsen (Snapchat) answer an attendee’s question in VKC.

The panelists shared jewels of wisdom from the industry and their own experiences, all of which I diligently recorded in my notebook because I don’t often get opportunities like this one.

I could (and probably will for my own personal records AKA diary) write pages and pages about all the valuable information they shared in the mere hour we had together, but I’ve chosen some of my personal favorites to recount to you, dear readers.

Nora spoke of a particularly affirming moment for her, the culmination of a labor of love on a shoestring budget, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, which she produced. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qfmAllbYC8). The creation of this film was no small feat and there were a lot of naysayers along the way, but in the end, they not only got into Sundance for their first actual screening, they also won the Audience Choice Award and the grand prize. The resilience and passion behind this endeavor, despite limited resources and negative feedback initially, really speaks to Nora’s character and to what it takes to succeed in the entertainment industry - a thick skin and relentless perseverance.

(The graphic above comes from the study “Inequality in 800 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBT, and Disability from 2007-2015″ Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, & Dr. Katherine Pieper with assistance from Ariana Case & Justin Marsden.

Dr. Stacy Smith was my professor freshman year for a Communications and Mass Media course and I revere her and the work she is doing to recognize inequality in media.)

Lyndsey, a “Jill of all trades”, explained how taking initiative and being shameless, to an extent, got her to where she is today. She fell in love with music at a young age, growing up with MTV, and followed her passion by starting her own music fanzine. Her tenacity (i.e. printing and distributing her zines at record stores and concerts, posting stickers, etc.) eventually got her noticed. She went from being a receptionist, who spoke her mind and had the know-how to back it up, to now having the huge outlet of Yahoo Music to cover music, from her personal heroes to up-and-coming artists on shows like American Idol. Lyndsey also emphasized the importance of being kind to everyone; you should never talk down to a receptionist because they may not be a receptionist forever.

Tania also emphasized that the entertainment industry is a lot about relationships. She recommended always focusing on the work, and using that focus to avoid negativity or sexism directed your way. Her affirming moment was during her time with Mattel and her role in Barbie’s new body, which is much more representative of the average woman. This change was monumental, not only in improving the brand, but also in the effects these new and improved Barbies will have on children everywhere and their own ideas of healthy body image.

Rylee encouraged all of us to do as much as we can related to our interests and to never say, “no” to an opportunity. Evan, the creator of Snapchat, went to high school with her and after seeing one of the short films she made at NYU, sent her a Facebook message asking if she would create something for this new app he was trying to launch. At the time, they were working out of his dad’s house and had very limited financial resources, but she agreed and helped make it happen. Now, Rylee is one of the “OGs” of Snapchat, serving as Director of Creative Media. She directed the first completely original vertical film (shot vertically on a phone), which was a particularly affirming moment for her, as well. And she even included me in this gem on her Snapstory, perhaps the most excited I’ve ever looked taking a selfie!

The biggest takeaways for me, reiterated by each of them in one way or another, were:

1) find your passion and pursue it relentlessly, having the humility to work for little to no money while gaining experience and making connections

2) the industry is like high school in that everybody pops up again so you should treat EVERYONE with kindness

3) don’t let naysayers define or even affect you, just let your work disprove them

“Talk Tech To Me”

Above: Aminatou Sow, Founder, Tech LadyMafia; Erin Summers, Founder, wogrammer, and Monica Kumar, VP Cloud Product Marketing, Oracle during the “Talk Tech to Me” panel in Bovard

The next panelists expressed similar sentiments, this time from experience in the tech world. Erin advised those in attendance to learn how to code, to think of something that you want to build and just go and do it. She also explained that her view of “mentorship” has a lot more to do with communicating with and learning from coworkers and bringing others up with you. Aminatou encouraged attendees to be a little less afraid and take a chance on yourself. An example she proposed of collaboration with men is Tech LadyMafia’s men’s auxiliary group, which provides salary information so their women counterparts can negotiate equal wages for themselves.

“Girl on Fire”

Celeste Butler performed an incredible rendition of Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” between the two afternoon panel sessions; it was heart-warming, pun (always) intended.

Not Bossy, I’m the Boss: Entrepreneurship Panel

Above: Cam Kashani, Founder, CoAccel; Ann Wang, CoFounder, Enrou, and Azie Tesfai, Founder, Fortuned Culture; moderated by Jill Kickul, Professor, Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

The last panel discussion was with three incredible entrepreneurs. Cam, the “godmother of Silicon Beach” spoke about how her first startup in 2008 failed miserably, but from there she built Coloft, the first coworking space in LA, which saw a great deal of startups, as well. From there she built CoAccel, the first and only human accelerator, because she believes humans are the ultimate product. She emphasized the importance of believing in your own power saying, “You are in control of yourself and that is all you can control.”

Ann explained the amazing backstory of Enrou, which she cofounded, and which later won the Forbes’ 30 under 30 Summit Pitch competition. Enrou is an online marketplace of products curated and crafted in developing communities around the world, including some products made here in Los Angeles. Not only are these products handcrafted and socially responsible, they are also really beautiful. http://enrou.co/ Ann also emphasized the importance of loving whatever you pursue, because if you don’t love it, you will go insane.

Azie’s company, Fortuned Culture, developed after she took a break from acting (you may know her as Nadine on Jane the Virgin), and went to work with an NGO in Ethiopia. When the meal programming funding there ran out, she knew she had the resources and the connections to fundraise what they needed. Using her jewelry-making skills, she sold enough bracelets to provide the students in Ethiopia with breakfast and lunch. She recognized the potential for growth and so did Toms (the shoe company that donates a pair of shoes to someone in need for every pair purchased). Now the funds raised from this jewelry go to supporting 7 charities. Azie pointed out to those in attendance that many social entrepreneurs are women, because social entrepreneurship starts with your heart. http://fortunedculture.com/

All in all, I had an inspiring and fulfilling afternoon. Ann in the entrepreneurship panel explained what “failing fast” means and how it has applied to her experience at Enrou. Basically, with any startup or innovation, you’re bound to make mistakes, so you need to expect that, make them quickly, and get feedback just as quickly so you can learn from them.

I think this concept applies really well not just to entrepreneurial pursuits but to basically all of life, especially as a senior now facing the “real world” on the horizon of graduation. I’m sure to make my mistakes, quite possibly more than my fair share of them, but if I can recognize them as such and build from the lessons they teach me, they aren’t going to throw my whole life off course. They’ll just provide inspirational anecdotes if I ever speak at a future Own It summit circa 2035 or so. I cannot overemphasize the weight off my shoulders I now feel having heard from these inspiring women and all the bumps along the way they faced to get where they are today. I cannot thank the USC Own It team and all the amazing panelists enough- they definitely “owned it”.

For more information on USC Own It check out their website and Facebook page. They have already posted photos from the event, hot off the presses.

http://www.uscownit.com/

https://www.facebook.com/uscownit/