Today I got to speak with two-time Emmy winning producer Sasheen Artis, who is the Founder/CEO of Plenty of Pie, a talent incubator and production accelerator offering leadership development, practical producers skills training, and mentorship to emerging and mid-career creatives of color.

Sasheen has worked with such newsmakers as President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and director Jonathan Demme. Sasheen’s latest film, Birthing Justice,addressing Black maternal health outcomes, screened for 200 countries at the United Nations and is part of a continuing education course for the American Medical Association. It currently airs on PBS.

For four years, Sasheen chaired the Producers Guild of America flagship diversity initiative, Power of Diversity Master Workshop, and was invited by HRH Princess Rym Ali and the Royal Film Commission to create and lead a week-long seminar for creatives in Amman, Jordan.

Sasheen got her start at Paramount Home Entertainment, working on blockbuster marketing campaigns for Titanic, Mission: Impossible, Braveheart and TV series like Star Trek: The Next Generation and Nickelodeon’s Rugrats.

She is a member of the Television Academy, the Producers Guild, and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. Sasheen is originally from Harlem, New York and earned her BA in Psychology from Stanford University.

We talked about all the things she’s working on and shared our unpopular opinions about The Color Purple.

You can find us online at Theotherfiftypercent.com, you can find links to everything I’m up to at https://linktr.ee/julieharrisoliver and at Julieharrisoliver.com

Today I got to speak with the group of accomplished female directors behind the initiative called GenXX: Maria Burton, Susan Dynner, Monique Sorgen, Nandi Bowe. 

Maria and Monique have been on this podcast before, episodes 14 and 131, respectively, which you can still find on the website, here: Ep 14 Maria Burton and here: EP 131 Monique Sorgen.

All of these women have banded together to create GenXX, an initiative to raise awareness and create directing opportunities for the generation of experienced, talented and vetted women who were overlooked - lost between sexism and ageism.

theotherfiftypercent.com

GenXX info

HollywoodtoBollywood.net

https://aberrationfilms.com/

https://www.mariaburtondirector.com/

www.moniquesorgen.com

0:00:09 Introduction to the GenXX Initiative and the Directors Behind It
0:00:49 The Birth of GenXX Initiative
0:03:19 Strike Allows for Discussion on GenXX Initiative
0:11:07 Experience and Awards Prove Talent
0:14:44 Creating a Database and Telling Diverse Stories
0:20:41 Creating Projects and Telling Untold Stories
0:23:44 The Importance of Creating Your Own Work
0:24:58 Creating Own Work and Proving Expertise
0:34:49 Creating Opportunities for Women in the Film Industry
0:37:31 Continuing Education and Growth in the Filmmaking Community
0:45:22 From Hollywood to Bollywood: A Life-Changing Move
0:46:34 Advice for Women in the Business

I caught up with Emily Best, the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark and also Film Forward, which is an experiential learning platform designed to activate the full potential of today's dynamic and diverse workforce by replacing boring corporate training videos with a cinematic learning experience built around award-winning short films from around the world. I've seen this program, it is so cool, and she's going to tell us about it.

One of the things I love about this business, and I guess about life, is getting to see how people's careers develop and how they grow and evolve. I interviewed Emily a few years ago about Seed&Spark and her origin story and all things crowdfunding on Catch a Break Season 2, Episode 203: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-203-crowdfunding/id1457637810?i=1000472155727

But today, I initially reached out to Emily to talk about her newer venture, Film Forward, and the important work she's doing there.

Our conversation expanded to include her thoughts about managing a company with a dispersed and remote workforce and how COVID changed everything, about intentionally creating culture in a company in those circumstances, how humbling it is to do this work authentically, and trying to shift the American culture to prioritize human dignity above individual achievement.

Emily continues to be an incredibly thoughtful visionary, and I was inspired by this conversation.

https://linktr.ee/julieharrisoliver

0:00:00 Introduction and Update on Julie's Accident

0:02:16 Introduction and Overview of Seed&Spark

0:05:30 Relocating to Atlanta and Remote Work Dynamics

0:09:09 The Benefits of Working from Home and Accessibility Accommodations

0:10:38 The Challenges of Remote Work and Communication Overload

0:14:39 Remote Work and Talent Attraction

0:17:34 Balancing Conflict and Innovation in a Heartfelt Workplace

0:20:06 Accountability and Managing Triggers in Remote Work

0:21:46 Importance of Acknowledging Our Protected Class Status

0:23:11 Prioritizing Mental Health and Well-being in the Workplace

0:24:53 Shifting the dynamic of work quality and attention in boardrooms

0:27:30 Working alone vs. working with a room full of people

0:30:41 Prioritizing in-person gatherings for remote teams

0:31:56 Identifying the challenge of delivering films to diverse audiences

0:35:23 Scaling practice from individuals to teams and creating organizational accountability

0:37:53 Conversations about accountability and the cost of masking in the workplace

0:41:53 The lack of human dignity as a foundational value in American culture

0:46:37 Personal Relationships and the Political Landscape

0:49:23 Interacting with Neighbors Holding Conflicting Beliefs

0:55:46 Struggling to Articulate the New Paradigm