Imagine if you will, you are watching kids shows on television with your children and after a while you notice something is missing. You don’t see a lot of girls in kids programming. So, you start counting, and quickly realize kids programming lacks representation. You continue your research only to discover this omission of inclusion is consistent across the spectrum in both television and film. Well that’s exactly what Academy Award-winning actress Geena Davis did. After discovering this lack of representation in kids programming, she decided to do something about it and launched the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004.
This episode of the AAFCA podcast we speak with Madeline Di Nonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media And leads the Institute’s strategic direction. Madeline has over 30 years of experience in media marketing and business development in non-profit, entertainment, digital media, and consumer goods. She has worked for media companies including, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Starz Media, Nielson EDI, the Hallmark Channel, Universal Studios Home Video, and ABC Television to name a few.
Madeline was the keynote speaker at AAFCA’s Celebrate Women in Media event at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta, Georgia. The Geena Benchmark Report is available to download on the institute’s website (http://seejane.org).