Climbing the Industry Ladder
During Day 1 of the 2024 CultureCon at Brooklyn’s Duggal Greenhouse, creative leaders HBO and Max Senior Manager of Multicultural Marketing Kyra Lewis and Warner Bros Discovery Head of Diversity Antoinette Miller spoke on the “Mapping Your Route to the Top” panel to discuss how to navigate in media and entertainment. The duo’s range of experiences provided an insight into climbing to the top, which includes resiliency, especially in fast-paced environments.
“I think change is the constant. We’re not slowing down at any point, anytime soon. So, I think being resilient, being able to, kind of, if you had a hard day, get back up,” said Miller. “Be optimistic [and] stay motivated. Find those things in your personal life that keep you upbeat, because you’re going to need that in order to thrive.”
One of the key elements emphasized during the panel was the importance of creating a balance between passion and skill set.
“Eventually, as you continue to work hard and continue that consistency and working towards your craft, it will eventually start to align and follow. You may need to make some pivots, like we talked about, on the way, but I think the idea that you’re still headed in the right direction by contributing your time [and] your resources to what you find passionate [is important],” Lewis said.
Community + Creativity Go Together
It was mentioned that community is a way for creatives to find their way. This is one of the reasons why CultureCon exists. The two-day event allows attendees to build connections, and find new communities to bond and grow with.
“Connection is key. Real-life connections [and] authentic connections. I know in this industry, sometimes it’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ll call you,’ or like, ‘We’ll do lunch,’ and it’s Christmas now and we haven’t done lunch, and that was three years ago. So, try to also want to receive authentic connections [and] be authentic as well,” Miller said.
Advice to Take With You
Lewis and Miller ended their discussion by advising the audience on how to stay afloat professionally and creatively.
“My biggest one is always flexibility, adaptability, and being able to pivot in real-time. Again, going back to like we’re in an ever-evolving media landscape,” said Lewis. “It is always changing, and so doing your research, really being a student at all times is going to be so important.”
“I was gonna say to be open to feedback. I think it’s been great coming up in these industries. I’ve had people in my kind of work-director-group that can say, ‘Let me pull you to the side and let me tell you about yourself.’ Being able to receive that feedback, sometimes, when it stings, is really helpful in progressing in your career and just kind of staying the course,” said Miller.
To watch Carvd N Stone’s CultureCon 2024 interviews, click here.