InclusionFX: Tales from the Trenches

My presentation will start with the genesis of InclusionFX. InclusionFX is a platform designed to support an amplify underrepresented voices in the VFX for features, television, and games industries. I will take the audience though my hero’s journey of being a woman and a person of color working in the entertainment industry for thirty years. Starting with theatre, film school, I will talk about what it was like to start out in independent feature film, then high-end visual effects, console, and mobile video game production, running a small game studio and back again. I will impart was it was like to be in the trenches working on such projects as “Contact,” “Starship Troopers” “Stuart Little,” “X-Men 2”, “The Hobbit”, “The Man of Steel” and much more. I will relay why my logo is a Black Unicorn. Why I felt it was time to tell my story and create a space for others to tell theirs. The goal is to give the next generation access to role models by sharing the hero’s journey of a diverse range of professionals. The IFX team is uniquely positioned to unite the voices of giants in the VFX and Games industries and present their perspectives as a united group of heroes the next generation can look up to. This will be achieved by broadcasting an ongoing series of interviews and panels that anyone can access. I will divulge key learnings of expanding and taking advantage of opportunities, lessons in perseverance and finding and building your tribe and support system.