Entertainment

Diversity and Inclusion, First Report at Netflix

Inclusion according to Myers has been a “cultural value” at Netflix since 2017

Published

5 years ago

March 11, 2021

Mia Lane

Vernā Myers became the VP of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix in 2018

Netflix is headquartered in Los Gatos, California and was founded in 1997 and began streaming programs in 2007. The company now has 203.7 million subscribers world-wide and 73 million in the United States.

Inclusion according to Myers has been a “cultural value” at Netflix since 2017.

“ . . . [W]hen you pair . . . culture with diversity and inclusion – it unlocks our ability to innovate, to be creative, to solve problems,” she said.

She adds that inclusion teams cannot do this alone: “[E]ach employee needs to look at every issue, decision, and meeting, inside and outside the company with inclusion in mind. We call this an “inclusion lens,” where employees ask questions like, whose voice is missing? Who is being excluded? Are we portraying this authentically?”

“When we get that right . . . magic is possible. We’re uplifting stories about Black British lives. We’re chronicling the life of a gay man with cerebral palsy on Tv, a first. We’re moving some of our cash into Black banks.”

The report goes on to talk specifically about representation “by the Numbers”:

A snapshot: women at 47.1% make up half the workforce with 47.8% of directors, 43.7% of vice presidents, and 47.6% of senior leadership.

Additionally, 46.4% of the company’s U.S. workforce and 42% of the leadership are from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups defined as Black, Latinx/Hispanic, Indigenous, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Pacific Islander.

Specifically, Black employees in the United States at Netflix make up 8% of the workforce and 9% of the leadership with 8,000 full time streaming employees as of October 2020.

Of course, Netflix is not only looking inward, but also at its content, realizing that the hires also impact the content and who gets access.

For example, the company’s employees have created access particularly addressing the lack of Black folks in the tech industry by launching a technical bootcamp with HBCU Norfolk University.

Netflix has also partnered with organizations like /dev/color/, techqueria, Ghetto Film School, and TalentoTotal.

During the pandemic events are virtual.

Netflix also commissioned USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to analyze the company’s content this year and every two years through 2026.

Key findings of the report, which analyzed 126 movies and 180 series, found that although white people still dominate both in front of and behind the camera, 15.2% of the original content on Netflix has Black leads or co-leads; 20% of the main cast members in movies were Black.

In terms of directors, 9.2% were Black (nine men and three women).

The report also showed that “Black creatives were much more likely to yield more Black leads and other characters.”

“When you have people of color in the room voicing their opinions, objecting, complaining and celebrating, it changes the texture of what you see,” said George C. Wolfe, director of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” “Diversity has to be a holistic assault. Without it, people are scared of making decisions because they don’t want to make wrong ones, so they end up making no decisions.”

The full report can be found at assets.ctfassets.net.

Wikipedia, CBS News, CNET, The Wall Street Journal, and Hollywood Reporter were sources for this article.

Mia Lane

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Activism

OP-ED: AB 1349 Puts Corporate Power Over Community

Since Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010, ticket prices have jumped more than 150 percent. Activities that once fit a family’s budget now take significant disposable income that most working families simply don’t have. The problem is compounded by a system that has tilted access toward the wealthy and white-collar workers. If you have a fancy credit card, you get “presale access,” and if you work in an office instead of a warehouse, you might be able to wait in an online queue to buy a ticket. Access now means privilege.

Published

1 week ago

January 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

By Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

As a pastor, I believe in the power that a sense of community can have on improving people’s lives. Live events are one of the few places where people from different backgrounds and ages can share the same space and experience – where construction workers sit next to lawyers at a concert, and teenagers enjoy a basketball game with their grandparents. Yet, over the past decade, I’ve witnessed these experiences – the concerts, games, and cultural events where we gather – become increasingly unaffordable, and it is a shame.

These moments of connection matter as they form part of the fabric that holds communities together. But that fabric is fraying because of Ticketmaster/Live Nation’s unchecked control over access to live events. Unfortunately, AB 1349 would only further entrench their corporate power over our spaces.

Power over live events is concentrated in a single corporate entity, and this regime operates without transparency or accountability – much like a dictator. Ticketmaster controls 80 percent of first-sale tickets and nearly a third of resale tickets, but they still want more. More power, more control for Ticketmaster means higher prices and less access for consumers. It’s the agenda they are pushing nationally, with the help of former Trump political operatives, who are quietly trying to undo the antitrust lawsuit launched against Ticketmaster/Live Nation under President Biden’s DOJ.

That’s why I’m deeply concerned about AB 1349 in its current form. Rather than reining in Ticketmaster’s power, the bill risks strengthening it, aligning with Trump. AB 1349 gives Ticketmaster the ability to control a consumer’s ticket forever by granting Ticketmaster’s regime new powers in state law to prevent consumers from reselling or giving away their tickets. It also creates new pathways for Ticketmaster to discriminate and retaliate against consumers who choose to shop around for the best service and fees on resale platforms that aren’t yet controlled by Ticketmaster. These provisions are anti-consumer and anti-democratic.

California has an opportunity to stand with consumers, to demand transparency, and to restore genuine competition in this industry. But that requires legislation developed with input from the community and faith leaders, not proposals backed by the very company causing the harm.

Will our laws reflect fairness, inclusion, and accountability? Or will we let corporate interests tighten their grip on spaces that should belong to everyone? I, for one, support the former and encourage the California Legislature to reject AB 1349 outright or amend it to remove any provisions that expand Ticketmaster’s control. I also urge community members to contact their representatives and advocate for accessible, inclusive live events for all Californians. Let’s work together to ensure these gathering spaces remain open and welcoming to everyone, regardless of income or background.