our music our dance you know our fashion
our style heritage all of that is a part
of the culture of who we are so that
needs to be infused in the stories that
we tell about us
[Applause]
hello everyone i'm anika hilton
donaldson director of development at
national geographic and i am tracy
harris and i work on nat geo's
international business in programming
strategy and content planning tracy
happy holidays it is so good to be here
with you today on disney plus voices to
talk about multicultural engagement and
the importance of tradition and heritage
we've worked together on nacho kids
content before but i don't think i ever
heard your story i'm from a very small
town in illinois where people just don't
go into media i didn't know how to
become a television executive so that
goal just seemed unattainable so i took
a more traditional route when i went to
college and i studied business but i
wasn't happy i knew that wasn't me so i
took a pivot when i went to grad school
which is where i studied media from
there after graduation i was able to get
into the page program and that's how my
career really took off we we all don't
take a linear path as we just talked not
at all not at all right you mentioned
that one of the projects we worked on
together is nat geo kids
can you talk a little bit about why
series like what sam sees and sam's
zookeeper challenge are so meaningful to
you that content and several others on
the nacho kids brand is important i
believe that all children you know not
just children of color but all children
you know should be exposed to our world
in a way that is inspiring it makes them
want to go out and experience it but
also to feel like they're a part of it
because representation in those spaces
are very important it's something that i
was excited to be able to be a part of
telling those types of stories for
children no i agree with you completely
and internationally we think that it's
important to give to kids as well so
we're actually working on a project to
launch nat geo kids in africa they're
going to be out there they're going to
be in nature and the beauty of this
project is we didn't want something that
just we picked it up from la and then
put it in africa that that's not
authentic it's local kids local
producers local production companies
local animators everything is going to
feel african and when it's all said and
done it's just going to be something
beautiful it's important that those who
are not just in it are also telling it
so exactly that's it that's amazing
congrats on that i can't wait to see
thank you thank you so much we've talked
about being not only involved in the
content we do but we're also involved in
terms of the employee experience
representation matters you know it
matters so much in everything that we do
and i'm passionate about that whether i
am mentoring or whether i am in the
workplace in the employee experience you
know and making sure that i'm a voice as
well as being an advocate or advising
someone else that is important to me i'm
not on the creative side i'm on the
business side and and you see i think
sometimes even less
people of color so there's a lot of
times when i'm the only one in the room
if they'll even open the door and let me
peek in
so you know maybe maybe it's not pulling
someone now but maybe i'm opening the
door so five years from now there might
be two people or three people so i think
that's what keeps me going when it gets
really really tough yeah i feel we have
a responsibility to hold that door open
like you said for the next ones that are
coming behind us and the way that we do
that is we have to do things in
excellence but we also have to do things
that are honest and awkward and
uncomfortable
sometimes you got to be uncomfortable
right
it's not always supposed you know what
the greatest growth that we can have is
when we put ourselves in those positions
that are uncomfortable
when we stretch ourselves beyond our
fear or what feels familiar you know
what we've been told we can't do
that is that's the truth right there we
have to speak up and we have to be
authentic and we have to make sure that
we create space
for those who need to be heard but don't
have a voice
how have traditions and heritage these
types of things shaped you and your
growing up as i mentioned i'm from a
really small town in illinois that was
not diverse at all you're the one that
stands out no one has hair like you no
one has skin like you you don't have a
date to the dance because no one looks
like you so for me it was the lack of
tradition and heritage that really
shaped my upbringing because it wasn't
talked about it wasn't taught there was
there weren't a lot of people to ask the
question so i always had a hunger to
learn more about me and my people and i
always felt like i wasn't connected but
i wanted to be yeah yeah you bring up a
great point because it's often thought
that you know as a as a people as black
people that we're somehow myopic we all
have the same experience to hear you
speak that you're not from a community
you know where you don't see that
representation that mirror you know
essentially then you don't see you don't
feel like that's attainable for you you
don't think that that's possible you
know you don't feel that pride if you
don't see images that make you feel
proud of who you are you're not going to
feel that never ever tell you this um
that i'm afro-caribbean i don't know you
did not i did not know that okay so i am
i'm afro caribbean
both of my parents are from jamaica and
um i was born actually in the us but was
raised as a child in jamaica so i had
that cultural experience every holiday
every special occasion we
celebrate as well as with a lot of my
extended family our caribbean heritage
it's so important um we do it in the
food and let me tell you there are no
events that we have that don't include
some sort of curry something so
you know curry you know curry shrimp so
it's in the vibe it's in the food it's
in the you know the energy the music
these are things that are important to
me and i make sure i pass down to my
children because i want them to continue
that heritage and tradition in their
families i love love hearing that
because that is something that i always
felt was missing
as i was growing up in a community that
was um that was not diverse when you
think about your caribbean heritage
there are relatively new
african-american traditions being
celebrated like kwanzaa can you talk
about the importance and the principles
that they teach like unity i actually
have participated with other friends who
celebrated kwanzaa and like you said
kwanzaa
it is
important to the black community because
it affirms our african heritage and it
has the seven principles one of which
you mentioned there's an african name
that's attached to each of those
principles in unity like you mentioned
there is an african word moja this
encourages us to unify
as family as a black community as a race
what lessons do you think
you can learn from traditions like
kwanzaa like we just talked about and
also juneteenth which was just made an
official holiday in many states in the
u.s i think for me the lesson is joy and
pride
i think
too often our story is told through such
a sad lens
but we are resilient there is so much to
celebrate and so much to be proud of and
for me that's what kwanzaa and
juneteenth represent and that's what i
work towards i want us to get off of the
struggle bus i mean
look right
that you know yes our struggle is
important because it gives us pride and
what we've overcome but there's so much
more to us you know we are joyful people
we are celebratory people we have so
much culture and tradition like we
talked about that we want to just
celebrate we want to talk about all of
those beautiful things that are part of
us so then what is your vision for the
future when it comes to sharing more of
our traditions and stories joy for me is
a big part of that and to be honest
that's a mandate that we have in terms
of how we're filtering our content
moving forward i envision in the next
five years we will see a very different
national geographic i believe i agree
completely increased diverse talent
representation on camera as well as
behind the camera because we're working
as well as in the boardroom strategy
[Laughter]
right
[Laughter]
you know telling stories that are
representative of this amazing planet
which includes all of us you know that
we live on so that i feel like
everyone's voice feels heard and we all
feel included three words come to mind
for me
authenticity frequency
and normalcy because i think the more
that we have these conversations the
more that they just seem part of society
and i'm talking about society as a whole
not just the black community and so it's
more accepted and it's just a part of
our world
yeah absolutely oh this has been so good
it's been great it's always good to feel
the energy and be in the same space with
us right yes it has been great
connecting with you again today thank
you so much thanks so much for joining
us on disney plus voices and make sure
to watch all of these nat geo titles and
more streaming now on disney plus
[Music]
you