How Paramount Wants to Be a “Model for the Industry” on Inclusion

Georg Szalai
·7 min read
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Antisemitism, the cultural impact of Hip Hop, “thriving in the workplace with visible and invisible disabilities,” the staying power and international success of the Drag Race franchise and how to ensure authentic Asian American representation in children’s media are just some of the topics in the spotlight during Paramount Global’s 5th annual global Inclusion Week.

Throughout this week, employees at the entertainment giant around the world have access to more than 50 panels, fireside chats and workshops “designed to expand our thinking and spark thoughtful dialogue,” according to the company.

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The week’s events kicked off on Monday with a session featuring Paramount CEO Bob Bakish and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon from the retail titan’s Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters. Moderated by Marva Smalls, Paramount’s executive vp and head of the Office of Global Inclusion, their discussion addressed how diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) drives business results, innovation and company culture, as well as the need for systemic change across the media and retail industries. “I, our senior leadership team and our board believe that we will be more successful with DE&I at the core of our business,” Bakish said during the session, according to a summary of key quotes obtained by THR. “We all come from different places, and understanding people’s perspectives is actually what this week is all about. Diversity, equity and inclusion is fundamental to our business.”

McMillon shared: “What I learned over time is we have so much more in common than we do different. This really is one community, and we really are all connected. And if you start with that point of view, it helps bring people together.”

Paramount staff members from across the company have come together since the start of Inclusion Week to exchange concerns, views and information. But the impetus initially came from the outside.

“Inclusion Week actually began in the U.K. in 2018 in response to a call to action from the U.K. government for corporations to really spotlight the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion,” Smalls tells THR. Back then the company was Viacom, which in 2019 merged with CBS, with the combined giant later rebranding as Paramount Global. “It ignited something in us to say ‘Wow, what a great concept to create an immersive experience to amplify our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,'” Smalls recalls. “So we took that seed of an idea from the U.K. and then in 2019 amplified it across our footprint, with heavy emphasis in the U.K., the U.S., Los Angeles with a theme of Be You – Belong.”

Each year, Inclusion Week has continued to grow. “Now we have a truly 360-degree global lens that involves all of our stakeholders, partners, talent, content creators, really engagement from our employee resource groups and from our leaders,” Smalls explains. “It is the opportunity for us to continue to learn from, listen, support, and grow together. So Inclusion Week represents an immersive experience to be a part of the everyday cadence we have.”

How does her team ensure DE&I doesn’t remain a once-a-year focus? Smalls says what helps is the conviction that DE&I efforts make business sense. “For us, the business case for diversity is the business. It is not something we do in our spare time and pull off a shelf to check the box,” she explains. “So it is not about a transaction, but it is really personalized, deeply-seeded and rooted in our business practices every day. When we say inclusion is Paramount, we mean inclusion is paramount. So while we have this immersive experience once a year, not unlike other programs, it is just knitted and threaded together as part of the fabric.”

Also key is “holding leadership accountable for driving this change and embedding it into their business practices,” the executive highlights. Plus, for a content business, it means programming with a focus on key inclusion themes, such as Content for Change and Heritage Month celebrations.

Bottom line: “It is integrated and there is a steady cadence,” Smalls says. “We also have Bob (Bakish) in our senior leadership team meeting. We talk about the DE&I in that meeting. It is so seamlessly integrated. We don’t have to say, ‘Oh, today is the diversity moment.’ Inclusion Week is not unlike TED talks that are curated to create this moment of immersion and retooling.”

Smalls also notes the importance of having this in mind during difficult periods. “Times of challenges and uncertainty where some communities may feel marginalized or disenfranchised are just a reminder that the core values of Paramount mean that we never take our foot off the gas and drive a culture that is very equitable, inclusive, and that creates a sense of belonging,” she says.

And Smalls emphasizes her and Paramount’s desire to drive broader change. “What we also hope to be is a model for the industry and all like-minded partners in this space that we really can create the change we want to see,” she says.

Paramount develops DE&I programming and efforts year-round based on employee feedback and data, among other things. The same is true for Inclusion Week. “And then sometimes things also happen at the last minute, and we try to lean into what is happening in the zeitgeist,” Smalls tells THR.

Among this year’s external speakers at Inclusion Week sessions are the likes of filmmaker Dawn Porter (Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court), Louisa Wong, the CEO of creative logistics company Extreme Reach, Trevor Rozier-Byrd, founder and CEO of digital investment platform Stackwell Capital, Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, and Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum and founder and executive director of the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies at Columbia Law School.

Below is a look at select events and sessions featured during Paramount’s 2023 Inclusion Week. 

It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Impact of Hip Hop on U.K. Culture.   
Given Hip Hop’s broad reach across the globe and crossing generational divides, the company promises to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop with a lively discussion with undisclosed “pioneers and guardians of the culture.”

Shantay You Stay! – The Staying Power of Drag Race and Its Expansion Across International. 
Kelly Bradshaw, senior vp and lead for Paramount Media Networks & MTV Entertainment Studios at Paramount International, Michelle Alberty, senior vp, MTV Entertainment, Group Content & Brand for Latin America and Brazil, and Susanne Schildknecht, senior vp, MTV Entertainment Group, Content & Brand for Europe and the Middle East, will discuss the RuPaul hit show’s wide and lasting appeal.

Content Without Borders.
The session will highlight how content can emerge from various parts of the world and travel well beyond them. The panelists are Marco Nobili, executive vp and international general manager of Paramount+, Maria Kyriacou, president, broadcast & studios, Paramount International Markets, Christian Kurz, senior vp, global streaming research and insights at Paramount, as well as Catherine Park, senior vp, head of streaming & regional lead at Paramount Asia.

Creating Authentic Asian American Representation in Children’s Media.  
Sharing their thoughts will be Ramsey Naito, president of Nickelodeon Animation and Paramount Animation, Noelle Yoo, senior analyst at Nickelodeon Consumer Insights, Antora Majumdar, senior analyst at Nickelodeon Consumer Insights, Priya Malhotra, manager, Nickelodeon Consumer Insights, and Cindy Hsu, anchor and reporter at CBS2 in New York.

The American Jewish Experience Amidst Rising Antisemitism.
The much-discussed topic is part of Paramount’s Inclusion Week in a session with Jonah P. Kaplan, investigative reporter at CBS News & Stations, and Dana Jacobson, co-anchor of CBS Saturday Morning.

Beyond Barriers: Thriving in the Workplace with Visible and Invisible Disabilities. 
Yasmin Dunn, vp, Office of Global Inclusion at Paramount, joins Tim Farrell, senior vp, HR for this discussion.

Reflecting Me: The Power of Representation in Content Around the World. 
Another session cutting to the heart of topics in focus during Paramount’s 5th annual Inclusion week will feature Colleen Fahey Rush, executive vp and chief research officer at Paramount, Mathew Jafar, vp of Paramount Corporate Insights, and Mary Cheever, director of Paramount Corporate Insights, addressing “the power of representation” in programming.

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