Making Moves: Promotions, App Upgrades, and Calling Out Inequality
Every Friday, we here at C&C like to celebrate all of the moves women are making in their industries. And as always, this was a good week for women. Read on to see women getting promotions, speaking up against inequality and discrimination, and more!
Sylvia Rhone has been promoted from president to chairman and CEO of Epic Records. In this position, she will have control over the label’s creative direction and management of the label. Rhone was the the first African American woman to be the chairman of a major record company when she was made chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group's Elektra Entertainment Group in 1994. That’s music to our ears!
Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of Walt Disney, called out the Disney Company for contributing to economic inequality in the US. She called Disney CEO Bob Igar’s $65.7m salary in 2018 as “insane” and noted that the lowest-paid company employees only make $15 an hour. Way to speak up, girl!
No filter necessary. Bumble is beginning to develop an AI-enhanced “private detector,” which will screen unsolicited nude photos sent through the app. Bumble CEO and founder Whitney Wolfe Herd and Bumble’s parent company founder Andrey Andreev are working together to make the internet a safer and friendlier space for women.
Way to call out workplace discrimination! Former CBS executive Whitney Davis recently published a letter in Variety detailing the discriminatory and toxic culture present within CBS. She details the racism she personally experienced, as well as racist comments spoken about other people of color. Davis attributes the network’s toxic environment to its “white problem,” and it bringing awareness to the systemic racism present in the entertainment industry.
Sign on the dotted line. Michelle Obama, the Reach Higher Initiative, and Better Make Room are hosting a College Signing Day on Wednesday, May 1st. The Reach Higher Initiative was started by Obama to encourage more high school students to pursue a college education. The event itself will have a multitude of celebrity guests and performances.