Last month, The Hollywood Reporter threw their second annual Women in Entertainment Canada Summit and Awards event honouring five of Canada’s finest women in entertainment who have changed the way we consume media in various ways.
The panels during the day featured amazing insightful conversations touching on the Art of Leadership, Women to Watch, Empowering Women in Entertainment, the Power of Music, Directing Change and a fireside chat with honouree Jeanne Beker moderated by Suzanne Boyd.
One of my favourite Women to Watch is Ebonnie Rowe of Honey Jam which has offers musical development program for girls and women. Row shared that she wanted to create a safe space after seeing how certain men behaved like predators the minute they saw or heard a talented woman performing. Through this organization she has educated women, shown how she has carried and protected herself to avoid uncomfortable situations. This year Honey Jam celebrates 30 years of creating spaces to empower female musicians.
Jeanne Beker shared an intimate conversation with Suzanne Boyd, revealing stories from her book “Heart on my Sleeve”. The fashion ICON from Style TV shared unabashedly that as a child she had wished for her own TV show, perhaps sensing a talent inside herself. Beker also shared an unbelievable take of being 8 months pregnant and waiting patiently for hours to meet with Karl Lagerfeld in Paris for an interview. Though she remained patient, the staff offered for her to try on garments for the interview to pass the time. Once Lagerfeld arrived and saw how well she fit into the piece, even while pregnant, he offered her the piece as a ‘cadeaux’.
The afternoon panel on directing change offered great insight from diverse women who are implementing important changes and measures throughout entertainment. Zoe Leigh Hopkins who is the director of North of North and Little Bird touched on juggling motherhood and how these burdens makes women genius. She also said if she could change some elements in the industry, she would make be film sets and spaces more accessible with family space and child care put in budgets. Fawzia Merza is a queer Muslim woman who expressed frustrations she had in her earlier times of her career trying to find a queer, Indian, muslim director before realizing that who she was seeking was herself. Merza also shared thoughts on going to America and having an easier experience in the industry but that this is a misconception. She also expressed that to her, equity is not wanting what men have but wanting options to have whatever they could dream or desire – an important distinction. Other panelists include Aleysa Young who directed the entire first season of Baroness Von Sketch Show and episodes of Kim’s Convenience and Holly Dale who has worked on Law and Order, Dexter, the Americans and Patricia Rozema who has worked on HBO’s Grey Gardens and Into the Forest among other titles.
Hillary LeBlanc
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