Chara-Lynn Aguiar

Since being promoted in November 2023, Aguiar has made smart programming and financial decisions designed to draw younger, female and more diverse viewers to ESPN. But she’s been working to create an inclusive and respectful culture at ESPN far longer than that. A member of several DEI-focused committees and councils at Disney and ESPN, Aguiar collaborates with colleagues to create workable strategies to ensure DEI is always part of the discussion when business decisions and strategic initiatives are made.

Will AI help or hurt diversity and inclusion? AI will be helpful and beneficial to the sports industry and the sports fan. For ESPN, we have the potential to tap into the technology in a variety of ways—from personalization to clip generation to closed captioning at scale, as just a few examples.

What does work-life balance mean to you? It’s a myth.

Advice I would give a recent graduate: Your first job may not be your dream job but you have a long career ahead of you so take the opportunity to learn whatever you can.

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