Donna Northington

Amid constant change at WarnerMedia, Northington has steadfastly prepared the distribution division’s annual budgets and long-range plans, including contract terms, linear and digital rates and sales incentives. But spreadsheets aren’t her only canvas. Northington is an accomplished artist whose work has been shown at many galleries and exhibits. Previously named a Woman to Watch by the WICT Southeast chapter, she believes WarnerMedia is taking the right steps to address diversity and inclusion. “Our current focus is to ensure that our pipeline of women leaders remains strong across our operating divisions for years to come,” she says.

What specifically does your company do to support and elevate the women who work there?
Warner Media has an incredibly talented group of female executives in leading roles throughout our company and we are proud of the great strides we’ve made as a company; we also recognize opportunities for continued improvement within our workforce. Our current focus is to ensure that our pipeline of women leaders remains strong across our operating divisions for years to come. We are taking the right steps to address diversity and inclusion across our company. We continue to promote female executives into senior management roles across our organization.

What changes, if any, has your company enacted since the dawning of the #MeToo movement, and what results have ensued?
We recently hired for the first time ever, a chief diversity and inclusion officer for WarnerMedia, so that we truly hold ourselves accountable and we think about how are we building a diverse workplace within our organization because, frankly, our audiences demand it and we need to we need to do better and hold ourselves accountable. We have recently welcomed several additional female executives to our extended management team.

Which current shows best reflect the kind of women’s roles you like to see and why?
Big Little Lies on HBO and Insecure are two of my favorite shows where women play major roles. In Big Little Lies, women from very diverse backgrounds team up in friendship to support and protect each other. Insecure, in depicting the raw and unvarnished life of a millennial female and all that she has to deal with is very fresh and entertaining without being stereotypical.

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