Srivastava leads integrated ad sales marketing promotions for Disney’s global kids and family linear and digital TV and radio businesses. A consummate innovator, she also collaborates with Walt Disney Studios arms for cross-promotional activity. At Disney, she says, “we see diversity as gender, race, age, background, education, military/veteran status, disability, LGBTQ+ and beyond.” Diversity flows through the company’s programming too, she notes, pointing to upcoming Disney Junior series “Mira the Royal Detective,” based in a fictional town in India.
What does your company/organization do to ensure all employees feel included?
The Walt Disney Company has a very inclusive environment and provides numerous opportunities for employees (cast members) to feel included, from diversity mixers to special interest organizations and groups throughout the company. What’s admirable and special about our organization, is that we see diversity as gender, race, age, background, education, military/veteran status, disability, LGBTQ+ and beyond.
How can diversity be better incorporated into the recruiting process?
Within any organization—regardless of the industry—there needs to be a requirement at the recruitment level to seek out candidates from a wide variety of sources to ensure there’s a diverse mix of applicants. Many times the hiring process moves quickly and those teams may not have adequate time to strategize their outreach. All companies need to invest in the teams responsible for recruitment and talent resourcing, to ensure that they are poised for success and attract the best candidates. This may not always result in the hiring of diverse candidate for a particular role, but it will build a portfolio of new options, or lead to a future opportunity. It’s crucial to begin there to ensure that there’s a representative mix of employee types at all professional levels.
Which current television show/s best embrace diversity?
Hulu’s “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” FX’s “Pose,” Disney’s “Descendants 3” and coming soon to Disney Junior in 2020, the animated series “Mira the Royal Detective,” which is based in a fictional town in India.