April 17, 2017 | J. Walter Thompson New York
If women are driving culture, why are they still underrepresented in the rooms where creative power is consolidated?
That was the central tension at Women of Action: Reinventing the Business of Creativity, a strategic briefing convened by the Geena Davis Institute and J. Walter Thompson New York. Designed for senior leaders across media, advertising, entertainment, and the arts, the evening moved beyond celebration to confrontation: the pipeline of female talent exists—yet leadership roles, funding, visibility, and institutional backing lag behind.
The timing was urgent. Globally, women remained dramatically underrepresented in political leadership, executive roles, directing positions, commercial production, sports coverage, and fine art institutions. In advertising and media agencies, representation decreased as seniority increased. In film, women directed fewer than 2% of top-grossing movies in 2013 and 2014. In sports coverage, airtime for women’s athletics remained flat for nearly two decades.
This was not a panel about incremental progress. It was a working conversation about how creative leaders—especially women who have already broken barriers—can reshape systems from the inside.
What made the event distinct was its cross-sector lens. Film directors. Sports journalists. Contemporary artists. Digital media founders. Agency CEOs. Each speaker had navigated a different gatekeeping structure. Together, they mapped patterns—and possibilities.
The evening opened with Madeline Di Nonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute, grounding the conversation in data. Gender equity is not just a moral argument—it is a business imperative. Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are significantly more likely to outperform their industry peers. Yet representation across leadership, directing, and creative roles continues to stall.
Lynn Power, then CEO of J. Walter Thompson New York, set the tone with a challenge: progress can feel visible and invisible at the same time. Social movements amplify women’s voices, yet structural change often lags. The question she posed to the panel was deceptively simple: How do we create lasting impact, not temporary momentum?
From there, the conversation unfolded across industries.
Thalia Mavros, founder of The Front, addressed the collapse of traditional “women’s interest” media and the rise of digital platforms. Rather than mourning declining glossies, she reframed the moment as opportunity. If legacy media once reduced women’s narratives to fashion spreads and relationship columns, digital ecosystems allow women to define their own storytelling lanes—political, investigative, global. The question is not whether there is a female voice. It is whether institutions are ready to center it.
Mary Lambert, director of Pet Sematary and one of the few women to helm major genre films in the 1980s, brought historical perspective. Breaking into horror and music videos meant navigating assumptions about what women could—or should—direct. Success did not automatically dismantle those assumptions. Her experience illuminated a familiar tension: trailblazing creates visibility, but not always systemic replication. Progress for one does not equal pipeline for many.
Kate Fagan, ESPN commentator and author of The Reappearing Act, turned the focus to sports media. Coverage often mirrors performance metrics, yet structural inequities limit women’s visibility in athletics from youth participation to professional airtime. When only a fraction of flagship sports programming is dedicated to women’s sports, perception becomes skewed. Storytelling shapes legitimacy. Who gets covered—and how—signals whose achievements matter.
Shinique Smith, internationally recognized artist, confronted the art world’s paradox. Women make up over half of visual artists, yet are underrepresented in major galleries and museum collections. Tokenism offers exposure without power. Her work—often incorporating found textiles and cultural artifacts—reflects layered identity and intersectionality. Her insight was clear: representation must move from symbolic inclusion to sustained institutional commitment.
Throughout the evening, the panel resisted easy answers. Intersectionality surfaced repeatedly. So did the question of categorization: how do we ensure women are recognized among “the best,” not merely “the best women”?
The closing reflection referenced Georgia O’Keeffe’s assertion that she was not the best woman painter—but one of the best painters. It was more than a quote. It was a call to recalibrate standards of excellence.
Madeline Di Nonno
CEO, Geena Davis Institute
Di Nonno framed the briefing around research and measurable inequities across sectors. Her leadership anchored the conversation in data, reinforcing that gender equity is both a cultural and economic issue.
Lynn Power
CEO, J. Walter Thompson New York (at time of event)
A longtime agency leader, Power emphasized talent-centric cultures and the responsibility of advertising leaders to build environments where creative women can thrive—not just enter.
Thalia Mavros
Founder, The Front
Mavros challenged outdated definitions of “women’s interest” media, positioning digital storytelling as a platform for global, female-led narratives that transcend traditional categories.
Mary Lambert
Film Director (Pet Sematary, The Blacklist)
Lambert reflected on directing in male-dominated genres and the persistent scarcity of women behind the camera. Her experience highlighted both breakthrough and limitation.
Kate Fagan
Writer and On-Air Commentator, ESPN
Fagan connected gender representation to sports storytelling, underscoring how media framing affects legitimacy, opportunity, and audience perception.
Shinique Smith
Contemporary Artist
Smith explored intersectionality in the art world, addressing tokenism, visibility, and the structural barriers women artists—particularly women of color—continue to face.
This event was co-hosted by the Geena Davis Institute and J. Walter Thompson New York, whose leadership in advertising provided both venue and industry reach. JWT’s commitment to supporting women across creative leadership roles aligned with the Institute’s research-driven mission: improving representation in media to shift perception and opportunity.
Creative industries do more than entertain. They define excellence. They signal authority. They shape aspiration.
When women are absent from directing chairs, sports desks, executive suites, and museum walls, audiences internalize those gaps as norms. Underrepresentation becomes expectation.
The data is clear: diverse leadership correlates with stronger financial performance. Female directors hire more women. Girls have fewer sports opportunities and receive less coverage. Women artists remain underrepresented in major collections. These patterns are not accidental—they are systemic.
The Geena Davis Institute convenes conversations like Women of Action to connect research with lived expertise. When cross-sector leaders compare notes, patterns emerge. When patterns are visible, they can be disrupted.
Ignoring these disparities risks more than reputational harm. It risks cultural stagnation—and missed economic opportunity.
Events like Women of Action are not open forums. They are curated convenings of leaders shaping creative industries.
Geena Davis Institute membership provides:
These conversations do not simply discuss culture. They influence it.
Membership connects you to the insight—and the community—required to move from awareness to action.
