NBC'S Karen Horne is committed to diversity in television

It takes a strong, powerful and focused woman to change the trajectory of media. We have seen many of those women throughout history in front of the camera, but Karen Horne is creating a diversity storm behind the scenes.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mrs. Horne, SVP, Programming Talent Development and Inclusion for NBC Entertainment and Universal Television Studios

Karen spoke of her career path, many times being the only woman and person of color in the room. Though NBC isn’t a stranger to inclusion (there was a boom of black TV in the 70's and again in the 90’s) Karen discussed how since the late 90’s, faces of color on the big and small screens disappeared for decades.

But now, with diverse shows like “This is Us” and the upcoming Morris Chestnut series “The Enemy Within” Horne is sure this time, the inclusion will last. Why so confident in this prediction?

“WE OWN STUFF NOW”

Referring to minorities & women not just acting or producing but they are now OWNING the production companies and stations.

ENTER Karen’s initiatives:

The Female Forward Directors Program “We took ten female directors and placed them on our shows. We paid them to shadow the shows directors and guaranteed them an episode in the same season they were shadowing.”

Karen also oversees the NBC late night writers workshops, the NBC Universal short film festival and serves on the advisory boards of USC Annenberg’s inclusion initiative and the Alliance of Women Directors

Karen Horne not only talks the talk but she clearly walks the walk every single day. I’m grateful for women like her who use their platform for the good of us ALL in the entertainment world and I look forward to her next groundbreaking moves!

"Lauren Loves it" with Karen and other journalists in Atlanta