Diversity Sauce

After a long layoff, we are back with an interview with Sayantani Dasgupta, author of the middle grade novel The Serpent's Secret!

Amy and Kabir catchup on the summer, including the recent events in Charlottesville. Then, they are joined by entrepreneur and media producer David Grandison to chat about his brand new app DIYDoc.

Amy and Kabir talk Wonder Woman (spoilers start at the 20 minute mark), the lead-up, sexist reviews, pressure, false risk with a female director. Then, they cover acts 1-3, the Steve Trevor character and gender equality. Finally, they say good-bye to Adam West and discuss the Black Panther trailer.

Amy and Kabir discuss two articles related to the importance of Diverse Books. Then, a fantastic conversation with Lindsey Buller Maliekel on the incredible New Victory Theater in New York City.

Amy and Kabir chat about Becky, Barbie's friend with disabilities who has been discontinued and Julia, Sesame's newest muppet with autism. They are joined by guest Lisa Radcliffe from PunkinFutz whose mission is to build products to meet many physical and emotional needs.

Amy and Kabir share some exciting news about the future of DIA, the DIG Toolkit and the podcast! Go See Hidden FIgures! Great Article on Rogue One https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/01/05/actor-diego-luna-kept-his-mexican-accent-in-star-wars-sending-a-powerful-message-to-latinos/?utm_term=.e08392210e09

Amy and Kabir cover the week in news including The Hollywood Reporter's non-diverse panel, children's books on the history of Japanese internment camps and A Snowy Day on Amazon. Plus, they are joined by Dr. Natascha Crandall to talk about the importance of psychologists on children's pre-school shows, the focus on empathy in shows including her work on the new WellieWishers television show as well how children's shows handle death and loss. Find Dr. Crandall's work here: http://www.crandallconsulting.org/ Twitter: @crandallconsult Facebook: CrandallConsulting.NYC

Amy and Kabir discuss recent reaction to Moana as well as a Vanity Fair piece on Disney's diversity commitment. Then, they are joined by Sandhya Nankani, founder of the award-winning company Literary Safari to discuss her newest app Grandma's Great Gourd as well as their entire collection of apps. Plus, Sandhya and Kabir share the origin story of Diversity in Apps. Follow and learn more about Literary Safari: Twitter: @litsafari, @litsafariapps www.grandmasgourd.com www.hangart.co

Amy and Kabir discuss the safety pin activism that has shot up post election and how children's media has responded. They also talk about the incredibly diverse Target toy catalog (Here: https://goo.gl/RO3pYa) "Toy Queen" Keriann Wilmot joins to talk about her work as an occupational therapist and how it led to the toy world, the hottest toy of the year, the continuing diversity of the toy aisle and some of her favorite not as well known toys that may not have the biggest marketing budget. Follow Keriann On twitter: @toyqueen On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ToyQueen/ Youtube: www.youtube.com/Toyqueen Toys.about.com

Amy and Kabir discuss the election results as well as a fantastic piece in the Toca Boca magazine. Then, they are joined by Michael Robb and Asia Williams from CommonSense Media to discuss their latest report: "Case Studies of Media Use Among Lower-Income Minority Youth and Parents" Link to Toca Boca Article: https://goo.gl/BHaZwb Link to CommonSense Report: https://goo.gl/qZbG0I

Amy and Kabir have a great conversation with comic book illustrator Yehudi Mercado about his new comic Hero Hotel (herohotelcomic.com) Find more of Yehudi's awesome work at supermercadocomics.com and on instagram at @SuperMercadoComics

Amy and Kabir cover some worthy news 1. Concern about a "white savior" live action Mulan 2. Covergirl's new "Cover Boy" 3. Guardians of the Galaxy sequel and the Bechdel Test And then dive into Halloween with a little "Do's and Don'ts for Halloween" focused on Cultural Appropriation as well as gender discussion. Here is the link to the cartoon mentioned: http://gemma-correll.blogspot.com/2011/10/it-nearly-halloween.html As well as avoiding a racist costume: http://www.dailydot.com/irl/offensive-racist-halloween-costume/

Amy and Kabir touch on Gene Luen Yang's plan nationwide plan for "Reading without Walls" as well as Queen of Katwe opening this week. Guest David Kleeman (SVP Dubit) comes on to discuss the Emmys (he went), diversity on television and his work with Prix Jeneusse. Plus, He touches on Dubit's work on VR and it's possibilities to develop empathy with kids. Finally, that TAP study that explores how, when and what kids do with apps and digital technology. (TechAndPlay.org) David is on Twitter at @DavidKleeman Dubit is on Twitter at @Dubit Please check out the FB group children and media professionals here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/133583286677976/ Some links: Queen of Katwe trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4l3-_yub5A Prix Jeneusse: http://www.prixjeunesse.de/ VR https://www.wired.com/brandlab/2015/11/is-virtual-reality-the-ultimate-empathy-machine/ https://www.fastcoexist.com/3063687/van-jones-and-jamie-wong-use-vr-to-tell-the-story-of-the-prison-system http://kidscreen.com/2016/09/22/thanks-to-vr-a-new-era-in-kids-storytelling-is-here

Amy and Kabir discuss "color-blind casting" in the context of Kobo and the Two Strings and the newly announced Wrinkle in Time casting. In addition, they discuss ongoing cultural appropriation by Gwen Stefani in light of her new Nickelodeon show. Our guest this week is Carol Cain, the founder and publisher of Girl Gone Travel, an amazing travel blog where Carol documents her many adventures with her family. We touch on a variety of subjects including her experiences as a minority in the travel blogging world and how travel destinations, especially national parks can attract a more diverse group. Here are a few of our favorite pieces from Carol including a few we reference: http://girlgonetravel.com/2016/07/15/my-kids-first-trip-to-the-dominican-republic-heritage-race-and-breaking-the-cycle/ http://girlgonetravel.com/2013/08/05/the-role-of-media-diversity-sticking-out-like-a-sore-thumb/ http://girlgonetravel.com/2013/08/29/visiting-national-parks/

Amy and Kabir discuss the new Hidden Figures trailer (3:00) and the forgotten history is portrays. Then, they discuss a recent Vox article on biased hiring and potential ways to reduce it (14:00). Then, they are joined by Aaron Morris from PBS Kids to discuss his recent "tip sheet" he authored to help producers create content for Hispanic-Latino families. The document is excellent and ties closely to DIA's DIG toolkit The tip sheet is right here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0lpAxYTAIxRd2RvUzRhV01RTkU

Kabir and Amy discuss a recent TV study that showed the overwhelming number of characters with disabilities are played by able-bodied characters (2:00). They also cover the show Stranger Things and how the actor's disability was dealt with in the show. From there, they move to the growing movement of #ToysLikeMe (12:00) that has created more and more dolls with various representations of disabilities. Xbox has also launched new avatars with wheelchairs. Finally, University of Michigan researchers have created a new sensory technology aimed at children with autism. (21:40) Here is the link Amy talked about with the young girl who receives an American Girl Doll with a prosthetic leg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGhAcBwwpo0

Amy Kraft and Kabir Seth spend the podcast discussing the Olympics. They kick things off with a history of women at the Olympics quiz (1:30)(Kabir doesn't fair to badly) the dominant and diverse US Women's Gymnastics team (6:30), the worst of sexist olympic coverage (14:00) as well as body shaming on social media (30:00). The podcast covers a ton of articles, some of which are in the newsletter this week but here's the full list: https://www.olympic.org/women-in-sport/background/key-dates http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/you-throw-girl-an-olympic-shot-putters-feminist-mission http://jezebel.com/simone-biles-im-not-the-next-usain-bolt-or-michael-ph-1785182242 http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/08/leslie-jones-and-kerri-walsh-jennings-rio-bffs.html?mid=facebook_thecutblog http://time.com/4446944/simone-biles-rio-2016-olympics-gymnastics-gold/ http://fusion.net/story/335443/social-media-strikes-back-after-mexican-olympic-athlete-gets-body-shamed/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fusion&utm_content=link http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/08/gabby-douglas-only-has-1-job-and-it-isnt-to-fix-her-hair-to-please-you/ http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/essential-olympics-gif-from-laurie-hernandez.html?mid=facebook_vulture http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/how-to-really-watch-olympic-gymnastics?mbid=social_facebook http://mashable.com/2016/08/08/sexist-moments-rio-olympics/#v6Y.p9Lt4uqg http://www.vox.com/2016/8/5/12369420/rio-2016-womens-gymnastics-simone-biles-diversity-race-relations https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/09/female-olympians-guide-gaffes-athletes-sports-makeup-shorts-marital-status-lindy-west http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nbc-riol-olympics-rio-2016-olympics-katie-ledecky-swimming_uk_57ac19c4e4b08ab70dc128c6 http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/03/sport/sexism-sport-rio-olympic-games/ http://jezebel.com/simone-manuel-makes-history-as-the-first-black-woman-to-1785185468?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/sports/olympics/rio-schedule-medals-biles-phelps-lochte.html?_r=1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/simone-manuel-on-making-history-the-gold-medal-wasnt-just-for-me/2016/08/11/28cc3fe6-603d-11e6-9d2f-b1a3564181a1_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_olymmanuel-1240am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Kabir and Amy talk about Ezra Jack Keats book Snowy Day and how it makes for a fantastic diverse book. Then, Polly Conway (@pollymarie) from Common Sense Media comes on to talk about Elena of Avalor, the first Disney Latina Princess and diversity generally across the TV landscape. Here is the other article we talk about during our Keats discussion: http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/07/young-adult-author-jacqueline-woodson-on-writing-stories-that-appeal-to-all-ages/

This episode covers Hillary Clinton's historic nomination in the context of how a woman for President was viewed in 1995. Amy and Kabir also discuss recently announced Moana's voice talent and all the awesome diversity news from Comic Con Here is the Ms. Magazine article from a few months ago when Moana was announced: http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/10/24/will-disney-get-race-and-culture-right-with-moana/

Kabir and Amy talk about a recent Guardian article on kids media leading the way in LGBTQ representation as well as the disappointing fact that most kids cartoon animal characters in movies are male for no reason. Erica Branch-Ridley joins Kabir later to talk about HITN's fifteen (!) new apps aimed at preschoolers. Find more information here: http://earlylearningcollaborative.org/ and also search "Pocoyo Playsets" on iOS

Amy Kraft and Kabir Seth talk about the success of Pokemon Go as well as a recent provocative Medium article citing the risks of the game for black men. Keeping with nostalgia theme, Amy and Kabir discuss the new Ghostbusters movie (21:00), specifically the backlash the movie has received for its all-female reboot. Additional links not in the newsletter this week: -8 Reasons Why Pokemon GO Is the Most Important Game of the Decade: http://goo.gl/hysLJs -How the all-female Ghostbusters reboot became a lightning rod of controversy: http://goo.gl/7jwCKQ Our guest this week is Jinny Gudmundsen (39:00), the founding editor of Tech with Kids. Kabir and Jinny discuss the recent Tech with Kids conference, the overwhelming need for the DIG toolkit as well as some of her favorite apps that do a great job with diversity and inclusion including -Cool careers dress up for girls: http://goo.gl/MZ3eCk -Toca Life: School: http://goo.gl/vdmoEa -Goldilocks and Little Bear by Nosy Crow: http://goo.gl/95fVcq

Amy Kraft joins to co-host this week. Amy talks about her app, Monkey Spot Scavenger Hunt for iOS (https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/app/monkey-spot-scavenger-hunts/id972386385?mt=8)and Android (goo.gl/PThKUF)and their partnership with the New York Hall of Science (http://nysci.org/rocket-park-recess-2016/) Then, we touch on two articles from the newsletter, one on JK Rowling on cultural appropriation and the other on the newest Iron Man. Here is the link to the second Rowling article we touch on (http://nativesinamerica.com/2016/07/dear-jk-rowling-were-still-here/) Don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes!

In Episode 13, Kabir discusses two articles, one in the Atlantic about the forgotten "She-Ra" TV show and how its failure impacted children's TV over the next 20-30 years plus an article on a recent study on the impact of Disney Princess Toys on children. Our guest this week is Anne Glick, Co-founder and Executive Director at Globe Smart Kids. The awesome app discussed in our interview can be downloaded from here: goo.gl/y6edLV

Episode 12 talks about a fantastic piece about the resegregation of schools throughout the country both through a very personal choice by the author and an overview on the history. Here is the "This American Life Piece" about the history and state of the issue. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with Our interview this week is from Carisa Kluver who goes through the state of the children's app market (digitalmediadiet.com/have-childrens-apps-lost-their-luster/) as well as the choice she made to review and highlight diverse apps. Carisa talks about two app guides she put together for training around different diversity lenses. Here are the links for both https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0lpAxYTAIxRUXE5bUVLVlJLOE0&usp=sharing

Episode 11 touches on Sesame Street starting work to reach refugee children (5:35) and the maker movement (10:15) move to mainstream but still missing minorities. As I mention at the top of the show, DIA is focusing on building out a Diverse and Inclusive Toolkit to that will identify a dozen criteria that can serve as milestones for creative teams in the product development process to make intentional choices that can result in the creation of more inclusive, diverse and equitable children's digital products. Here is a video talking more about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWp15v5rorM Please reach out to us (diversityinapps@gmail.com) if you know a company that would be great for a best practice case study!

Our 10th episode features an article about the importance of telling stories from the other side of the tracks (3:40). Our fantastic interview is with Flora Ekpe-Idang from Corage Dolls (7:22), who is in the process of creating multi-cultural dolls to inspire girls of color and reflect the diverse world we live in. Definitely sign up for Corage Dolls newsletter here: http://www.coragedolls.com/ Diversity in Apps will be at the Tech for Kids Conference hosting a Diversity Panel. Check it out here: http://www.techwithkids.com/blog/index.php/developing-apps-for-kids-conference-2016/

Almost all our articles this week are about Dolls. We talk about what big companies are doing around diversifying dolls (1:52) as well as startups entering the space targeting boys (4:42). Our guest this week is Dr. Vikki Katz talking about the research she did on Digital Equity partnering with the Cooney Center with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation (7:00). Please check out DigitalEquityforlearning.org to see all of the reports and video from the research as well as the ongoing discussion on the topic.

Happy Mother's Day! Our first article talks about how screentime is a feminist issue (3:00) and our second is an introduction to a Native American Comic Book hero (6:15). Our conversation this week is with Deborah Castillero, the founder of TipiTom. Deborah talks about the problem she is addressing (9:45), how the app relates to her own personal story (18:00), the curriculum the app is built around (22:00) how the characters are celebrated (27:00), a brand new licensing plan with Care Bears (30:00) and plans going forward and plans going forward (38:00).

Episode 7 talks about an article on "Food Diversity" (3:10) and then a fantastic conversation with Kevin Clark (8:30) about what brought about his focus on creating the center for media innovation and diversity (13:45), recent work focused on African American Teens digital use at home (17:40) industry and researchers working together (25:00) and his recent visit to the White House (31:00) All of Kevin's work at the center can be found right here: https://cdmid.gmu.edu/

We touch on two articles this week, one around the video game Rust (2:15) and the other about Game of Thrones (7:06). And then, we have an awesome guest, Julie Kerwin, CEO of I AM ELEMENTAL (11:00). Julie talks about how her idea turned into reality, the strong reaction the company received not only from people who care about this issue but the action figure collecting community as well. The Vox article about Rust is here: http://www.vox.com/2016/4/17/11442730/rust-experimental-race-gender-random

The weekly spotlight highlights the outcome of a recent Red Bull Hackathon (1:48) and what the winning team looked like as well as a better way for business to think about Diversity based on recent research (4:35)

This week we highlight an article from the Atlantic on how white males have to take the lead on diversity in the workplace (1:50). Then, an awesome conversation with TinyBop Founder and CEO Raul Gutierrez (6:11) about how TinyBop came to be, the importance of "weirdness" (15:00), "designing for quiet" (17:20), how diversity at TinyBop shapes the product (27:00), how they continue to improve (32:00) what the future holds (37:15).

Diversity In Apps Weekly Spotlight Episode 3 by Diversity Sauce

Welcome to Episode 2 with our first guest Briana Pressey from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. We start by discussing two articles from our newsletter, one from the Guardian about how books about girls can be read by boys (http://bit.ly/1S5pUP8) and another about Warner Brothers plans for a fellowship program for aspiring filmmakers (http://bit.ly/1prjr6l). Then we are joined by our first ever guest Briana Pressey (7:55) who gives us some background on the Cooney Center as well as the great work she has been doing as part of a research on designing for diverse families and how she became interested in Diversity in Apps. The link for the guidelines Briana mentioned is here (http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/2015/10/30/designing-for-diverse-families/)

Welcome to first podcast! We begin with a little about Diversity In Apps and our strategy going forward. Next we, discuss two of our articles from this week's newsletter as well as share our updates on the creation of our guidelines for content producers. This podcast is an open forum for anyone in the industry focusing on diversity and inclusion. Please feel free to reach out to us to share you product, research or cause! Diversityinapps@gmail.com