The Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) Presents: 

Representation of Boys and Men in Media

#RealMasculinity

Online Livestream Episode and Live Q&A

Took place on Friday, February 14th, 2020 @ 1:00pm – 2:00pm PST

Guest Speakers:

Dr. Caroline Heldman, Executive Director of The Representation Project, Professor at Occidental College, and the Senior Research Advisor for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Sascha Paladino, Emmy-nominated Showrunner and Writer, Executive Producer of Disney's upcoming “Mira, Royal Detective,” Creator of Disney’s “Miles From Tomorrowland”

About: The Center for Scholars & Storytellers Livestream series features a live conversation between a content creator and an academic on priority issues for young people. The goal is to share insights with a storyteller audience. Our October Livestream was viewed over 6.3K times and counting (a huge growth from our first which had 1.6K views) and our December Livestream was viewed over 13K times.


Dr. Heldman is the Executive Director of The Representation Project, a Professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and the Senior Research Advisor for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Her research specializes in media, the presidency, and systems of power (race, gender, ability, and sexuality). Dr. Heldman has published five books -- Rethinking Madame President: Are We Ready for a Woman in the White House?; Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age; Women, Power, and Politics: The Fight for Gender Equality in the United States; The New Campus Anti-Rape Movement; and Sex and Gender in the 2016 Presidential Election.

Dr. Heldman has been active in “real world” politics as a professional pollster, campaign manager, and commentator for CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, and CNBC. She has also been featured in popular documentaries, including Missrepresentation, The Mask You Live In, The Hunting Ground, Informant, Equal Means Equal, Liberated, This Changes Everything, and Nevertheless. Dr. Heldman was one of many women who went public with allegations of gender discrimination against Bill O’Reilly that led to his firing from Fox News. She splits her time between Los Angeles and New Orleans where she co- founded the New Orleans Women’s Shelter and the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum. Dr. Heldman also co-founded End Rape on Campus (EROC), Faculty Against Rape (FAR), and End Rape Statute of Limitations (ERSOL).

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Sascha Paladino is a four-time Emmy-nominated television writer, producer and showrunner, and an award-winning film director.  He is currently executive producer of “Mira, Royal Detective,” Disney Junior’s first animated series with a lead female character of South Asian descent, premiering in Spring 2020.  He is the creator and executive producer of Disney’s “Miles From Tomorrowland,” an animated intergalactic adventure series that has screened at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center, and is the first children’s television program to premiere in outer space, on the International Space Station.

Sascha has been a writer, head writer, and producer for many children’s programs, including “Doc McStuffins,” “Henry Hugglemonster,” “PJ Masks,” “Ni Hao, Kai-lan,” “Sid the Science Kid,” “Wonder Pets,” and “Blue’s Clues.”  Sascha has written and developed projects and pilots for companies including Disney, Nickelodeon, The Jim Henson Company, MTV, Scholastic, Spin Master, and the BBC.

Sascha is also a film director.  His award-winning documentary feature, “Throw Down Your Heart,” is about the American banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck's journey to Africa to explore the roots of the banjo, and explores the use of music as a means of cross-cultural communication. 

Sascha’s projects aim to make complex ideas accessible, create connections between cultures, and encourage everyone to tell their own stories.


In collaboration with the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television the Livestream will be recorded and hosted on the CSS website for future viewing.