Continue the Conversation IG Live:
Importance of Allies
In partnership with Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls
June 30, 2022 - 9am PDT
Instagram Live
Join us for an Instagram Live conversation between Dr. Yalda T. Uhls and Joy Gorman Wettels (Joy Coalition) about the Importance of Allies, a continuation of our panel from the Scholars & Storytellers Summit 2021.
Follow the CSS Instagram page (@scholarsandstorytellers) to get notified when the conversation goes live.
About the Continue the Conversation Series:
In partnership with Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, this Instagram Live series — Continue the Conversation: AIR Summit Learnings into Action — will lead up to the Scholars & Storytellers Summit 2022. Each episode will be hosted by Dr. Yalda T. Uhls and feature a storyteller guest. Over the course of the episode Dr. Uhls and the featured storyteller guest will deep dive into one Scholars & Storytellers Summit 2021 learning, brainstorm solutions, and leave the audience with tangible tips for creating authentically inclusive content throughout media.
Dr. Yalda T. Uhls
Yalda T. Uhls, a former senior exec at MGM and Sony, left the movie world to study child development, earning a Ph.D. in Psychology at UCLA. Uhls founded The Center for Scholars & Storytellers, an organization dedicated to bridging the work of child development researchers and youth content creators. Uhls is also an assistant adjunct professor at UCLA where she does research on how media affect the social behavior of tweens and teens and teaches a class on Digital Media and Human Development. She is an advisor for YouTube Kids and Family, The Bill and Melinda Gates Equitable Future project, Common Sense Media and the Jacobs Foundations Learning and Science Exchange and the author of the parenting book Media Moms & Digital Dads: A Fact not Fear Approach to Parenting in the Digital Age. Research conducted by Dr. Uhls has been featured in Time Magazine, the NY Times, USA Today, NPR and many others, and published in academic journals such as Developmental Psychology and Computers in Human Behavior.
Joy Gorman Wettels
Joy Gorman Wettels is an Impact Producer and Founder of Joy Coalition. She previously was a Partner at Anonymous Content, where her focus was “YI” content — Youth Impact, Intention & Inclusion. She strives for real world reflection & authenticity by aligning with activists, experts and organizations through storytelling. Joy executive produced all 4 seasons of the hit Netflix/Paramount series 13 REASONS WHY created by Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright Brian Yorkey and directed by Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy (SPOTLIGHT). Released in 2017, 13 REASONS WHY started a global conversation around teen suicide, bullying and sexual violence. The first two seasons are still reported to be in the top ten most watched Netflix series of all time (Sept. 2021). Joy completed two seasons of HOME BEFORE DARK on Apple TV+ starring Brooklynn Prince & Jim Sturgess. Inspired by the life of 9-year-old journalist Hilde Lysiak, Gorman developed it from inception with Dana Fox, Dara Resnik & Jon M. Chu. Gorman Wettels is currently producing a multi-part storytelling ecosystem for Warner Media inspired by Landmark Civil Rights docu-series EYES ON THE PRIZE in partnership with Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors, Melina Matsoukas, Dawn Porter and original producers BLACKSIDE. The first installment, EYES ON THE PRIZE: HALLOWED GROUND is now streaming on HBO Max alongside the original 1987 series with an all new curriculum & study guide. Porter will co-direct and showrun the upcoming 6 part series on HBO. Joy is now in pre-production on ABC Studio & Simpson St.’s UNPRISONED, Tracy McMillan’s autobiographical comedy starring Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo for Onyx/Hulu with Yvette Lee Bowser as showrunner. Joy’s upcoming TV and film slate includes a new adaptation of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE for Paramount TV/AC Studio; an adaptation of the award winning video game LIFE IS STRANGE alongside Shawn Mendes; K-Pop musical I’LL BE THE ONE at New Line with Colleen McGuiness & Nahnatchka Khan; OVERLOOKED with The New York Times and the Obama’s Higher Ground Productions. Previous passion projects include: Lorene Scafaria's THE MEDDLER for Sony Pictures Classics, named Vanity Fair's #1 film of 2016; Scafaria’s directorial debut SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD for Focus Features; GIRLS CODE, a pilot about an all-women robotics lab with Paul Feig and Kim Rosenstock. A fierce advocate for underrepresented voices and mental health in media, has helped raise awareness for Crisis Text Line, It’s On Us, Protect Her, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Mental Health America. She’s spoken at several events including the DC Women’s March, Sundance, Teen Vogue Summit, the Society for Research in Child Development global conference, and an It’s On Us call to action against sexual violence with President Joe Biden. Joy is on the Advisory Council of UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers and is on the board of SAFEBAE and is currently consulting for the Office of the US Surgeon General on promoting mental health storytelling for our youth. She is also one of the first 200 Hollywood women at the forefront of the Time’s Up movement. On behalf of 13 Reasons Why, she’s accepted a Sentinel Award, Television Academy Honors for advancing social change and the 2018 Mental Health America Media Award. Along with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, she received The American Legion Patriot Award, for Outstanding Dedication To Veterans And Hollywood Post 43. Earlier in her career, Joy was named one of The Hollywood Reporter's NEXT GENERATION / "35 under 35.” Her early years in entertainment were spent at Miramax Films in NYC and at her own management and production entity, where she sold the first pitches & scripts of now longtime collaborators out of her apartment. She grew up in Yonkers, New York, and commuted to Barnard College of Columbia University where she produced the 102nd Columbia Varsity Show written by fellow students Brian Yorkey & Tom Kitt. Subsequently, she helped shepherd their Pulitzer & Tony winning musical NEXT TO NORMAL to Broadway for over a decade. Having spent 14 years working closely with the legendary Steve Golin, Joy approaches filmmaking with the honesty, devotion & tenacity he exemplified. Joy is a member of the Producers Guild of America and the Television Academy.