Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle P. Jeter.
Danielle, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Women In Media GLOBAL (WIM GLOBAL) officially launched in Philadelphia, PA during the Spring of 2013 in response to the false depiction of women within the Philadelphia arts industry. Shortly after graduating from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA in 2010 I returned home to Philly to continue building my career as a full-time entrepreneur.
Out on the scene building my network and supporting my peers in the media, lifestyle, and film sector I attended an independent film screening about Philadelphia’s art scene. As an artist and millennial myself, I was looking forward to seeing the stories of my city played out on screen. Just to give you even more insight to my story, I graduated from Spelman College with a double major in Theater Arts / Dance and African / African American Studies. That day, I left the film screening disappointed and disturbed because there was only one woman represented in the film and the entire project was produced by a team of all males. This was not a true depiction of what Philadelphia offers the world of arts. Impacted and moved by what I experienced, I was motivated to research the industry broader to uncover what was happening. I discovered there was a lack of representation of women in media from a local to national to global level including every medium of media, even Hollywood!
Attending Spelman College, an all-female private institution where women are celebrated and prepared to change the world through leadership, it hit me hard to notice the mistreatment of women in my industry. I took things a step further, expressed my vision and concern with my best friend Kendra J. James and I let her know, we have to do something to remind women to own their voices! With the support of my first company AOI Events & PR, we began to conduct our own research and collect case studies, stories, and testimonials from women to uncover what was transpiring within our industry. After conducting research and uncovering the need for more women’s voices to be at the table, we hosted our first Women In Media GLOBAL Conference in 2013.
As a result of this, WIM GLOBAL has produced a well-respected and highly anticipated annual conference for women of all backgrounds, generations and professional levels. Over the past seven years, the conference has garnered global attention, serving a total of over 4K women in media. The conference convenes women with the purpose of Empowering, Equipping and Encouraging them to excel in the media field or enter it if they aspire to! After five years of successful conferences, we expanded the organization yet again and have created additional programs, community outreach, student scholarships, career opportunities, media making, and advocacy platforms that take place throughout the year.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has absolutely NOT been easy building a purpose-driven non-profit organization from the muscle but the good news is we receive unwavering support! Women In Media GLOBAL is a homegrown grass-roots movement, it is a heart project. If you had asked me seven years ago, if I envisioned WIM growing to this magnitude, I would have said no. In the beginning, I was content with just producing a once a year conference. This movement is not about me or just one person, so when our community spoke up and voiced that they desired more from WIM, I selflessly rose to the occasion. The vision organically grew as the need for our organization was realized on a much broader scale.
Coming from a for-profit background, I had to learn how to create, operate, manage, and grow a 501c3 non-profit organization. Learning how to build, grow, and sustain a team has been a challenge. Producing such a high profile and professional conference experience for women has been a miracle in itself. We launched our initial conference and then organization on a little to zero budget. Creatively coming up with ways to sustain our mission and then creating a business model that worked was also another challenge. Each year the organization gets bigger, we service more people, add on different programs, and enhance the conference where we are met with new challenges.
Adversity is a prerequisite for success! Each new level in business you will be met with a different set of challenges. Now, we are so experienced we anticipate the problem with a positive attitude that we can creatively fix anything we are met with. Challenges do not discourage WIM, we use those growing pains to make our organization better. We welcome growth through the obstacles and no matter what, we do not allow them to distract us for our mission to Empower, Equip, and Encourage Women to Own Their Voices!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Women In Media GLOBAL – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Our mission is to empower, equip and encourage women from all walks of life who are either in the media field or who seek to enter it. Women In Media GLOBAL (WIM GLOBAL) is a global network of professionals who collaborate to empower women to own their voices. WIM is a 501C3 non-profit membership based organization invested in the development of Women and Girls! Above all else, our goal is to increase diversity and build unity within the media, communications, arts, and entertainment industries. We encourage women to own their voices, to utilize the power of their stories, and advocate for change. We prepare and propel women towards leadership within the media, communications, arts, and entertainment industries. WIM takes a holistic approach to the professional and personal success of women, students, and girls.
Throughout the year, we produce various programs to uphold our mission, including the Women In Media Leadership Council, WIM Wellness, WIM Speaks GLOBAL Media, Student Givebacks & Scholarships, the Annual Women In Media Conference, and the WIM GLOBAL Membership! Our Global Conference has been presented annually since 2013. It convenes women with the purpose of Empowering, Equipping and Encouraging them to excel in the media field or enter it if they aspire.
The results of our work increases career and professional media opportunities with accessibility to the newsroom, leadership decision making positions, and board rooms. Our advocacy improves the positive media coverage regarding the narratives of women and girls ensuring that our voices are heard. Our global membership and programs are inclusion of all women with no discrimination of color, background, media field, age, creed, or nationality. We work across the aisle with our male counterparts who are also passionate about empowering women. WIM GLOBAL means all of us.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our overall vision is to increase diversity and build unity within the industry for women of all backgrounds, generations and professional levels. We want to see a world that embraces visibility of women in media both in front of and behind the scenes, owning media companies, directing, advising Board of Directors, in leadership and decision making decisions across every medium of media all over the globe.
WIM GLOBAL always has big plans! Organizationally, we are looking forward to continuing to launch local chapters across the country as well as building student chapters at various universities. Our vision is to create career opportunities for members across our network. We are excited for the work we are doing to expand our mission to other countries and empower women overseas. WIM GLOBAL made its first appearance in Nigeria, West Africa this year and we are interested in building our impact with women in media and businesswoman there. Our WIM Speaks GLOBAL MEDIA platform will eventually have it’s own studio location to produce women led media projects sharing our narratives, our WIM Merchandise Corner store will evolve, and we will continue to celebrate the impact of women through honoring their lives.
Pricing:
- I Heart WIM T-Shirt $35.00
- WIM T-Shirts $35.00
- WIM Wine Glass $10.00
- WIM Coffee Mug $10.00
- WIM Water Bottle $10.00
- WIM Candle $10.00
- WIM Global Annual Membership – $99.99 (1 year) $199.99 (2 years)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.womeninmediaglobal.org/
- Email: [email protected]
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