inclusion Archives - OpenBusinessCouncil Directory

Labid Aziz, CEO of People of Culture Studios, Discuss A More Sustainable and Inclusive Film Business Model With Hilton Supra

Hernaldo Turrillo — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 13:40:33 +0000

Labid Aziz, the CEO of People of Culture Studios, entrepreneur, and film producer was the guest of the second episode of the Citiesabc podcast series with Hilton Supra, powered by citiesabc.com and openbusinesscouncil.org. He describes his experiences as a film producer, the role of storytelling, and building his own TV business from the ground up.

Labid Aziz is a strategic, operations-focused executive who understands the qualitative and quantitative elements needed to build successful companies. Aziz gained his operational knowledge while holding senior management positions in companies in the technology and media/communications industries during which he also gained significant experience in feature film finance and production.

People of Culture Studios

Aziz describes PoC Studios as a uniquely diverse and forward-thinking content studio offering an all-inclusive approach to producing, financing, and distributing film and TV content intended for a global audience – all under one house. From development to distribution, PoC Studios supports creatives with resources and infrastructure to bring to life the stories they care about most.

Among PoC’s initial slate is the film (and subsequent tv-series) Tokyo Under Night, (now out to talent), written by Academy Award® winner Ron Bass (Rain Man), a “Japanese Casablanca” featuring an historically important Japanese supper club in the 50s and 60s were influential people from all walks of life and countries co-mingled with fascinating results. Also on the slate is The Raj, a historical epic set in Raj-era India that deals with the nation’s fight for freedom against the British Empire.

More interviews

Felix Xu and The Future Of Blockchain At The First Ever citiesabc & openbusinesscouncil podcast series

James Zhang, CEO The Concept Art House – Games, Art And NFTs

Adam Hollander, Serial Entrepreneur, Pack Leader at Hungry Wolves – NFT, Gamification

Interview with Rishi Kapoor, Founder & CEO of paus.tv – The Revolutionary Streaming Platform For Independent Creators

Interview Kireet Khurana, Filmmaker & Creator Of Animation Film “Toonpur Ka Superhero” – Homelessness In India: The “Invisible Visible”

Speaking about the mission of the studio, Aziz explains that:

“We are the one-stop shop for ideation, development, finance, production, domestic distribution and global exploitation. We are designed from the ground up to help the massive independent space that lacks the Major Studio infrastructure to protect its content. And we work top down to maintain ownership & control of our IP in alignment with its creator as we help shape the pathway and trajectory of that IP towards potential 20+ year strategies. We manage and exploit all potential revenue for the benefit of our talent, our partners, and anyone else who brings real value every day to our IP and projects, who INSPIRE us to protect and reward them.”

Film production career

Aziz also explores his film production career, particularly the 2005 film, Raisins Not Virgins: Abdul. This film brings to light crucial issues for Americans both Muslim and non-Muslim in the time of tremendous political and racial turmoil. It begs to question people’s notion of entitlement, their identity and what it means to truly experience Jihad.

“Who is more American and what makes us different? Is it not which makes us the same? As immigrants Abdul makes sacrifices for the family and for a better future in the land of opportunities – a reflection of what we are all seeing today and the misinterpretations of religious texts everywhere in all religions”.

Modes of storytelling

Aziz believes that storytelling is one of the ways in which we keep our culture alive. As he explained to Hilton Supra during the interview, this is especially important for communities of colour:

“Culture is above all, something we shouldn’t judge people on, we should try to embrace it. And that notion of culture I learned about in Brandice from the Jewish community. Lean back in to the purpose and mission mantra of ‘Using the transformative power of storytelling, injecting it with love, and dignity, and truth, and fun, telling stories of People of Colour to the world and hopefully in some small way be able to heal the trauma and the pain that so many People of Colour face and just unite through the transformative power of storytelling. That, as you know, existed since the dawn of time.”

On the use of technology in film

Aziz believes that in spite of what current trends in the technology world are, Blockchain and NFTs are going to stay in the film industry for the long term.

“I think Blockchain, crypto, and even the dirty word NFTs right now, because some people don’t look at it fondly, I think it’s just an extension of kickstarter, and the crowdfunding that happened with that model, and allowing us to engage and then to be fully transparent in how capital is used and what the smart chain, smart contracts and what not are doing, so being okay with being transparent. It is good to be transparent. Let us be transparent and let us talk to the truth of the business and say ‘here are the pain points’ and here is how we are going to address them. Here is our model from development to monetisation and distribution.”

“If you give your audience a sense of ownership in what you’re doing, amazing things could happen, and we’re seeing this every day”.

About citiesabc.com
https://www.citiesabc.com/
https://twitter.com/citiesabc__

About openbusinesscouncil.org
https://www.openbusinesscouncil.org/

4IR: AI Blockchain Fintech IoT Reinventing a Nation by Dinis Guarda and Rais Hussin (4irbook.com)

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

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Diversity and Inclusion Builds a Healthy Workplace

Hernaldo Turrillo — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 23:23:10 +0000

A modern healthy workplace goes beyond the traditional concepts of preventing injuries or diseases. It now encompasses a variety of aspects ranging from ergonomics, to health care, to positive psychology, to community and culture. Especially as the world market increasingly competes for quality labor, employers must treat building and maintaining a healthy workplace as integral to a sustainable business model. A positive, safe, inclusive work space gives employers a competitive advantage in terms of productivity, public image, and profit.

Why are diversity and inclusion primary parts of a healthy workplace? Every workplace is diverse, whether employers recognize it or not. Each employee is unique and has an individual set of needs, skills, and attributes. Companies who understand the human spectrum that goes hand-in-hand with being an employer will be much better positioned to set themselves up for long term success. Being realistic and working successfully with the real human assets in the company is the only pragmatic way to fully utilize the potential of all employees.

What is Diversity and Inclusion?

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that diversity is only about race, color, religion, or gender. The reality is that the definition of diversity is even simpler. Diversity is anything that sets one person apart from another. That includes where someone grew up, their socioeconomic status or background, their education, their family configuration, their political or ethical ideologies, even their opinions and methods of self-expression.

Inclusion is more of a feeling, a sense that all of the members of the group are accepted, especially for the things they cannot change about themselves or that they hold dear. Employees who feel valued for who they are tend to participate and contribute more. Modern corporations all attempt to outline the main tenets of their corporate cultures. The businesses viewed as having the healthiest corporate culture are mindful of this attitude of embracing human differences.

Fostering Diversity and Inclusion

To create an organization that cultivates inclusiveness for all kinds of employees, companies need to consider both physical spaces and business practices.

Setting up the physical spaces where employees will work starts with practical and legal compliance considerations like handicap accessibility and ergonomics to prevent workplace fatigue. To truly advance inclusivity in the office, structure it using the principles of universal design. Universal design creates a comprehensive environment to be used comfortably by all people, with minimal additional adaptation needed. The key concepts are accessibility, flexibility, simplicity, and room for error and learning.

The practices that foster diversity are the same that establish a healthy corporate culture. Normalizing shared values, a priority placed on wellness, respect for cultural and personal beliefs, and social support help employees feel invested in both the company and the work they are doing.

Preventing and Addressing Discrimination

Preventing people’s overt and unconscious bias from taking a toll on the environment in the workplace starts with top management waterfalling a genuine dedication to inclusivity down to every level of employee. In recent years, governments have stepped up their efforts to drive greater acceptance of employment diversity.

Many U.S. states require employers to provide some form of discrimination training on a regular basis. Many professionals who have to take continuing education courses to maintain their licenses have found that their licensing boards are now requiring some level of diversity and inclusion training, particularly those in the medical field.

Employers who want to remain in legal compliance and who want to get out in front of potential problems are turning to easy to access classes for employees such as sexual harassment online training and courses in understanding diversity.

The Financial Benefits

It is true and worth acknowledging that there are many state and federal laws that require things like equal pay, a process for investigating complaints of unlawful discrimination, and reasonable accommodation for employees’ disabilities. Failure to adhere to those laws opens a business up to litigation as well as federal, state, and even municipal fines.

Basic compliance is the minimum. Changing the corporate mindset from focusing on just preventing problems to the concept that excellence at inclusiveness is good for growing a business and will show dividends towards the corporate bottom line.

An inclusive atmosphere boosts attendance, increases job satisfaction, and reduces grievances. Links have been made to show that healthy workplaces are strongly correlated to fewer worker accidents, as well as lower levels of burnout, depression, and turnover. Every employer can see the savings in these statistics.

Word will get out. Having a good workplace is good public relations. A diverse team will have a wider set of resources to draw from when providing customer service. Customers who have positive experiences will tell others. Employees who love their workplace will tell others. A quality workplace that takes time and effort to make employees feel appreciated and welcome is a highly attractive target for high quality job candidates.

It’s the Future

A demand for healthier, more diverse and inclusive workplaces is the new future for corporate culture and business responsibility. Employers who don’t start learning now will quickly find themselves behind the curve and at a competitive disadvantage. Also, it’s the right thing to do.

Hernaldo Turrillo

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Tech lessons learnt from Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Hernaldo Turrillo — Fri, 21 May 2021 15:14:39 +0000

Thursday 20th March 2021 marked the tenth Global Accessibility Awareness Day, created to prompt the discussion about digital access and inclusion across technology, digital tools, assets and software around the world.

Following a day of talks and awareness-raising, inclusive user design experts are encouraging organisations to examine their digital products and services going forwards to identify and fix any accessibility issues and embed inclusion deep into their processes.

Hilary Stephenson, managing director at human-centred design agency, Nexer Digital, said: “With more than one billion people across the globe living with disabilities or impairments and society becoming increasingly reliant on digital, it is crucial to raise awareness of digital inclusion so that everyone has equal access to a positive online experience.

“To mark the tenth Global Accessibility Awareness Day, I would urge all digital designers and developers to review their products and services, work with and employ disabled people and consult with accessibility experts to ensure that they are doing all they can to make their resources inclusive.

“There are some simple, easily rectifiable accessibility failures that are still littering webpages, for example a shocking 86% of homepages use low contrast text, which can cause problems for people with impaired vision. Similarly, evolving technologies such as facial and voice recognition used to authenticate users can cause problems for those with accessibility needs if they are not designed and tested with a neurodiverse audience in mind.

“When reexamining their design, organisations must not be tempted to add accessible features, such as closed captions on videos, on top of an otherwise non-inclusive service as this will perpetuate the notion of accessibility as an afterthought. Designers should regularly audit their content, scrutinise accessibility, seek user feedback and make changes wherever necessary.

“In the modern-day with technology advancing at such a rapid pace, it is critical that those with disabilities are considered throughout every step of the digital products and services creation process so that no one gets left behind. This includes everything from the systems used to host digital services, the content within and the overall design. With all our modern innovations, there is no excuse for poor, exclusive, inaccessible digital design.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

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Fashion and Innovation: Samanta Bullock’s First Sustainable And Inclusive Collection

Hernaldo Turrillo — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 09:07:40 +0000

Fashion and Innovation: Samanta Bullock’s First Sustainable And Inclusive Collection

Get ready for the new fashion industry revolution. A revolution that leaves no one behind and it is fair and sustainable for everyone involved in it. Besides, it is all about accessibility. Those are the three pillars Samanta Bullock has based her brand new collection from. A new collection that promises to not forget those that are usually forgotten by the industry.

The collection will be presented on Saturday, on 15th June, from 7:00 p.m., at the unique landmark building Bradmore House in Hammersmith, London. The emblematic place will host the launch party of the innovative, inclusive and sustainable brand, Samanta Bullock.

A lavish night with a catwalk show, live music, drinks, goodie bags and lots of fun is waiting for you. The first collection of Samanta Bullock, developed in partnership with emerging international designers, will be shown first on the spot.

“It’s an unprecedented collection, fully adapted for both sitting and standing positions. It’s for everyone, including wheelchair users”, says the entrepreneur Samanta Bullock, professional model, athlete and inclusion activist.

How it all began

Being a wheelchair model from an early age, Samanta Bullock has always felt frustrated by the lack of high-quality clothes available in the market for people with physical disabilities.

After a few years of fighting for inclusion in the fashion industry, Samanta began to question herself: “What is the use of having more disabled models on the catwalks, if there are no clothes made for these consumers?”

Samanta then decided to join forces with innovative designers and to develop her own brand, tailored to her own needs, such as more practical zippers, waist-high trousers, cropped jackets with vegan leather details on the sleeves to prevent to dirt them on the wheels of the chair, sustainable jewellery inspired in the force of transformation of nature, body creams specially developed to help activate the circulation of the legs, among other novelties.

Following the slow fashion movement, Samanta explains that the philosophy of the brand is to prioritize quality over quantity. Launching two collections a year, the men’s line will be added next year, by 2020. “It’s better to invest in stylish, high-quality and comfortable pieces than buying clothes that just last a few washes, and do not fit well on the body”.

“It’s an unprecedented collection, fully adapted for both sitting and standing positions. It’s for everyone, including wheelchair users”, says the entrepreneur Samanta Bullock

Marketplace

Unfortunately, the lack of choice of clothing adapted to the physically disabled has been a harsh reality faced by potential consumers until nowadays.

While the main players in the fashion industry struggle to call attention to the customers distracted among so many options available in the market, 20% of the world’s population, with a spending power of US$ 1 trillion, go completely unnoticed and ignored right under the noses of the large corporations.

It is the international market for people with physical disabilities.

In the United Kingdom, the term “Purple Pound” refers to the spending power of the 13.3 million people with disabilities in the country, with a potential consumption of £ 249 billion per year!

Loss

According to a recent survey by the ‘We are Purple’ organization in the UK, companies lose approximately £ 2 billion a month, ignoring the needs of people with disabilities. Physical stores no longer make £ 267 million a month because they are not physically accessible. And 75% of people with disabilities have already had to leave an establishment due to lack of accessibility and care,

It is also expected that the first collection of Samanta Bullock will be available online starting from that presentation.

Hernaldo Turrillo

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