Disney Executive And Imagineer Carmen Smith Says Diversity And Inclusion Keeps Disney Relevant

Before American society perceived "wokeism" as having pejorative overtones, Walt Disney Animation had always highlighted various cultures in their storytelling before it became in fashion.

In 1942, Walt Disney Production produced the live-action anthology film Saludo Amigos, set in Latin America, which became an instant classic. Due to the film's immense success, Disney moved forward to create another Latin American film, The Three Caballeros, released in the United States in 1945. The Jungle Book introduced audiences in 1967 to the character Mowgli, an inquisitive and adventurous orphaned Indian child raised by animals in the wilderness. In 1992, viewers were charmed by the whimsical animated musical comedy Aladdin, which gave a peek into Arabian culture. Disney continued to expand their storytelling with diverse characters like Pocahontas, Mulan, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, which examined the religious oppression of the nomadic Indo-Aryan ethnic group. Disney fans were whisked away to the ancient Incan civilization in the Emperor's New Groove and learned about the Inca Empire through the spoiled ruler Kuzco. Disney has brought to the silver screen and now its streaming services stories based in Hawaiian/Polynesian culture with Lilo and Stitch, Moana, and Raya and the Last Dragon inspired by Southeast Asian culture and the animated blockbuster Up also featured an Asian-American main character.

In past years, when Disney used different cultures to bring new characters to the forefront, however, there were moments of accusations against the family entertainment studio for incorporating harmful racial tropes. Many Chinese felt Disney superimposed too many American ideals upon the main character in the 1998 Mulan animated feature and that it did not reflect an authentic Chinese belief system. The Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized the film Aladdin because it depicted Middle Easterners as barbaric and perpetuated "Islamophobic ideas and images."

Disney took the feedback and criticism in stride and made remarkable films like Coco, which accurately portrayed Mexican traditions, and Encanto which flawlessly represented the intricacies of Colombian culture.

African-American Disney characters are advancing within the company, like Tiana from Princess and the Frog, Frozone, a supporting character in The Incredibles, and Soul, which audiences loved for the details given to the Black characters, particularly in the barbershop scene. However, a general topic that did arise is why animated films transformed Black characters into other entities to carry the story forward.

Once again, Disney made creative adjustments to how African-American characters throughout the diaspora are shown on-screen. During the company's D23 Expo, top head executives unveiled several projects to give Black characters a broader platform to explore richer representation in a mix of live-action and animation. For example, Black audiences will be dazzled by projects such as Strange World, Tales of the Jedi, Iwájú, a story set in Lagos, Nigeria, Wish, which features the first Afro-Latina heroine. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and also the future live-action Mufasa: The Lion King prequel to The Lion King and television series Ironheart directed by Ryan Coogler.

Disney is even taking a step further with diversity and inclusion. The corporation will revisit their 2009 hit Princess and the Frog by upgrading Splash Mountain to Tiana's Bayou Adventure, continuing her story where the film ends, giving Disney guests a closer look at Tiana and her family, as well as New Orleans customs.

"I serve as a creative executive over the project and working in partnership with Charita Smith and Ted Robledo, we are the creative team," Carmen Smith informs. "So working on the story itself, the research, we worked on it together; it's a collaboration, an incredible partnership."

Carmen Smith serves as Creative Executive for the new Tiana attraction and is the Senior Vice President and Executive Creative Development Product/Content and Inclusive Strategies for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. Her duties encompass holistic, global application to ensure that all Disney products and experiences are inclusive for its guests and consumers worldwide.

Smith is responsible for "guiding global relevance assessments to identify issues and address concerns; advises on content to make sure Disney's stories, characters, products, and experiences are culturally accurate, authentic, inclusive and devoid of stereotypes; diversifies external partnerships and collaborations, and ensures thoughtful representation and engagement throughout the creative development process," according to her corporate bio.

The annual financial results conference call for Walt Disney Company's Third Quarter of August 2022 revealed the company's impressive financial data.

"We had an excellent quarter powered by world-class storytelling, outstanding performance at our domestic theme parks, [and] increases in live-sports viewership across our linear channels and ESPN+," stated Bob Chapek, Disney's Chief Executive Officer. "And significant subscriber growth at our streaming services, which added 15.5 million subscriptions in the quarter. Including 14.4 million Disney+ subscribers, of which 6 million were core Disney+, and 8 million were Hotstar. As of the close of Q3, we now have 221 million total subscriptions across our streaming offerings."

Disney's media and entertainment distribution segment, third quarter revenues increased by over $1.4 billion as opposed to the previous year. Its operating income decreased by $645 million due to the implementation of linear networks that counterbalanced the declines in its direct-to-consumer and content sales, licensing, and others. Disney's linear networks operating income for Q3 increased 13% to approximately $2.5 billion, attributed to the growth of its domestic channels. The increase in the domestic channels results from the double-digit percentage operating income growth combined from cable and broadcasting, as the August 2022 conference call transcript reads.

For the company's parks, experiences, and products, third-quarter revenues increased by more than $3 billion, and operating income increased by $1.8 billion versus the prior year. The increase resulted from the improvements of reflection domestic and international parks and experiences, reported Christine McCarthy – Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Smith brings extensive experience to her current role pulling from her previous role as vice president of Creative Development – Inclusive Strategies for Walt Disney Imagineering. In her prior role, she developed various channels for creating diverse themed experiences and bringing on people from different backgrounds to enhance Imagineering's consultant talent.

A native of New York, Smith, graduated from Hunter College with a degree in communication arts and received a Master's in International Administration from New York University. She holds an honorary doctorate from Metropolitan College and completed the Harvard University Women and Power Executive Education Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. She received multiple honors, recognizing her efforts to bring equality to the entertainment industry.

"My tenure with the company will be 40 years on November 1st, and I'm the beneficiary of great leadership, mentorship, and having great champions," she begins by describing the genesis of her distinguished journey in becoming a respected Disney executive. "I will go back a little bit; I'm maybe 12 or 13. I'm a New Yorker, born and raised and sitting on the bench growing up in Edenwald housing projects. I'd love to go to the candy store and read the New York Times. I didn't know much about it, it was a big paper, and they were telling these stories about people around the world."

As a precocious young girl, her neighbors would inquire why Smith was reading the daily newspaper. She replied that she wanted to know "what's happening in the world." Smith went on to boldly manifest the life she intended to have when she was an adult, "I said, 'well, I'm going to make a lot of money. I'm going to make $30,000 a year,' and everyone was laughing. But moving forward, it was curiosity. My parents were very encouraging in terms of being aware of what's around you, but also reading, which is so fundamental, they armed me with knowledge. They made sure that I was prepared for whatever direction I needed to go, so my journey formally began in theater with the Black Theatre Alliance, a consortium of 35 theatre companies." As her professional path took shape, she had the pleasure of working with Ellis Haizlip, a television and theatrical producer who originated the Soul!, a variety show that promoted Black culture in forms of music, dance, and literature from 1967 to 1973.

"He was my first boss, a leader of people. I am extremely fortunate that journey, although I was very young, they treated me as if I was an old soul. But having the opportunity to learn about both theatre and dance and how they tell the stories of us as a people became part of my foundation," she says.

In 1978, she took on the role of a researcher. Smith eventually moved up to the title of a producer for a television program called Black News - birthed out of the 1960s uprising from the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

She reflects on how that position spurred her curiosity about world events such as apartheid and the groundbreaking achievements in music and the Black community. Smith credits her former superior at Black News with providing her championship mentorship, and close to 45 years later, she continues to check in with him and his wife once a week.

"He was the one that told me the fundamentals of staying in this business, especially being someone of color, and that was to be rooted in your history. Be proud of who you are and never compromise what you believe in yourself, but always speak truth to power, and that will take you far; that has been one of my many guiding principles," she says, speaking of news producer Robert Martin who she constantly shows her appreciation.

She went on to work alongside Gil Noble, host of Like It Is, the longest-running African-American-produced television program in the United States that documented pertinent issues surrounding the Black community.

"And by his side, we probably produced close to 200 or so documentaries and having the opportunity to sit with [Nelson] Mandela, Nancy Wilson, or Bishop Tutu. [I'm] extremely fortunate and very grateful that I've had the opportunity to work with people that saw the greatness in us, as a people, and continue to inspire me to move forward," says Smith.

Smith has spent an immense amount of time with battered women and their dependent children and working in the community. She believes being a member of support services supplied her with a great tool in the form of an added skill set in terms of learning and leading people. Her work in the program aided her personal growth, and volunteering played a critical part in her life. To this day, 35 years later, Smith is a member of a board of directors helping to lead people, inspiring and encouraging them to make a difference.

"Some of my greatest lessons in terms of how to be a good leader and a good listener came from giving back, being part of making a difference in people's lives. I always tell people that it's so important to give back. I think the more responsibility you have, you [need] to make way for others and to be a source of inspiration," she says, intending to make a difference but acknowledging that her altruistic work is what led her to connect with people at Disney. When she worked with the CEO of ABC television, he admired her volunteer endeavors and how she could bring people together. "I believe that all the work we do, we never walk alone. We are walking with many people."

Her mantra would eventually lead her to join a procession of creative executives. She received a phone call to relocate to the West Coast and occupy the position of Vice President for the Disney ABC Television Network. Her duties included facilitating and building talent. She revamped the writing fellowship program and brought more people of color to write television shows around the Black experience. She also renewed and created a new division of the Directors Guild called the directing fellows; combined with those initiatives, she instituted the actor's showcase. She surmises that most actors of color, women and people from various walks of life have come through the showcases.

"These programs still exist 20 years later, pumping out some of the best talent in the business, but it was being surrounded by a group of people who believe that our stories need to be told. [However] for that to happen, we have to be in the room and equipped with the skills," Smith observes, who was later requested to produce ABC programming. ABC wanted to become more competitive and grow its audience and knew Smith could tell stories from different spheres of life. Meg Crofton, Walt Disney Parks and Resort's then-president, wanted Smith to manage the output of more diverse storytelling.

"I was a little hesitant to make that leap, but I find myself now, I think it's 17 years, as an Imagineer, helping to tell stories, but also looking at what we've done in the past and to make sure that we're not perpetuating any stereotypes and misconceptions. Again, I am very fortunate that I have an incredible team of people and executives who have worked with me diligently to correct things we needed to fix, but also to look at what else we need to do," she explains. The proposals and plans for an attraction centered around Disney's first Black princess, Tiana, took close to a decade and approximately a year or two before the George Floyd protests, which is when Smith's team received the green light to move forward with the project.

"Women of color, the dream of Tiana, the dream of a princess, is the archetype of many women of strength. Believing in the impossible, having a dream, staying true to it, and understanding one's sense of purpose [and] intention [both] play a critical role in success. The Tiana story has all of that in it. I think about the little girl in the housing project sitting on the bench and being a dreamer. I think about Tiana, this little girl with her parents. She has a dream inspired by what a father does as a chef, inspired by her mother, who's an entrepreneur dressmaker. If you surround yourself with people that love and care about you, they help to nurture your dreams and help them to move forward," she says, noting that Bob Weis and Kareem Daniel pulled a team together to make the Tiana attraction a reality. "Working with my incredible colleagues, Charita Carter, Ted Robledo, our creative director, and so many others, is a milestone for our company."

For her current role, Smith deconstructed her tasks as Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Development, Content/Product for Walt Disney Imagineering, Consumer Products, Gaming and Publishing, and Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. She and her team offer insights and advise on products that keep Disney relevant and authentic and help the organization expand into worldwide markets.

"My role is global; we have teams of people in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris, domestic, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. We look at what we are doing with our products and how we can continue expanding them. How do we customize them to make sure they are addressing the needs and concerns of audiences, [so] they understand our intention to bring them a sense of well-being and great storytelling," she says practically, pointing out that her team considers genders, culture, generations, and ability. She gives an example of a consultant the actress named Geena Davis and how Disney constructed a castle in Hong Kong.

"Geena Davis helped inspire the team to make sure that when we looked at princesses, we saw them as empowered women. When we think about the work we're doing in Paris, we're looking at how to ensure that the images of women in many of our attractions are not overly sexualized. We make sure that the characters are in alignment with the story and that there's balance in them," she adds.

Smith brings up her colleagues in Latin America and how her peers delved into the culture of places like Brazil and Colombia, for example, and she teamed up with the consultants and historians to explore experiences inspired by "Encanto." For Tiana's Bayou Adventure, she turned to Dr. Johnnetta Cole, an anthropologist, and Dr. Thelma Dodge, a child psychologist. "We've got incredible relationships with the Chase family, Stella Chase Reese," her mother, Leah Chase, was one of the inspirations for the character of Tiana. "We make sure that the team [knows] what New Orleans is. As we're telling the fictional story that's taking place in a real place, we make sure we understand the environment." Smith wants Disney guests from New Orleans to appreciate that they did "their homework" and motivate others who have not traveled to the sought-after city. She approaches all of Disney's rides and attractions with the same thought: ' how can we make [it] more inclusive?' and for everyone to see themselves represented.

Holding a massive portfolio of projects and working globally, Smith partners with anthropologists, educators, musicologists, top consultants, and diplomats, such as Ambassador Harriet Elam-Thomas. Her consultancy group all work with her incredible team of Imagineers as well as her colleagues in consumer products, gaming, and publishing across Disney parks, experiences, and products to help ensure that the parks and the stories they tell are devoid of assumptions.

Disney wanted to improve on the Splash Mountain ride, based on the 1946 Disney film Song of the South which many believed had racist undertones and showed African-American stereotypes during the Reconstruction era. Though some die-hard fans of the ride pushed back on reimagining, other fans are delighted that the company is redoing the attraction.

"Our world is always in motion, and I think we're always evolving, growing, and for us to be relevant, we have to look at the stories we're telling. We have to make sure that we are being inclusive, that we're not perpetuating misconceptions or stereotypes," Smith explains. "Whenever we touch a story, it is to expand it, to grow it, and when I think about what Tiana is, the story that will help us expand our audience, but also serve as a sense of inspiration and aspiration to kids from every walk of life." Smith is willing to endure future challenges but is excited that Disney is progressive.

Disney is leading the diversity and inclusion movement, as evident in its television, films, and streaming service content offerings, and addressing its faux pas from its past. In addition, in keeping up with a culture rejecting homogeneous storytelling and images, the family entertainment company is opening its doors to diversify its staff and executives. As in most companies, C-suite positions are competitive, but Smith advises that future business leaders to surround themselves with mentors, remain cognizant of world affairs, ask questions, and increase their knowledge of their desired sector.

"As an executive, you must do your homework; you can never blindly go into leadership roles. You have to be a good listener, improve that skill, hear people, realize who's sitting around the table and who may need assistance, or be a source of encouragement. I don't think you need an MBA to be a leader, a leader is someone who cares, who is intentional, and [has] a sense of purpose," she says. "But you have to make sure that people see you as human, that you make mistakes, that's okay as long as you learn from them. So I think there are many ways to lead, but [it's] critical is to be comfortable within yourself [and] know that we're all vulnerable, we're all complex, and embrace that."

For more information on Walt Disney Company visit here.