Multicultural speed dating

C., says she feels frustrated, hurt and even betrayed when she sees Black men with women of other races, but happy when she sees Black women in an interracial relationship. Lachon, who is seeing a White man, has experienced her share of adverse reaction.

“It was the first studio meeting where I was comfortable, because I knew them.

I was able to walk in there like a white man,” Du Vernay said.

At the kickoff dinner the night before, CAA curated the seating plan to optimize conversations, surveying guests in advance on whom they most hoped to meet.

Lunch breakout sessions on Wednesday were similarly organized, and CAA even created an event app with headshots and bios of each attendee (but “no Tinder function yet,” joked Christy Haubegger, who leads CAA’s multicultural development group and spearheaded Amplify alongside chief innovation officer Michelle Kydd Lee). Abrams, moderated by motion picture lit agent Maha Dakhil and introduced by Lupita Nyong’o Du Vernay spoke of the barriers that women and people of color typically face in the industry, namely the lack of shared experiences with those already in power.