The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media was founded in 2004 by Academy Award Winning Actor Geena Davis. It is the only organization working collaboratively within the entertainment industry to engage, educate and influence the creation of gender-balanced on-screen portrayals, reducing harmful stereotypes and creating an abundance of unique and intersectional female characters in entertainment targeting children 11 and under. Madeline Di Nonno leads the Institute’s strategic direction, advocacy, programs, research, financial and operational activities. Di Nonno brings a track record of successful executive leadership in the entertainment, non-profit, digital and consumer packaged goods industries. Di Nonno is an Executive Producer on the feature film This Changes Everything. Previously, Di Nonno served as President and CEO of On The Scene Productions, a leader in streaming content creation and distribution. Di Nonno lead the company’s new business development and streaming platforms for the entertainment, healthcare, and consumer products clients such as Nike, Gatorade, Iconix, and PepsiCo.
FWM: When did your love for the Arts begin?
From childhood, I grew up with a family of artists. And, I am an artist and have always been involved with many forms of the creative arts.
FWM: What have you enjoyed most about the entertainment business?
Having the honor and privilege to see how girls and women can be deeply inspired by positive media images.
FWM: Can you describe a pivotal moment in your career?
Launching our GD-IQ research tool has been a game-changer, taking us from data-driven advocated to data driven interventionists.
FWM: You are the CEO of Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. What should people know about this non-profit?
Our mission is simple, to achieve intersectional gender equity for all women and girls onscreen! And, we were very excited to see that we achieved one of those goals on TV! See Children’s study here: https://seejane.org/research-informs-empowers/see-jane-2019/
FWM: What challenges have you faced?
Two main challenges, expanding and deepening our reach within the industry, only because of our capacity. We are a very lean team. Secondly, as a research driven non-profit, it is very challenging to raise funds as many institutional funders focus on organizations that provide direct services to the public. Women and girls overall only receive 3% of all philanthropic dollars.
“Our mission is simple, to achieve intersectional gender equity for all women and girls onscreen!”
FWM: Are you involved in charity work?
Yes, I’m the Chair of the Board of Directors for the TV Academy Foundation, serve as Board of Directors for Promundo, Population Media Center, Friends of the Erben Organ, I’m also an appointed Commissioner for the LA County Arts Commission.
FMW: Tell us about your public speaking.
It’s a wonderful opportunity to share our mission and research to global audiences.
What are some of your key points when speaking? That the opportunity to change how women and girls are portrayed in the media can be easily achieved because it is fiction! Media is the only category of business that can achieve gender parity overnight! It may take hundreds of years for women to achieve parity in other sectors like politics, sports, etc…
We are in 2019 and we’ve had no woman President. What does this say to you?
Given that women are over 51% of the population, we should see an accomplished woman ascend and be the leader of the free world in the 21st Century.
