THE ACADEMIC SENATE'S DISTINGUISHED LECTURE ON
ENGAGEMENT, SERVICE, AND THE PUBLIC GOOD
Fanshen Cox ’13
Writer, Award-Winning Playwright, Actor, Producer, and Educator
Head of Strategic Outreach, Pearl Street Films
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Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Golden Eagle Ballroom
California State University, Los Angeles
5151 State University Drive
Golden Eagle building, 3rd floor
Los Angeles, CA 90032
Doors Open
1:30 p.m.
Welcome remarks and updates by
President William A. Covino
Program Starts
1:45 p.m.
Reception
Immediately after the lecture.
For adequate accommodations, please confirm your attendance by Monday, February 3, 2020.
Click here for Archived Academic Senate Lectures.
Questions? Please email [email protected].
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Fanshen is an award-winning playwright, actor, producer and educator, and she frequently performs her one-woman show: One Drop of Love across the country. One Drop travels near and far, in the past and present to explore the intersections of race, class and gender in pursuit of truth, justice and love. The show is produced by Cox DiGiovanni, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon.
Fanshen Cox Head of Strategic Outreach at Pearl Street Films. In this role she advises Pearl Street’s owners, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, on taking specific steps towards inclusive representation in the entertainment industry. One of her first initiatives on the job was to co-author the Inclusion Rider (referred to by Frances McDormand in her 2018 Oscar acceptance speech). She is on the Board of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and continues to work closely with her Inclusion Rider co-authors Dr. Stacy Smith and Kalpana Kotagal. On the Board she also serves on the Below-the-Line committee with Kelly Edwards, Talent Development HBO, Alana Mayo, Head of Development, Outlier Society Productions, Karen Horne, Senior VP Talent Development & Inclusion at NBC Universal, and Mauricio Mota, Co-owner of Wise Entertainment. Fanshen also develops film, TV and web projects for Pearl Street. The web series GROWN, which she executive produced, has been nominated for a MIP Diversity Award and a Streamy. The show is a first-of-its-kind starring two Haitian American millennials and showcasing the vibrant diversity of the city of Miami. Other shows in development include a sci-fi series starring a young Black woman, and a show centering educators and the community they serve. Fanshen was recently named one of 12 ‘Hollywood Disruptors’ by The Wrap.
Fanshen has been featured in the New York Times and on NPR and has published OpEds on Shondaland, Blavity and the Washington Post’s The Lily. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cape Verde, West Africa, and has designed curricula for and taught English as a Second Language to students from all over the world. She has been honored with the Peace Corps’ Franklin H. Williams Award and with Peace Corps Fellows and Hollywood Foreign Press Association scholarships and an ‘Exemplar of Humanity Centered Media’ award by Media Done Responsibly. She holds a BA in Spanish and Education, an MA in TESOL, and an MFA in Acting and Performance in Film, TV and Theater. She serves on the boards of the non-profit MixedRootsStories.org and The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Her play, One Drop of Love, was awarded Best Non-Fiction Script by the United Solo Theatre Festival, and the film version won Best Documentary Film at the Roxbury International Film Festival and is an official selection of the San Francisco Black Film Festival and the Black International Film Festival.
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