#81: Melanie Hoyes, Industry Inclusion Executive at the BFI

My guest this week is Melanie Hoyes who is an Industry Inclusion Executive at the BFI, where she deputises for the Head of Inclusion to advocate for equity and access in the film industry. She joined the BFI in 2016 as a researcher, working on a project to acquire diversity data about gender and ethnicity for the BFI Filmography, telling stories about UK film history using data from the archive. Melanie continues to use data and research in order to monitor and inform improved policy and practice at the BFI and the UK film industry in general. 

We talk about a myriad of topics: her start in academia, her decision not to finish a PhD, her path to the BFI and the work that she’s doing to advocate for and instil inclusion, the value of emotional intelligence at work, why the concept of a career ladder is dangerous, how data can galvanise informed, targeted change and how she stays motivated to keeping working towards that change, 

I really enjoyed this conversation and found it very validating actually, so wherever you are and whatever time of day you are listening to it, I hope it gives you a little boost.