you have to speak big and dream wild
until it happens that's okay you just
keep reminding yourself i can do it but
also i belong here that's mirabelle
energy can we get that old t-shirt
that's right
mirabelle energy
[Applause]
hello everyone i'm shea stone i'm an
animator for walt disney animation
studios and i recently worked on encanto
and i'm halima hudson manager of
creative relations at walt disney
innovation studios lima thank you so
much for joining me here on disney plus
voices during women's history month to
discuss the importance of diverse
perspectives in filmmaking i'm excited
for this conversation with you shay i've
been looking forward to it all week
i'm not going to say i googled you but i
googled you a little bit today so i got
some questions i'd love to know just
more about your journey in animation and
maybe leading up to your role
um working on encounter i mean i wanted
to be an animator since i was seven
years old so i was always fascinated
with disney movies and things like that
so i used to observe people all the time
and i that was my interest my interest
was people animation just only
exaggerated everything that i already
was right because our job is to observe
how people walk how they talk and their
eye darts and you know the little
mannerisms and the little nuances within
their personality i like to take it a
step further and figure out you know
what's going on inside this character's
head i joined disney animation studios
last year in may
and uh for foreign kanto you know one
thing i loved about working on in kanto
was just how
attention to detail how detail-oriented
we were it's so beautiful to finally
have this movie and know that we
personally did it the correct way we had
colombian consultants like we were just
very serious about uh representing them
in the way that and what they are you
know beautiful beautiful loving cultural
soulful people and and i think encanto
represents all of that and i'm so
blessed to be a part of it that's what's
up that's one of my favorite things
about our studio is that this is not
something that we're just doing this is
something that has to happen and if it
has to happen it has to happen the right
way so talk to me a little bit about
your role as the manager of creative
relations jennifer lee became our chief
creative officer i've always worked so
closely with her i was working with her
as her executive assistant and writing
assistant and we used to talk about
things that could happen for the company
in the future and just things that we
wanted to do
and when she stepped into that role it
was like okay now is our chance i
remember one of her first meetings
addressed in the studio she said we
always look outward for our talent for
our writers for our directors for to
make these things but we have so much
internal talent you want to write if you
want to direct if you want to produce i
want to know and so everybody's like oh
my gosh that's so great and then she was
like but email halima and i was like
what happened what'd you say what is
this
it became this thing of being put in
position to
look at our internal talent and see who
wants to do what and start cultivating
and growing that talent along with like
our development department i got to
leverage my position and jen's office
and
now i'm doing stuff in diversity and
inclusion and so i got to put my hand in
many buckets within our studio and say
what's what how can i help and how can i
take this back to jen and say this is
what everyone is saying this is what we
need these are some changes that we can
make i don't think you have an encounter
if you don't have a studio behind in
kanto saying yes push it they were just
like put it all out there and let's just
see what happens and i think i think
that's a beautiful day
over the years what kind of differences
have you noticed in the workplace for
women especially women of color and what
do you hope for in the future what do i
hope for in the future i'll start there
more black women more of us let's go the
biggest difference that i have noticed
is that women are no longer we're not
silent anymore we are present and we are
making our presence known we are pushing
to say i deserve this i should be here i
earned this i don't need a handout i
earned this seeing more women in
leadership positions has changed my
understanding of
what i can do and then seeing more
black women more women of color in
leadership positions have changed my
understanding of how far i could go you
know what i mean and so in the future i
hope for
more of that i hope to see more black
women i hope to see more women of color
i hope to see more women who are just
coming into the studio at whatever level
being like
oh she up there bet i got it that's why
i'm going what i would say to young
black women who want to get into
animation i i would say go do it if
you're seven years old seven eight years
old if you're 13 14 years old and you
love to draw you're halfway there
sweetheart now it's just about creating
that pathway to get to where you want
one of the best pieces of vice advice i
have ever been given was you don't need
permission
that freed me in ways i did unlock
something in me and that's what i tell
people all the time you want to do this
you don't have to wait when you get to
those places of opportunity that there's
going to be someone that's going to open
that door and pull you in and when you
get in that door you turn around and you
pull someone else in i hope in the
future that we can empower individuals
empower these boys and girls expose them
to opportunity and bring them to a new
world and show them what's possible i
want those people you give me a little
bit i'm kicking down the door right just
because i'm kicking down the doors and
i'm reaching back like y'all we in here
let's go
because why not tie it back to like in
kanto video knew she didn't have an
external gift but she knew that there
was something that she can contribute to
that family she had to go against
everything that was saying you don't
fully belong with us here to say i do
but i do and i can't you know what i
mean so it's like if you have to speak
big and dream wild until it happens
that's okay and on that journey you just
keep reminding yourself i can do it but
also i belong here right that's that's
mirabelle energy right
is like i'm persistent i'm determined
i'm i'm gonna do whatever i want whether
it's help my family or whether it's to
be an animator at walt disney animation
studios what impact do you think encanto
had on audiences for both adults and
kids being able to see a reflection of
their families in their world and say
finally you know what i love is one
thing that we always say is
the more specific we get from cultural
standpoint the more specific we get the
more universal it will land and i think
that's something that a lot of people
don't realize it's like go specific tell
those stories show those moments
that you think only this culture this
family will understand and that's the
thing that connects the world i think
it's more than just you know diversity
as far as looks that we need to continue
forward with i think it's diversity and
thought diversity and perspective you
know and diversity and family and
relationships you know and we have the
stage to do that it wasn't just you know
this is a kids movie no i've watched
this movie at least seven times now
without the kid that's the beauty of a
story like this that it's just it's for
all of us you know everybody's saying
and we need more movies like this it has
been so thrilling to see how the world
has reacted to encanto for you
personally what does it mean to have
this movie recognized at this scale
by like our peers in the industry and
the world i'm a little bit speechless to
be honest and uh i i think one of the
biggest battles for me is to not take
this these moments for granted
right so this is my first disney movie
and i couldn't ask for a better first
disney movie right
to see people like recreating the songs
dancing to the songs right making their
own little versions i mean even seeing
people act out my shots it's just so
insane but like i said again it's so
beautiful because i've heard some
meaningful stories behind it yeah so see
the impact the reward for disney the
reward for the people the audience me
uh the people of color everyone wins
here let's do things for ourselves for
our people shay i have to say it's been
really great connecting with you today
it just has been wonderful thank you so
much for joining me in this amazing
conversation i have loved everything you
have said and just learning more about
you thank you so much thanks so much for
joining us on disney plus voices and
make sure to watch encounter now
streaming on disney plus
you