Workplace Equity Highlight: Fostering Creativity and Camaraderie at Skydance
May 15, 2022
Are you interested in doing or learning more? Take MENTOR’s Workplace Equity Pledge to further workplace equity for young people. Here are four actions you can take: 1. Advocate: Encourage your Congressional Representatives to support the Youth Workforce Readiness Act. 2. Learn: Watch MENTOR’s training on bringing a Mentoring Mindset to the workplace 3. Elevate: Download our resource on the power of workplace mentoring and share it with your company’s DEI committee. 4. Explore: Download our new resource. Becoming a Better Mentor: Strategies To Be There For Young People.
May 23, 2022
MENTOR believes that all young people need access to caring adults and mentors in their family, community, schools, and in the workplace to achieve their personal and professional goals. Having a champion in the workplace can make or break a young worker’s experience. We are highlighting and celebrating our workplace partners that are evolving their culture to include relationship-centered practices. For this blog, we sat down with Aurian Redson and Breyon Johnson, a mentor-mentee pair who first met through Better Youth, to talk about their experiences with mentorship, internships, and the workplace.
Could you each introduce yourself and tell me a little bit about yourself?
Breyon Johnson: I currently go to Santa Monica College, where I’m studying to be a storyboard artist. I was previously an intern at Skydance Media. Ever since I was little, I loved cartoons and telling stories. When I’d go to the playground, I’d create elaborate stories and the kids playing with me would all play different characters.
Aurian Redson: I’ve been working in the animation industry for almost 25 years in roles including story artist, head of story, writer, and voice actor, and I’m currently the VP of Talent Development at Skydance Animation. I’ve always been a little different – I grew up in a school bus for a bit when I was a kid, and I was always really creative, so animation was a natural thing for me to get into. I’ve been in a lot of situations where people have mentored me, and I’ve had a lot of really amazing opportunities to mentor others and share what I’ve learned.
When and how were you introduced to each other? Could you share a little bit about how you’ve worked together since?
Breyon: We started working together last summer through a mentoring program at Better Youth. Aurian met with me every week or two to talk about a film I was working on with other students; he would help me figure out what was going well and what I could do better. We then kept working together when I began my internship at Skydance.
Aurian: I was there to listen to anything you wanted to talk about when we were working in the studio. It was so cool to hear your perspectives.
Breyon: At Skydance, I had the chance to look at scripts, work on pitching, and look at animatics before they came out. I got to meet different people in different parts of the studio and work on both live-action and animation projects. I found the live-action side is more business-focused, while the animation side is more bubbly and fun.
Breyon, had you had mentors in your life previously? How do you think working with a mentor has helped you?
Breyon: The first time I had a mentor, I was paired with the lead storyboard artist for a popular TV cartoon. During our first meeting, I was so scared to talk to her, and for that whole first hour we barely talked because I didn’t know what to say. After that experience, though, I became more confident.
Aurian has been an incredible mentor to me because he’s so understanding. I was scared to show him my work at first, but he was so nice. I sometimes suffer from impostor syndrome, and when I arrived at my internship at Skydance, I felt like a fraud. I kept thinking, “I shouldn’t be here; I stole a spot from someone who deserves it more.” I actually remember telling Aurian, “I don’t think I belong here.” I also felt guilty because Better Youth helped connect me with Skydance, and I got this opportunity pretty easily when plenty of people have to work harder or don’t get to do it at all. But Aurian helped me understand that networking is important. And the fact that I got this internship through networking doesn’t mean I lack the abilities I need to be here, it means I had the opportunity and someone else saw my potential.
Aurian: And it’s not just your talent, Breyon, it’s who you are as a person and what you bring to the workplace. I always appreciate your conversations and perspective and feedback, and those things are just as valuable as the talent you bring to the table.
Aurian, do you think working in a creative field gives you a unique perspective on mentorship? How do you feel creative and entertainment fields could do better in terms of providing mentoring opportunities for young people?
Aurian: The creative field needs different voices and perspectives to really hone the stories we’re telling. Sure, you can create shows and films that just show one perspective, but I’ve found so much joy in processes where different people come together and collaborate to make something bigger than any one person.
Entertainment productions operate with a very tight process and very tight deadlines, so it can be tough for a mentor to invest the amount of time it takes to be there for a mentee. It takes a really conscious effort to create a space for mentorship, but it’s so important and beneficial for everyone to create that space.
It’s been so fun creating a space for Breyon to learn and grow. I had so many mentors, and without them I wouldn’t have gotten into this industry, so I love finding opportunities to be that person for someone else. I remember at one point, someone told me there wasn’t going to be a story development teacher at the college I went to, and I felt so bad for the kids who had been working so hard and now weren’t going to be able to take this class. So I volunteered to teach the course even though I didn’t feel as prepared as I could have been, and a couple of my own mentors helped me make it a great experience.
How do you think workplaces can better support employees and tell stories from underrepresented backgrounds?
Breyon: In entertainment, when you’re creating stories, include voices of the people who actually relate to that story or culture being portrayed. I remember seeing one pitch for a story that took place in Malaysia, but it didn’t accurately reflect Malaysian culture or how that culture affected the main character’s life. In cases like that, someone is basically taking a culture or skin tone and slapping it on a story and claiming they’re being inclusive, but it’s not genuine.
Aurian: When that happens, it’s very much in an appropriation space. And you need to bring in people who have the right voices and do the work and do the research. You need to find the right person to tell the stories. It’s a lot of work, but it’s good and important work.
What advice would you both give to someone considering joining a mentoring program (either as a mentor or mentee)?
Breyon: Don’t be afraid of your mentor! See them as a person and try to get to know them. Relay your thoughts and feelings. Try to build a relationship, because when you see it as a friendship, things grow better. I’ve had other mentors who had the attitude, “This is the timeframe for me to mentor you,” and the second that timeframe ended they disappeared.
Aurian: There are a lot of different ways of mentoring. I try to keep an open mind and have a growth mindset. Some people just want to share their knowledge and that’s it; I prefer the back and forth of the mentor-mentee process and being open to the reverse mentorship. That back and forth aspect of it allows both parties to grow.