Q&A with Executive Director of Diverso

Can you briefly introduce yourself? 

My name is Frankie, I am a proud child of immigrants and a New York City native. I study English and Sociology at Harvard, where I spend way too much time on Letterboxd. As a FGLI (First-Generation, Low-Income) student, I am super passionate about education, social impact, and community. I enjoy table talks, reading, and aim to build a kinder, better Hollywood.

What is Diverso?

Diverso is a non-profit organization, made by students, for students – focused on diversifying the film industry and empowering the underrepresented storytellers of the next generation. It has been a crazy year, but we somehow managed to build a network of over 40 universities and programs that include 30+ industry professionals. We are thankful everyday for all the generosity that has been shown to us. It really is a testament to our mission.

We have partnered with UTA and The Black List to launch our first initiative: The Minority Report, an industry-vetted fellowship program for talented, diverse student writers. We were able to put together an amazing list of benefits for them. This list includes distribution to 11+ agencies/management companies, panels with several guests including the agent of Wes Anderson, and general meetings with executives from companies such as A24, Paramount, and NBC.

What prompted you to start Diverso? Can you describe the process of making it happen? 

This idea started when I joined the film club on campus and met another Asian-American that I shared a lot of common experiences with. Basically, both our parents wanted us to be good asians and pursue STEM, but we wanted to follow our passions. So we got together and started brainstorming about how we could help students that came from similar backgrounds to us.

A lot of people compare building a company to building a plane while you’re flying, and that’s exactly what it felt like. We started out trying to put together a student-run film fund for schools across the country. We were two students, with your typical college budget and no connections in the industry, so we just sent out as many cold emails as we could. Somehow people started responding to us, and 2 months later, it was winter break and we were headed to LA to pitch our nonprofit to the entire Women in Film team in LA. It was a surreal experience and again, a testament to the mission.

What has been a challenge for you in running Diverso? How did/are you overcoming it?

Aside from being the captain of a high school sports team, I had no experience leading teams – let alone managing a team of remote students that live across the country from one another. The biggest challenge for me, has been learning how to build culture and trust in an environment that is so sporadic, disconnected, and random.

How do we align everyone’s visions? How do we build a space for constructive feedback? How do we build relationships with one another, when we have not met each other in real life? Can we continue to check-in and improve and get better? I’ve done A LOT of things wrong while running Diverso. 

One of my most memorable moments was being chewed out by a big producer, across the phone. We had no idea what we were doing, we had not done our homework, and we were not prepared at all, and she completely embarrassed and exposed us. I am extremely thankful for that experience. Every time something like that happens, you learn.

What advice would you give to those interested in starting a non-profit and/or entertainment?

 I’m not quite sure if I can offer anything better than what you would find from a professional, but one of the biggest things that I have learned from this entire process is that when you’re trying to build something and push against the grain, there are going to be some people that will never understand what you’re trying to do, and that’s okay. There are going to be meetings with executives that do not go well, more than you would expect. And even if you tell yourself, “you won’t be that guy”... you will be that guy.

Oh! And also… One of the important lessons that I have learned is that kindness is a choice. It does not mean being a pushover or overcommitting and burning out – it means being confronted with different moments and interactions in which being kind is an option, and making a decision. A great book on this topic is “Give and Take”  by Adam Grant, who has completely changed my view of the world.

Head to dvrso.org to learn more about it and follow them on Instagram @diversoorg