Former CEO of the Paley Center for Media and the first woman president and CEO of PBS, Pat Mitchell works to create and promote programs about women for women, using the media industry to form ideas and inspire action.
By Natalie Basta.
An introduction…
Since leaving my last titled position—CEO of the Paley Center for Media—I am challenged to find the right way to introduce myself. I’m living a re-wired (not retired) life of passion and purpose, choosing projects that align with values of full equality of opportunities for all and fully realized rights everywhere.
What you do, in your own terms?
Most of my work is related to connecting and strengthening a global community of women. That includes mentoring women and girls, supporting other women activists, and curating and convening conferences and forums focused on transformative change leadership and women’s full empowerment. I create platforms for telling women’s stories, at TEDWomen and other conferences and gatherings. I also serve on a number of nonprofit boards (Chair of Sundance Institute, Women’s Media Center, Skoll Foundation and Fund board, Acumen Fund board, VDAY board of advisors, UN Women Civil Society Advisory Board, and the Congressional Commission to build an American Women’s History Museum in Washington).
Current project you’re working on:
All of the above, and I’m also preparing to host and curate TEDWomen 2018 on November 28th-30th in Palm Springs, California.
Do you have a favorite role or project you have been a part of?
I am fortunate enough to choose my projects based on my passions and values, and that makes everything I do feel aligned and equally important.
What inspired you to start the television series Woman to Woman?
Like nearly every media project I’ve initiated or supported, the need arose from a lack of representation, a void in the media landscape. In the early ’80s, there were no national talk programs focused on women, their personal stories, issues, challenges. There were programs that talked about women and to women, hosted by men, primarily, but there wasn’t a national series that talked with women.
That void led me and my partner, an experienced woman producer, to create and produce a daily one-hour series we named Woman to Woman. Every day, I talked with 12 to 15 women in an intimate setting about an issue or idea. We won the Emmy for Most Outstanding Talk/Service program series on television, and we are the first television series to be added to the archive at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Harvard University. The show was in national syndication, seen on Lifetime TV, and preceded Oprah, perhaps paving the way for her transformative television work.
Newspaper clipping for when Mitchell launched “Woman to Woman” talk show in 1983. Photo courtesy of Makers.
What is the achievement of yours that you are most proud of?
The recognition by the Women’s Media Center—an annual award established to call attention to the need for more women’s voices and women in decision-making positions in our media ecosystem—stands out as one I cherish, because I get to award another woman the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for work in media that empowers women and girls every year.
What challenges have you faced as a female in the media industry?
All the ones you would expect…from closed doors to opportunities in the beginning to proving myself at every job and position by working twice as hard for half the pay to criticisms about everything from
