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Close your eyes and imagine your favorite character from popular culture. Think about who they are, what they value, and how they behave. Now, draw that character on a piece of paper and identify a problem or issue you currently see at home, school or in the community you care deeply about. How would the character solve the problem?

This “Characters, Problems,...

I waited for Spencer Topel in the dead of night, eight years ago, outside the only convenience store in Vermont. As his undergraduate research assistant at Dartmouth College, I agreed to help shoot a documentary for his sound art installation. I didn’t realize filming was only possible at midnight, without the shifting sun. The rumble of his four-cylinder sedan cut through the...

Aashna Moitra-Serrao knew exactly what she wanted to do with her career.

“It was either be part of the communications industry or event planning, so when I found public relations, it was the perfect blend of those two worlds,” Moitra-Serrao said. “I’m a little bit of a peacock myself so it was a match made in heaven.”

Moitra-Serrao grew up in...

USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has received support from MTV Entertainment Studios to become the long-term home of the Mental Health Storytelling Initiative. The unprecedented effort by a coalition of more than 60 entertainment industry partners and mental health expert organizations is designed to revolutionize the narrative on...

Near the end of her senior year in college, Christine Alabastro faced a choice: Either take a business management job that didn’t feed her creative passions or face the unknown after graduation. Anxious about her future, she shared her concerns with her mother, Cynthia,...

Growing up in Santa Paula, California, Rachel Aguilar watched her as her grandmother butchered chickens for family meals and recalls the fresh beans, tortillas and salsa her abuela would make from scratch. Now, at age 92, she credits her longevity to the fresh and healthy dishes her grandmother taught her to make and that she prepared, in turn, for her own children and grandchildren...

It’s clear that America’s newsrooms do not reflect the populations they serve. While the nation’s Latinx population is expected to rise to 119 million or 29% of the total U.S. population by 2060, they currently comprise a mere...