In the final of TVBEurope’s series of article celebrating International Women’s Day 2024, we meet some of the women who are inspiring others within the media technology industry.
Below are the inspiring women who we are proud to celebrate this IWD.
Alisha Huxtable, line producer, DNEG (submitted by Chloe Rodrigues, board member of ACCESS: VFX and production assistant at Framestore)
Last summer, I had the privilege of attending an ACCESS: VFX event focused on XVFX – a space where practitioners of colour can network. Among the panellists was the remarkable Alisha Huxtable. She is one of the many mentors within the ACCESS: VFX community. Alisha’s honest and real account of her experience within the industry so far resonated deeply with me. I remember feeling quite emotional listening to her talk. I felt compelled to express my gratitude for her inspirational words. I connected with her on LinkedIn and sent a message as soon as I got home.
To my delight, she responded promptly and offered to arrange a chat! Since then, Alisha has become my mentor, and our discussions have been so enriching. Her invaluable insights and guidance have broadened my perspectives and fueled my aspirations. I am amazingly grateful for the opportunity to learn from her, and our mentoring sessions have been instrumental in my professional and personal growth.
Limor Touriel, co-founder, Alvalinks (submitted by Adi Rozenberg)
Limor is a trailblazer in the video tech industry. As a co-founder and VP R&D of AlvaLinks in 2022, Limor continues to lead in video delivery observability, demonstrating her exceptional skill in innovation and integration. Beyond her professional achievements, Limor’s role as a mother of four and her unwavering positivity make her a remarkable figure in pushing the boundaries of video technology with grace and resilience.
Limor’s role as a co-founder at AlvaLinks significantly enhances our team’s alignment towards success. Her diverse perspective and expertise not only foster innovation but also bring invaluable insights that challenge existing paradigms, driving the company toward comprehensive solutions and growth. Limor’s leadership exemplifies how including women in foundational roles is essential for a more holistic and successful business approach.
Chrys Le Gall, global leader, cloud solutions architecture at Ateme( submitted by Karolina Ostrowska)
As a micro-services solutions engineer at Ateme in 2018, Chrystelle recognised the need for a cloud solutions team. While certain employees were educating themselves on the cloud, there was no cohesive group. So, in 2019, she suggested Ateme create the role of cloud solutions architect. The company agreed!
Today she leads a global team of 20 experts who work with, promote and continue to advance in cloud technology. Her major impact so far has been the design of the reference architecture that contributed to an automated click-of-a-button system for previously manual operations. This greatly reduced the deployment time of cloud solutions: from 5 days to just a few hours.
Nina Walsh, global leader, industry business development, Amazon Web Services (submitted by Samira Bakhtiar)
Since joining the team three years ago, from Animal Logic, Nina has helped move the technological needle forward at AWS and for M&E clients in content production, helping to usher in cloud-based VFX, animation, and content production services, and guiding AWS for M&E customers in their transition from on-premises to cloud-based resources.
Dina Mitchell, PX manager, and Aline Francisco, UX/UI designer, Beam Dynamics (submitted by Stephanie Dumanski)
Dina Mitchell, our PX manager, is the spearhead in employee inclusion. She started our Beam Buddies initiative and is constantly looking for ways to bring the team together. Dina is relentless in supporting everyone in the organisation and guiding individuals throughout their career journey at Beam. Another inspiring woman within Beam is Aline Francisco, our UX/UI designer. Aline works closely with our product team to develop and deliver the best UX experience of our platform. She takes the ideas that the sales organisation and our CEO bring and creates a user experience based on solving a specific workflow. She approaches her UX design from the perspective of the user and is focused on presenting the best possible solution within our platform.
Sara Salvanés, head of global sales, GlobalM (submitted by Paul Calleja)
Our newly appointed head of global sales Sara Salvanés is an inspiration to all of us. She brings a wealth of commercial and strategic insights from her experience in the broadcast and media industry, working for companies such as Eurovision, Vivaro Media, and MediaPro. Sara is results-driven and committed to building collaborative partnerships and exploring new business opportunities. Her background and skillset perfectly align with our goals, and we can already see the positive impact that she will have on GlobalM’s growth.
Sarah Koehler, application engineer, Clear-Com (submitted by Justin Emge)
You can’t overstate how amazing Sarah Koehler is, not only to Clear-Com as one of our leading applications rngineers, but as a woman that up-and-coming audio engineers aspire to be like. If you consider Sarah’s background before Clear-Com, she was a well-respected audio designer and technician at The Walt Disney Company who won prestigious awards for the design of systems at various attractions. Her colleagues always raved about her acumen and ability to handle stressful situations, which in the end put her at the top of the list when Clear-Com was hiring the next applications engineer.
In the almost three years since joining the Clear-Com team, Sarah has continued to grow and show true leadership when it comes to supporting the customer. She truly is an inspiration to any young woman who wants to get into the world of audio and video and consider her to be an integral part of our total success.
Suzana Brady, SVP, worldwide sales and marketing, Cobalt Digital, and RIST Forum chairperson (submitted by Chris Shaw)
Working closely with the executive team, Suzana defines geographical and technical areas of growth, and implements sales, marketing, communications and operational campaigns and strategies. Suzana successfully manages numerous events to educate the industry on the details of the technology Cobalt has brought to the market.
Suzana’s career has spanned over two decades and includes work in data networking, wireless, broadband, and broadcast technology spaces. Prior to Cobalt she held technical sales and marketing management positions at ImmediaTV, IDC, Logic Innovations, SkyStream Networks and 3Com Corp.
In addition to her responsibilities at Cobalt, Suzana also serves as the chairperson for the RIST Forum, a position she has held since 2020. The RIST Forum is an industry group dedicated to promoting the adoption of the Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST), which is a Video Services Forum Specification for low-latency, reliable video transport over the Internet. Suzana leads all the marketing and education activities for the Forum, which includes organizing webinars, interviews, papers, tradeshow presence, and other activities. Under Suzana’s leadership, the Forum has grown to over 280 company members.
Lesley Marr, director of business development and sustainability, NXTGENbps
Lesley embodies inclusion in NXTGENbps. She leads by example, promoting gender diversity in the film and TV industry, particularly in technical roles where women are often underrepresented. Lesley emphasises the importance of better training and education, advocating for early awareness of career opportunities in the industry. As director of business development and sustainability, Lesley holds herself and industry stakeholders accountable for promoting women’s entry, career progression, and ensuring safe and inclusive working environments. Her leadership and advocacy inspire us all to strive for greater gender diversity and inclusivity in our company and beyond.
Alexandra Giusto, senior director, strategic accounts and srategy at Zixi (submitted by John Wastocat)
Alexandra Giusto is a rock star on the Zixi field sales team who always has the customer’s interests first in mind and they love her for it, she is consultative, understanding the pain points and working across cross-functional groups to customise and provide the solutions for each deployment. In a predominantly male-dominated field she has delivered creative, live IP video offerings to customers such as Comcast, Echostar, FuboTV, Estrella Media, and most recently FOX Corporation. She is also on a women’s leadership board at University Colorado Colorado Springs shaping the curriculum of the women’s leadership program and a mentor at UC Boulder for the business school helping female senior figures navigate the professional world after graduation.
