That casting was born from a meeting back in June with NBC’s showrunners, spearheaded by NBC entertainment president Jennifer Salke and America Ferrera, who stars in and executive produces NBC’s “Superstore,” and one of the founders of Harness, an activist group launched in the wake of the election. The purpose was to encourage the network’s writers to weave characters from underrepresented communities into their storytelling. [...]
Among the speakers at the meeting were Jose Antonio Vargas, an undocumented immigrant; Native American film producer Heather Rae; Heather McGhee, president of Demos; and Sikh activist Valarie Kaur, who’s made it her mission since Sept. 11 to advocate for better representation.
