Leslie Gordon

Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Communications, The Walt Disney Company

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Leslie’s work is guided by her wish for all audiences to feel recognized and respected, and for everyone in the Disney family to bring empathy and compassion to the way they relate to each other.
Leslie Gordon looking at the camera.

I think the power that media has to expand people's horizons and take them out of their bubbles really stems on seeing everyone authentically and removing and stripping away those stereotypes, getting people behind the cameras more intentionally so that they are a part of the storytelling or they're driving the storytelling for different ethnic groups and our LGBTQ+ community. That's what's really important — to make sure that people are seeing others and learning and feeling informed in a way that they haven't before.

Leslie and two other women smiling at the camera.

My advice for allies and supporters and those who want to make sure diversity, equity and inclusion is just a part of everyday life — is that people are comfortable and secure, no matter what their background or station in life is, to really listen, to dig in, to explore those conversations and to examine your own heart. Make sure that you're coming from a place of honesty and a place where you genuinely want to see other people succeed.

A group photo of Leslie and 5 other people.

My purpose at Disney is to amplify underrepresented voices and make sure that we have underrepresented talent, executives and employees front and center in all the work that we do.

A old photo of Leslie and her family.

Growing up in Chicago and on the big island of Hawaii informed my interest in different cultures. I am Black and Cape Verdean, which is Portuguese and African, on my mother’s side. On my father’s side African-American. I am two different cultures, if you will, and that has informed just this idea of otherness and being different.

Leslie and two other women smiling at the camera.

My advice for allies and supporters and those who want to make sure diversity, equity and inclusion is just a part of everyday life — is that people are comfortable and secure, no matter what their background or station in life is, to really listen, to dig in, to explore those conversations and to examine your own heart. Make sure that you're coming from a place of honesty and a place where you genuinely want to see other people succeed.

A group photo of Leslie and 5 other people.

My purpose at Disney is to amplify underrepresented voices and make sure that we have underrepresented talent, executives and employees front and center in all the work that we do.

A reimagined tomorrow, to me, looks like my Black sons no longer feeling like they have to get in the streets and protest about the killing of Black men and women. It looks to me like people having conversations and being open.