Ep 28:Empowering Inclusive Communities with Prasanna Ranganathan

Summary

Welcome, my beautiful friends, to another soul-enriching episode of Thriving Together podcast. I’m your host, Nitika Chopra, and today, we’re unraveling the complex threads of friendship, the hurdles faced by our brave hearts living with chronic illnesses and disabilities, and oh, so much more!

Accompanying us on this heartfelt journey is none other than the documentary producer extraordinaire and diversity consultant, Prasanna Ranganathan. Together, we’re going to navigate the intricate crossroads where disability, diversity, and inclusion intersect. Our goal? To leave you with profound insights and a stirring question that I want you to deeply reflect upon: How can we nurture genuine connections in a world that, more often than not, looks past those who stand out?

Prasanna Ranganathan is a documentary producer, human rights lawyer, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) consultant, accessibility advisor, speaker, author, correspondent, writer, and arts columnist.

Prasanna served as the Head of Diversity and Belonging at Shopify and as a human rights lawyer with the Department of Justice Canada, Federal Judicial Affairs Canada, United Nations, Independent Street Checks Review, and Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. He has over 16 years of experience in DEIB and accessibility, working in the legal profession, justice system, international development space, entertainment industry, and tech. He is a Consulting Producer on the 2021 docuseries Born for Business about entrepreneurs with disabilities (airing on NBC Peacock and Crave), an associate producer on the 2016 documentary film Dream, Girl about women entrepreneurs that premiered at the White House during the Obama administration, a social media correspondent at the Academy Awards red carpet (2019) and the Screen Actors Guild Awards red carpet (2014), a film and arts columnist with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio, and the author of a cookbook – alongside his mother – called Made with Prema (with 100% of the profits going to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind).

Proudly claiming his identity as a racialized, LGBTQ2+ person with a disability (blindness), Prasanna is a board member of the Disability Screen Office and a past board member of Inside Out (the largest LGBTQ2+ film festival in Canada). His published work has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada and he is a seasoned speaker, providing the annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) inclusion and accessibility workshop, speaking at the TIFF Industry Conference, and serving as a Guest Lecturer at the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative on inclusive storytelling.

Follow Prasanna here!

https://www.instagram.com/prasran/
https://www.prasannaranganathan.com/

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The Topics We Explore In This Episode

• Venture into the complex landscape of friendship when wrestling with the unique hurdles such as the barriers people with disabilities face in a world that doesn’t include us.
• Unearth the fragile intersection where disability meets diversity and inclusion.
• Acquire wisdom on how to mold a corporate culture that embraces every single person.
• Absorb the impactful role that storytelling can adopt in sparking change and fostering empathy.
• Acknowledge the pivotal part vulnerability plays in nurturing positive shifts.