First Black Woman Host for the Whistleblower Summit

Producer and women’s advocate Terra Renee is poised to become the first Black woman to host and moderate the panels for the upcoming 10th Whistleblower Summit and Film Festival. Renee will be discussing the topic “Detailing the Whistleblower story on Film” for the summit on Capitol Hill on July 22–23, 2022.

“As the First, I am extremely humbled by this Historical opportunity and very excited about the participants on this panel,” says Renee in an event press statement. “Breaking through in this monumental way, I hope this will encourage many to tell their stories.” The panel host is also the president of the African American Women in Cinema, a nonprofit advocating and opening opportunities for Black women in the entertainment industry. “Terra’s work, impact and influence has been so meaningful, and has opened the door for our voices to be heard, our faces to be seen, our films to be discovered, our messages to be given, as Black women. I am so grateful to be included. We are going from Harlem to the Hill—what a momentous moment in history,” Former U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Suzan Johnson-Cook said.

The annual event is a celebration of free speech and advocacy. “Our mission is to build community and mutual support among whistleblowers and their advocates, connect whistleblowing ‘free speech’ to the first amendment, social justice activism, and the global civil and human rights movements, and celebrate whistleblowers and their significant contributions to culture, society and the world,” the festival’s organizers described. For this year, the panels will feature Watergate-era journalists and advocates which will focus the discussions on the culture of whistleblowing with the Watergate issue in retrospect. There are no fees to attend the panels; however, registration for the event is required.