De-Biasing the Brain
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
3 p.m. EDT
bias is a film that challenges us to confront our hidden biases and understand what we risk when we follow our gut. Through exposing her own biases, award-winning documentary filmmaker Robin Hauser FR’82 highlights the nature of implicit bias and the grip it holds on our social and professional lives. Joined by Bryan Simmons FR'78 and moderator Trustee Holland Goss Lynch FR'86, this panel discussion will explore how unconscious bias defines relationships, workplaces, our justice system, and technology.
Registered guests had exclusive access to a virtual screening of the documentary prior to the webinar and a complementary discussion guide shared. BiasDiscussionGuide1.pdf
Watch the recording
If you prefer, you can watch from the playlist on our YouTube channel.
Meet our panelists:
Robin Hauser FR'82
Robin is an award-winning director of documentary films at Finish Line Features. Robin’s most recent film, bias, delves into unconscious bias and how it affects our lives socially and in the workplace. Her exploration into implicit gender and racial bias in artificial intelligence led her to introduce the subject to the TED stage in December 2017. She also presented at TEDx in 2019 on “The Likability Dilemma for Women Leaders.” Robin’s previous film, CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2015, screened at The White House, and caught the attention of the international tech industry and of policy makers and educators around the world. Robin has been featured in international publications including Forbes, Fortune, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, and has appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNN, NPR, CNBC, and more. Robin is a diplomat for the American Film Showcase and speaks about unconscious bias, the importance of diversity and inclusion, and on behalf of women’s rights at US Embassies, conferences and corporate headquarters worldwide. She is currently working on $avvy, a film about women and financial wellness. Robin attended SYA as a senior from Lick Wilmerding High School (San Francisco) and attended University of California-Berkeley where she received her bachelor’s in International Marketing and French Literature, and received her international MBA in International Management, Japanese and French from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
bias is available through Amazon Prime.
Bryan Simmons FR'78
Bryan has more than 30 years of global experience in communications, brand management, and integrated marketing campaign development. He began his career at Strayton Advertising and Public Relations (later the Advanced Technology Division of Hill & Knowlton). Bryan held a number of executive positions in marketing and communications at Lotus Development Corporation and IBM Corp., including vice president, IBM Americas, vice president of Global Industry Communications, and vice president of Marketing, IBM Lotus Software. He is on the board of Cambridge Health Alliance and has served on the boards of Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, ACLU Massachusetts, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, and Primary Care Progress. Bryan attended SYA as a junior from Phillips Exeter Academy and earned a bachelor’s degree in European History from Harvard College. Bryan is a past Class Correspondent for the Class of SYA France 1978, and also served as a co-Class Agent following SYA France’s 50th anniversary.
Holland Goss Lynch FR'86, Moderator
Holland is an alumna of the Hotchkiss School and received a bachelor's in French Literature from Georgetown University in 1991. After Georgetown, she attended the University of Maryland where she earned master’s degrees in Library Science and Medieval History. From 1994 to 2001 she worked in the exhibitions program at the New York Public Library. Since 2002, Holland has lived in San Francisco with her husband and three children where she has dedicated her time to raising her children and serving her community as a volunteer. She has served on the boards of numerous institutions focused on art and education and joined SYA's Board of Trustees in 2018.