Governed by a Charter, MCN’s DEAI Advisory Board is a consultative body made up of community members tasked with representing and advocating for the interests of the MCN community on DEAI matters. The Advisory Board supports and guides the work of MCN in DEAI initiatives and begin our ongoing process to make the organization—and the field of museum technology—more inclusive.
DEAI Advisory Board members (as of March 2020)
Rumana Chaudhuri
Rumana Chaudhuri (she/her) is a visitor experience volunteer at the National Museum of the American Indian, helping pioneer human-centered design at the museum. She looks forward to strengthening diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion at MCN and to initiating DEAI-based transformation in museums. Rumana attended Wellesley College, Georgetown University, and George Washington University.
Jessica Lynn BrodeFrank
Jessica BrodeFrank (she/her) is the Digital Collections Access Manager at the Adler Planetarium, and pursues a DPhil in Digital Humanities with University of London researching implicit database bias, and the use of crowdsourcing metadata projects as engagement tools. She is currently interested in incorporating diverse voices towards creating representative museum narratives.
Jim Fishwick
Jim Fishwick (he/him) is an award-winning director, performer, and experience designer based in Melbourne, Australia. He is currently an assistant curator at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and general manager of Jetpack Theatre Collective. He enjoys promoting queer, trans and non-binary representation in the arts.
Emily Hardin
Emily Hardin (they/them, she/her) is set to graduate with their MA in Museology from University of Washington in June. They have worked and volunteered at various art and history museums and galleries, the Seattle Aquarium, and the Burke Museum of Natural History, and are very passionate about inclusion for the LBTQ+ community and accessibility in all museological spaces.
Erin Harper
Erin Harper (she/her) is currently a multimedia producer in the museum field, and previously an editor in journalism. She’s passionate about telling stories that challenge common narratives and amplify essential voices.
Nora Pinell-Hernandez
Nora Pinell-Hernandez (she/her) is the Founding Creative Director of Atomic Carrots – a design and fabrication shop that encourages play in museums so they may spread the roots of their mission. Hernandez worked at the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum as Exhibits Fabricator where she created dozens of hands-on and digital interactives, expanding the ways the Seminole story is told and shared.
Scarlett Hu
Scarlett Hu (she/her) is the Assistant Director of Getty Digital. In her IT career of 30+ years, she has created opportunities for underprivileged minorities and made attempts to close the digital divide whenever she can. She is an immigrant and a strong believer of “America Can”—she brought an outsourced department back home and won the Help Desk Institute Team Excellence Award in 2014. She also serves on American Alliance of Museum’s National Program Committee.
Wided Rihana Khadraoui
Wided Khadraoui (she/her) is a freelance writer, curator, and diversity consultant facilitating cultural competency in the creative sector. Her previous professional experiences include marketing for an experiential design firm, managing a commercial art gallery space, and communication director of an international design fair. She holds a MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and an MA from Central Saint Martins in Arts and Cultural Enterprise.
A. Andrea Montiel de Shuman
Andrea (she/her) is a Digital Experience Designer based in Detroit, where she has lived since immigrating from Mexico in 2013. She has been involved a variety of nonprofits that exposed her to consistent DEAI needs. Currently, she is interested in exploring opportunities to use digital in serving traditionally underrepresented audiences, especially indigenous communities.
Marina Piza
With a background in Visual Arts and Museology, Marina (she/her/elle) has spent the past ten years working in museums around Canada. She is part of a small group of immigrants and visible minorities currently working in the field. Marina is invested in supporting under-represented groups and is delighted to join MCN DEAI.
Mimosa Shah
Mimosa Shah (she/her) is the Adult Program Coordinator at Skokie Public Library, where she develops, manages, and evaluates public programs. As secretary of the library’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, she’s committed to helping increase staff’s knowledge and awareness of issues related to DEAI and how it affects our community.
Gurpreet Singh
Gurpreet Singh (he/him/his), with a background in AI, ML, and NLP, is an instructor at Lethbridge College and lab coordinator for the Digital Humanities lab (University of Lethbridge). As a project manager for the ‘Visionary Cross’ project – a Digital Cultural Heritage project in the Anglo-Saxon era – he specializes in Data Management and Dissemination.
Coleman Tharpe
Coleman Tharpe (he/him) strives to create inclusive and positive working environments within his companies by evaluating intersectionality, privilege, and power against policies, procedures, and culture. He holds degrees in Anthropology and Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas at Austin and splits his time between Austin and London.