THR Illustration / Disney: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Castle: Disneyland Resort/Christian Thompson; Becker: Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images.
Abigail Disney (left) and Adrienne Becker set up Level Forward as a public benefit corporation, designed to be a for-profit entity, but one that calls for serving the public good.
The company, co-founded with Adrienne Becker to back inclusive projects and promote an equitable workplace, now finds itself reckoning with internal missteps. Says Disney: We own the ways in which we ve messed up.
In early 2018, philanthropist and filmmaker Abigail Disney wanted to found a company to reclaim Hollywood from its most infamous tyrant, Harvey Weinstein. But as Disney s aspirational company, Level Forward, got off the ground, some of its own staff and contractors, particularly women of color, felt disempowered by a top-down culture, according to interviews with 15 current and former employees and business partners.