When we talk about women in Hollywood, we may think about the talent of Mell Street, the beauty of Scarlett Johansson, or the humour of Whitbury Goldberg. But what about the women behind the camera? Women who make just as much, if not more, impact on our culture and gender. Catherine Bigelow for being the first woman to win Academy Award for Best Director, Patty Jenkins for bringing us the long-awaited Kick-Hars blockbuster Wonder Woman. And today's women of impact. Over the last ten years, she's built, along with her husband, a studio juggernaut. Co-founder and president, Bronn Management and Bronn Studios gave birth to the Academy Award-nominated movie Fences, starring Denzel Washington. Isn't it romantic, starring Rebel Wilson, Liam Helmsworth and Priyanka Chopra, and all-Rise starring Jennifer Hudson. And that's just scraping the surface of their roster. But being a Hollywood badass is about as far from where she started as you can possibly imagine. Growing up in a predominantly white community in Canada, she felt like more than outcasts in Daniel Luruso. But this introvert was not about to let her circumstances dictate her future. So she strapped up and took on the male dominated industry, or were raising not one, not two, but three children. Now as if that wasn't already trailblazing enough, Bron branched out again and launched the Bron animation group. A 20,000 square foot studio led by a strong team of creative production, technical and financial talent with over 125 visual and technical artists. They were the creative geniuses behind the Willough Bees and Hinchman. Now with over 70 pie of movies under her belt and offices worldwide, I think it's pretty safe to say this woman is kind of having a global impact. So please, help me welcome in the women who pays it forward by supporting, empowering, and mentoring women in creative roles. A woman whose mission it is to positively impact society by bringing more female driven stories to the big screen. And a woman whose company motto work hard, Play Hard, not only resulted in Academy Awards but also resulted in Instagram posts of snowman competitions. One of the most incredibly humble powerhouses I've ever met Brenda Gilbert. Thank you. Well, it's quite the introduction. I honestly, so we've met before, so I was introduced to you, so I'm said, oh, this is my boss want you to meet Brenda? Brenda, what do you do? Look, oh, well, you know, we have a studio. And then I come to find out in two and a half hours of me talking to you by the end, that you own brawn. And I was like, whoa, what? You are so humble and so authentic and so genuine. you in that I was like I have to get to know this woman and I have to have one on my show. So take me back to your child, your in-canneter, you feel like you're the odd one out. How do you go from that to building a media jug and all. Well, that's a huge question. Obviously, in terms of me as a child, I was bullied and discriminated against, but I always had my head in a book and I always like school. So I always did well and I also had a creative side to me. I also liked to draw on a like to sew and those types of things. So I think that was my saving grace, is I always wanted to learn. And I didn't know exactly what I was going to be, but what I was maybe eventually going to become. I always had empathy for people. I always felt sorry for people. When I was about in grade one, there was a grade seven-year old who was kicking around around three kittens and I didn't realize at the time that I had the empathy and the kindness. I just did what I thought was right and I went up to him and I said stop and he turned around and kicked me really hard in the back and called me a nigger and told me to go away. So I ran home, you know, crying because I was in so much pain. And that still, I still did what I had to do. I still went to school the next day. I did certain things. And my parents expected a lot of me. That's really made me who I am today in terms of multitasking, the ability to run a company, the ability to have multiple children and to really support them. So, I met my husband, I guess, 22 and a half years ago, and what really inspired me about him is he thought globally. He was much more the entrepreneur than I was. I was much more, I need to do this and make sure that the overhead is covered and things like that. Maybe take a little bit of a risk of making sure that everything is covered. And he's like, you know what, if you take a big risk, you know, you can see much more, you can achieve much more. Over time obviously I become that entrepreneur. What has kept me in the game, what has kept me in business, what has kept me to be true to myself

is the passion for storytelling. I call it the three or four P's. So the passion, the art form, that's what gets me up in the morning and to drive me to do what I'm doing, the perseverance, the patience, and the persistence because in this industry, I've been told it's much more riskier than the stocks. But if you really love what you're doing, you keep at it and you get knocked on time and time again and my husband and I, we've got out. We've faltered, right? We didn't always have this beautiful home and beautiful things than that. I also believe that we need to be true to ourselves and what we believe in. And Lisa, you posted something about being happy. What makes you happy? You know, initially it could be something monetary or something that's very superficial. But you know, it's more so the passion and wanting to help people. That's very clear that you did it as a child and that you do it. Now, how do you hold onto that? So I'm trying to picture you as this young child running home from school, obviously you stood up because you really were empathetic to these kittens, a boy that was, I'm sure, 10 times taller than you or bigger than you and you stood up to it. And it seems like you're saying that's exactly what you keep doing is like looking for those moments to stand up for what you believe in. How do you though, in those moments where you're so upset and you're crying, do you not just then give up? Or go, well, that really sucked. A boy just kicked me in the back. I'm never going to do that again. But you didn't. You kind of lent into it. It was very difficult, right? You don't, I don't always think about things in terms of helping people I just go and do it There's a lot of people that complain about the world and complain about poverty Mass incarceration racial profiling and things like that I feel as a woman of color as my job hasn't been as difficult as People that lived in the 1800s, you know the 19 early 1900s and like that. And you think about the 1960s with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X. They had much more challenges than I did. So I always think that there's always someone worse off than me. That's what drives me. I don't think if something is being challenging. Of course, there are times that it's very difficult. It's hard to get out of bed. But I think of it as an opportunity, an opportunity to help people, right? And that's the key. That's the key for me to be driven and motivated, not just the passion for what I do, but the passion for life and for people. I love that. Yeah, seeing your passion, I mean, that must be so strong because not only do you work in an industry that is extremely male dominated, everything in society quote unquote says like you don't belong here. How did you like not listen to those naysayers and you're just like, no, I'm going to be here. Because in those moments when you're telling yourself, I'm going to do this, I can do it. Sometimes when you hit that brick wall and you're emotionally distraught, how do you get out of that, like, emotionally get out of that? You know, I alluded it to it earlier, is there's always somebody that's worse off than me. And do you just then repeat that in your head because sometimes for me, like, I try to do that. And sometimes it's just just like it doesn't heal the pain. My body knows it but my heart doesn't. Yes, yeah I mean don't get me wrong I've been hurt many times and in our industry it's based on superficiality and people don't necessarily do what they say. So one of the first things I had said to you is if I promised to do something, I'm going to keep that word to you. And your word is gold to me because I think why aren't people, why are people so dishonest and why are people so greedy and why do you, when you walk in a room particularly in Hollywood, they look at who you are, who you're with and what you're're wearing. We shouldn't be based upon that. We should be based upon the good that we can do. What can we contribute to society? I think that's much more important. And being complacent has no place in my world. I love that. And is that what made you then open your business? I know that you lived in Canada, but why you stayed there? Because in my world, I desperately want to be in Hollywood as a kid, have these big dreams and everyone said, well, you have to go to Hollywood if you want to be there. And everyone needs to conform. But you were like, no, I'm not going to conform because I think even the people listening at home as well, we've all been told you need to conform, to succeed, conform to it.

How did you know? Again, no predictability. We just did it. For me, my house has to be a home, and that's my place of reprieve. And that's where, you know, when you are hurt and you have these, you know, things that happen that are very difficult is making sure that you have that and you've established it wherever you are. For me, I grew up in Canada, so I feel safe there.

And secure there. And I've built all these relationships and things like that there. So really surrounding myself with good people and not to say that I don't have a lot of good friends and people that I consider family here in Los Angeles. It's not quite home just because the business is here. But again, I love that you didn't just say that this is going to hold me back because it clearly hasn't. I think that that's really important for people to hear that you don't have to conform to what other people are saying. It really is you can build anything if you have the passion and drive that you do. So yeah, that's awesome. I love that. Well, let's talk about then your partnership with your husband. So people at home know that I also work with my husband. He's my business partner. I know it's not easy. How did you find it in getting into business with your husband in the first place? And what are the things you've had to navigate? Lisa, as you know, it's very difficult to be working with your husband. And he is saying working with your husband, regardless of having that strong male counterpart where people sort of think, you know, that person is the boss. When reality, people don't understand that we're standing side by side, hand in hand, and doing a lot of things that, you know, we don't necessarily get credit for on screen and off screen. Which is fine. And over time, it wasn't fine initially. I'll be honest with you. So what I've done is, first of all, is how I become confident over time to deal with these types of things is knowing myself worth, right? Knowing what I'm good at. And if I'm not good at something and I don't understand something, it's okay to say that and seek out people that can complement, right? Compliment you and also help and fill in those holes, right, that you have or you feel not confident about, which is really important. And so having that confidence and working with your husband and also just aligning yourself with really good people even outside of your company is very important. We also, my husband and I because we have three children and a fur baby together, is that we had to learn how to work with each other. How do we work with each other? Well, we don't want to talk about work 24-7 because it can consume you, right? And so realizing, hey, this is time that we talk about work and we have to actually ask each other. So sometimes we may be very excited at 9 p.m. midnight and want to talk about something. The other person saying, wait a minute, I've just had an 18-hour day. I don't want to talk about this anymore. The other thing is we both travel, right? So, and we try to meet up with each other when we're traveling and we're filming and things like that. So, I think distance is a good time to really recuperate, to think about things, to also really appreciate one another and what we do because we sometimes, you know, we cross paths and sometimes we don't. I think that also helps the relationship and being with the partner, partner in life, partner in business. So yeah. There was a lot there that I want to dive into. So getting started because everything you were saying, it just resonated with me. So even now, people turn to Tom over me. And when it first started, it really did sting. Because I'm like, well, hang on. I am an equal partner. I do bring just as much to the table. We bring different skill sets to the table. But it doesn't mean that one's more worthy than the other. And initially, it really upset me. and then I had to kind of emotionally work through it by myself and then turn to him and let him know that I was going through it and then start implementing some emotional things that in those moments they don't sting anymore because it used to kind of catch my breath. Did you ever find that? Absolutely. What did you do in those moments? Had to go into my office and close the door. Have some time to myself and really think, is there something that it's worth getting angry about? Not reacting with emotionality in that moment or if that happened with a person. And if it bothered me two hours afterwards or an hour afterwards or if I I got home is do something about it. If I felt that I was being undermined, I would actually, depending on the mode of communication that was best suited for that particular instance, maybe send out an email and then do a follow-up and have a conversation, but always not with aggression, but with diplomacy intact, right? And so really thinking about what I was saying and trying to be open to the other person's point of view. Why did they say that? Why did they react in that way? Did they not have the information? Right? So that's the other thing. Mm-hmm. Wow, that's really good way to handle it. What about with your husband? So if there's moments where you're making decisions and you guys don't agree, have you come up with like how do you handle those situations? Because I mean, you're coming, you're coming is so huge. There's so many moving parts. Along those 20 years of building the company, was it often that you guys butt heads or were you like, no, we actually didn't. We don't agree on a lot of things. And what I've learned over time is, again, to take a step back and reflect. What does that mean? That means, okay, am I disagreeing because it's somebody's characteristic or personality that I don't like or am I angry at the situation. But also saying to my husband, let's not talk about this right now because I don't want to react and I don't want to say something in the heat of the moment that could cause an argument that's so trivial that it can erupt, right? So I just don't want to do that either. So having, you know, this has taken time. This is not just something that happened after a year or a year or two.

You still probably why can on it?

All the time.

All the time. Still, right? Because the thing is, is we both feel a strong way about a point of view, but also making sure that is it valid? Like, why am I getting angry? Why am I getting emotional about this, right? And you and I both know is some of us are so intuitive, right? And

we're just like something just doesn't feel right. And there's no rhyme or reason to it. And funny enough, you'll find out a month down the road a year down the road that, hey, your intuition was right. So always go with that. I love that. My husband actually just recently had an intuition or something. And I disagreed with him and he was like, I got an Intuition and I kept pushing back and at the end he's like who do you think has more credibility? And we use that word a lot now who has more credibility in that specific arena because we've got different skillsets Right and so I actually had to stop and go well actually he has more credibility than I do so even though he's getting an Instinct that I'm not and I fundamentally disagree with him, it was like, then I was able to go, okay, yeah, I'm going to follow you on this because yes, you have more credibility. But that for me is like that recognition, like what you said, about the emotion. Yeah. Because emotion can so take over. Absolutely. You can consume you right? Yeah, yeah. So as a female in this industry, what have you

learned about leadership? To lead by example. Yeah. To lead with diplomacy and tact. To make sure we are able to collaborate with people. As a female, I feel that we've been undermined so many times time and time again. And I feel we have to join hands. You know, we're collaborators, we're friends, we're colleagues, we need to support each other. We need to provide each other with platforms and opportunities. That's what's really, really important. And just to seek each other out. And you know what's really interesting is when you put something out to the world, wanting to do somethinggetically and otherwise those good people will come to you. It's very interesting. Just having a conversation and you're just like, hmm, and you don't know why it happens. And after having a conversation like you and I did initially for you know two and a half hours, we realized we had so much in common. And I wouldn't know first glance, right? So really also just not only providing opportunities for people, but giving people an opportunity to have a conversation as well, which is really important. I know that certain situations are very difficult to have those types of conversations. If you're at a party and it's very loud or you know, it's a brief meeting, you don't really get really get to know the person but for me I really love to get to know people because there's always more than meets the eye. So now was something that I found in just researching you and talking to you and speaking to you know joint friends that we have together and it really is that you want to give everybody a voice. Absolutely. That was something that I really wrote down a like underlined eight times. Why is that important to you and how do you go about giving people a voice? Because just to give an example, I remember you saying like you'll go to dinner and be you know, your PA and then execs and you're just like everyone's equal, everyone's a human. Absolutely. Talk to me about that and why it's so important. I feel that everybody should be treated equally and to be treated like I want to be treated with dignity and respect. Regardless of what I do, how I do things, how I look, I don't want to be judged by how I look, I don't want to be judged by a title put next to my name. That's not important to me. Having a voice in the room is really, really important because people have good things to say and great ideas. It always starts with an idea, particularly to tell compelling stories and impactful stories. I think that's so, so important. And I think that our societies become too judgmental, and I don't think that's fair. I think it's just really, really important to give people an opportunity to do wonderful things from the ground up. At a young age, I think that we can learn from the younger generations. I also think that we can learn a lot from our pioneers and our legends. We sometimes dismiss them in terms of having certain diseases and losing their memory and things like that. But think about the wealth knowledge that they have, right? The accessibility to that. We're always learning, we're always growing. So it's so important for them to have voice and to be a voice that not only is in a small room to be heard. It's really, really important. You know, again, I always emphasize complacency. There's no room for that. Giving people an opportunity, that's important to me. Yeah, that's actually really interesting to be heard because I felt that with you. Have you noticed how people treat you when they see you or meet you first in comparison to them when they know who you are and what you do? Absolutely. How do you feel about that? I'll be honest with you. It kind of rubs me the wrong way because again, I'm, they're not talking to me just generally as a person, they're talking to me because they know I have some sort of accessibility, right? Whether it's to film and TV or, you know, the industry as a whole or, you know, in terms of maybe to talent. So,. So, I'm cautious, but again at the same time, I try to have some objectivity because maybe sometimes people upon first meeting, they don't give a good presentation, right? So you can't always judge a book by its cover or it's initial meeting, although sometimes it can be impactful. Like, of course, if they're gonna be discriminatory, they're gonna be mean in some way, then that's different, but it is a hard one for me, just in terms of why a conversation starts or it doesn't start for that matter. Right. I used that quest. Sometimes I wouldn't tell people who I was. And so I ran on media studio, but nobody knew that I was co-found. So we would get influences and talent that would come in. I would see how they would really act. I was always on set. They didn't realize. So I would see first hand and there were people that were super genuine, nice to everybody. That's when I was like, they're the type of people I want to keep working. Yes, yes.

Because, you know, in an industry like this, where you just don't know sometimes where you stand or people aren't really who they say they are, it's so refreshing when you meet people that really are, who, you know, who they say they are, who you think they are. Absolutely, and I think the driving for us Just be true to yourself and what you believe in.

Because if you want to help inspire and power people,

then just keep doing... Absolutely, and I think the driving for us is just be true to yourself and what you believe in.

Because if you want to help inspire and power people, then just keep doing that, right? And that's your passion, that's what's driving you as well. Yeah. So, okay, what about when you're in a moment where let's say you've got a passion project and you're so excited to get it off the ground. And if it came into conflict with, let's say, a value of yours, how do you handle things like that?

Where it's like, you really want something to succeed,

but maybe it doesn't align with your values.

The value system is very, very important to me.

So if it's something that is really being undermining

or disrespectful or whatever else and it just really conflicts,

I would probably not do it, even if it was a passion project. Because this is the good that we want to put out in the world. And if you're a negative person and you're putting out negative things altogether, then that's how people are going to perceive you as well and treat you. So what do you want your legacy to be? How do you want to continue it? And how can you help people continue that for you as well? These questions you asked yourself? Absolutely. Absolutely, especially when you have children, right? I have a son and I have two daughters. So regardless of gender, these questions are relevant. Mmm, I love that. Yeah, your beautiful daughter is here today. She is. And what I loved, as I said, I asked her of before we started rolling. Do you take your mum for granted that she's like this incredible woman? And she said no, because I've seen her grow and I've seen how hard she's had to work to get there. How important was that for you to show your children? Basically what hard work really means, dedication. Very important, because you still have to continually work hard and to strive for what you want. If you believe in something, it's not going to be easy. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it, right? If it is meaningful, you're going to work hard and not take for granted these types of things that we've acquired over time, like over 20 years So really being able to value those types of things because it took us a long time to get there. It was a long road, you know, it was never straight and narrow. There's a lot of detours. There is a lot of obstacles in the way. Our mode of transportation may have changed as well. So yeah, it's worth it. Like every day if I woke up and thought this is easy,

I don't think I'd want to do what I'm doing either. So it's the fact that it's tough that drives you as well. It's the fact that I realize that there's certain things that are in the way maybe for me to get what I want. but I feel that I appreciate it more and that sort of also keeps me humble. So true, the heart of the struggle, the more rewarding it does feel it does. It does. Absolutely, absolutely, because it took a long time to get here. It really did. And that's the thing. I mean, the movies now that you guys are are being a part of are just like smash hair off to smash hair. And as I'm following you, seeing all the announcements that you guys are making phenomenal, do people see from the outside or think about you guys or your company as like, oh, you know, like, oh my God, they just sprouted. You're like, no, it's 20 years of grind in the in the back end to be able to get to the point that you want out. Some people have been on that journey with us. I mean, not the whole 20 years. Maybe the last almost 10 years. So they understand the struggle internally and sometimes externally just to get where we're at. But some people don't understand that and see the glam and the red carpets and things like that. And the premiere is very exciting because you're now in a room full of 1200 people sometimes and they're laughing at things that you didn't think were funny or you know or appreciating some of the performances on screen. So yeah it's been very interesting. Well so because the first time I met you was at the Isn't it Romantic Premiere? That's right. And that movie was such a female empowerment movie, it kind of turned stereotypes on its head of those types of movies. What did that mean to you? And what does female centric movies mean to you as a whole and where do you see that going?

That movie was very interesting. I love Rebel Wilson because females always have to be quantifiable. So it's a certain size. It's a certain weight. If you're in your 30s, you have to act a certain way and wear certain things. And when you're in 40s and 50s, so everything is, you know, based, which I don't think is really fair. Over time I've become a non-conformist, just in terms of what I want to wear, I want to wear what I feel comfortable in. Like these bad all sheets. Thank you. You know, and I feel that if you wear with what you're comfortable in, then you have the confidence to tackle the world, to tackle the day, to take on a meeting. So that movie was important for multiple reasons because if you look at Rebel Wilson, you look at Priyanka Chopra, they don't fit what we used to be the typical Hollywood type set in terms of how I need to be like this, I need to be blonde and blue-eyed, I need to have my hair quaffed in a certain way, I need to be a size two or I need to be a size zero. So it was very important for multiple levels because the women in that film embrace themselves, not just on screen, but off screen as well. And in terms of female stories and of empowerment and things like that, I think it's really important. And it's important for multiple reasons because we need to have realistic role models. And if women can see it, then they feel that they can be it. So your on-screen reality can be your off-screen reality as well. I love that. And do you feel like it's part of your duty to show that? I think I've assumed it.

It's not intentionally doing so. Not intentionally doing so because my husband said something to me here and a little while ago he goes, a lot of people are wanting to be you and inspiring to be you or aspiring to be you. And I said, what? Why would they want to do that? Because think about what you're doing. So I think I also have to take check, a reality check in terms of, okay, let's concentrate on what I am doing, what I have done, as opposed to what I don't have or what I haven't done. How powerful is that bin fee? Really great. Really, really great, because somebody had pointed out that what I do in a month most people don't do in a lifetime. So I said wow that's interesting because I've never seen it like that. I've always been very hard on myself. I always want more for everybody and for myself like not materialistically but more so is how come we can't I can't take on another project. project. How come I can't do this? Like I said on the advisory council for two schools in Vancouver,

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