Miranda Wayland, former BBC Studios head of creative and workforce for diversity and inclusion, joins Amazon Prime Video as head of diversity in Europe. She will report directly to Amazon Studios head of global DEI Latasha Gillespie and will oversee diversity strategy in Europe.
In this newly created role, Wayland will lead the on and off-screen representation at Amazon and work closely with the company’s European commissioning team on business affairs as well as
advertising and marketing to develop diversity and inclusion initiatives across Amazon Studios and Prime Video.
“We are so thrilled to welcome Miranda Wayland to our Prime Video & Amazon Studios family,” Gillespie said. “She is such an incredible thought leader and DEI practitioner who has driven meaningful progress in the entertainment industry. We are truly fortunate.”
The appointment follows less than a year after the streaming giant released “Inclusion Policy and Playbook,” which sets the guidelines for the areas of its operations including representation and pay equity. The comprehensive handbook was written and developed to be U.S. specific and Amazon’s European teams have since created their own adaptations.
“Over the past few years, it has been such a pleasure to see Miranda grow to become one of the leading D&I practitioners in the British creative industry,” BBC Director of Creative Diversity June Sarpong said. “Her work as head of creative diversity has really helped to drive increased diverse representation both on and off-screen as well as better serve diverse audiences, her dynamism and enthusiasm will be sincerely missed.”
As head of diversity at the BBC, Wayland was responsible for overseeing global overall on-air diversity and broadcasting strategies across its output and was behind the launch of BBC’s $146M diversity fund. Prior to joining BBC, she was an ITV manager for ten years where she helped the broadcaster deliver its talent and diversity strategy to attract a more diverse workforce.
Wayland leaves BBC Studios after five years and will join Amazon this summer.
