Denise Love Hewett, Founder, Speaker & DJ
Denise Hewett is the Founder and CEO of Scriptd, a digital screenplay marketplace to bolster scripts from underrepresented groups. She comes from the world of entertainment, fashion, and nightlife. Starting her career as the Director of Sales and Marketing at famed nightclub The Box and working for cultural trailblazers like Patricia Field (Sex and the City and Ugly Betty), Marvin Jarrett (NYLON), Courtney Love, Simon Hammerstein, and Randy Weiner before creating content at MTV and Endemol. She is a seasoned television and digital producer who lives at the intersection of activism, entrepreneurship, and entertainment. Denise currently serves on the Associate Board for Defy Ventures, and as an advisor to Database Devi and Nowe Ski Co. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Gallatin at NYU.
What is your favourite social media platform?
Instagram because I love fashion and having a visual outlet to share.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
My purpose is to speed up consciousness through storytelling so that can have a few different expressions. My company Scriptd is a platform to share people's screenplays. My podcast, Do The Work, is a platform to share people's business and spiritual narratives. When I public speak, I speak about my career challenges to hopefully allow others to find themselves in my story. If we have a purpose, a career tends to figure itself out.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
I am very passionate about social justice and I get to attack these issues from different angles through my multi-pronged approach.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
A paradigm shift doesn't happen in 2 years!
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
I believe the point of life is to make people feel, seen, and heard. I try and do that in small and large ways. This motivates me to keep going even when it's not easy so we can make a world where everyone feels, is seen, and heard.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
My friends and network. I am so rich in friendship and so in awe of the people that surround me.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
I am a very intuitive person so I love meeting people IRL!
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
Therapy has been the greatest personal and professional tool. It has helped me become more and more of the type of leader I want to be.
What do you wish you had known when you started?
I didn't know at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey that systemic issues had more to do with power than money (I was so naive). That was a rude awakening, I really believed if we created logical, profitable tools that the public would buy-in. Sadly, that's not the truth. We need a lot more people to be active co-conspirators, not the performative problem solving we consistently see.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles, and why?
I admire anyone willing to sacrifice their comfort to dispel truth.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
I'm a curious person so I love reading, listening to podcasts, trying new things. New stimuli are a great way to inspire creativity.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you been managing it?
It has had an impact for sure, as much of my work is public-facing but I knew it was a temporary state so I tried to acknowledge that and focus on a different way of working.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
Yes! I call them my sage women, they've had a profound impact on my life. In return, I pay it forward to other young folks.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
There is no one path to success. So much of my journey has been about me charting my own path, staying true to myself and I want people to know that that's OK. You don't have to conform to traditional work structures if they aren't right for you.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing, or giving up?
Failure is a growth mechanism. I don't look at failure as a negative. It's an opportunity to figure out what's more in alignment with your purpose.
Is there a phrase, quote, or a saying that you really like?
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like, or do you think are getting it right?
We have a long way to go in terms of authentic inclusion in our culture. I don't think anyone has gotten it right yet. But I hope they will soon. Everytable is a good brand example of a company building a profitable, sustainable, equitable model. I'm rooting for them.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
Success is when you have mastered self-development in tandem with professional accomplishment. I do not believe you are successful without both. We desperately need to change our cultural definition of success. I'm far more interested in a holistic definition of success. My podcast is based on this exact premise.