July 27, 2026 • 38 mins
Roku’s Director of Content, Publicity and Talent Relations Nicole Wilcox joins the show this week to give a peek behind the curtain into how, why, and when certain stories get told in film and television. Nicole knows what it takes to bring a project into the world, build excitement around it, and make sure everyone is represented on screen. Ashlyn and Nicole discuss the art of documentary filmmaking and why accessibility to media matters. Plus, they dive into what it took to get Ashlyn’s documentary, Game Changers: The Ashlyn Harris Story made and what it’s like to have it out in the world.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Wide Open.
I'm your host Ashlyn Harris, and today's guest is someone
most people have never seen on camera, but she's helping
shape the stories millions of people are watching. Nicole Wilcox
is Director of Content, Publicity and Talent Relations at Roku,
(00:30):
where she works behind the scenes connecting talent, filmmakers and audiences.
She understands what it takes to bring a project into
the world, build excitement around it, and make sure important
stories are actually reaching people. Today, we're talking about the
art of documentary's storytelling, what happens behind the curtain once
(00:51):
filming wraps, why accessibility in media matters more than ever
right now. And we'll also dive into my own documentary,
Game Changers, the Ashlyn Harris story, and what it felt
like to have my life become the story. Let's get
into it. This is Wide Open. Welcome Nicole, how are you?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Thank you so much, Ashlyn. I appreciate you having me.
I'm excited to be here. Yeah, I don't do this often.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
You don't, which I love. We're gonna like peel back
the curtains a little bit and invite people in because
so much work, you know, as now I've become a
producer and I'm working behind the scenes in scripted and unscripted,
you really realize how much it takes to make a
project and how long it takes. And I think that's
(01:37):
what most people don't get. People know the actors, they
know the athletes, they know the filmmakers, but they rarely
know the people helping bring these stories to the audience,
to the people. So I'm curious, just to start out,
what exactly I mean. Your title is a mouthful, but
it seems very important, and clearly it is because I
get to have meetings with you often as I continue
(01:59):
to work with Roku, which I love. What exactly does
a director of content, Publicity and Talent relations do? So
my job is twofold.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I am working, you know, as part of this larger
Roku organization. But the reason that I really love what
I get to do is because I have the privilege
of working with people like you, and it is no
day is the same. We get to work with so
many diverse storytellers, and that's why I love exactly the
position that I've landed in, because I get to tell
(02:32):
all of these different stories and that's what we're here
to do. There's a lot of work to be done,
but it's that storytelling and I, you know, your story
is so incredible. While I had seen an earlier cut
of it a couple of months ago, I actually in
preparation for this, watched it again last night on Platform
and I was so excited to go to my Roku
home screen and for it to be the first thing
(02:54):
my remote could click on. I didn't even have to
navigate away.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I gotcha.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I know there are so many of its people out
there looking for something new to watch, and they might
not know about you, and they're just discovering your story
for the first time. And what I love about it
is that while your experiences are so unique and specific
to you, I think that thematically everyone can empathize and
(03:20):
to some degree recall their own personal triumphs and hardships,
and in that way, it's actually quite universal on a
personal level. I watch the footage of you on the
field and I think that must be exactly what I
look like when I play in my amateur pickleball tournaments
on the weekend. So Ashton and I are basically the
(03:40):
same athlete, but I get to work with people like you.
That's the best part of it. And I've kind of
navigated my way into this position where I have the
privilege of doing just that and I get to work
on things that I'm really passionate about.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So great and it's just thank you, and I'm receiving
all this beautiful comments and I appreciate it because it
does take a lot to be this vulnerable, to share
your scars, to open up your life for other people
hopefully to resonate, to feel seen. But also there's criticism
that comes with it. Right, Like we're living in a
(04:16):
really really unique time where a women are not as
safe as they used to be, especially queer women. So
for me, I need to at the top of the show,
most importantly, just say how grateful I am that Roku
decided to share such a hard, heavy, impactful story because
(04:38):
when I was a kid, I didn't see people like me.
I didn't people are not on TV who moved like me,
who looked like me, who talked like me, who took
up space like me. And I was always told to
be quiet and be less like that, be let you know,
like just shrink yourself so you can fit in. And
(04:59):
I knew from childhood, I did not fit in and
I felt different, and I spent a lot of time
searching for who I was, what my identity would look like.
And I think being able to have this type of
visibility and to have young kids be able to watch this,
older people be able to watch this and have that
(05:22):
type of vulnerability, to share my scars through the lens
of a woman and a queer woman, is very, very
impactful with the landscape of you know what we're going
through right now. What have you noticed throughout your time
that you're like, oh, people are really going to fuck
with this, Like, what are the key ingredients?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I think, like you said, you haven't always seen stories
about people like you, and that is so important and
I think now more than ever, people are embracing that
and they want to see more diversity on screen. They
want to learn about people who they've not interacted with
(06:03):
a person like them before. Personally, I love learning about
subcultures too. I find that so like I cannot wait
until the next season of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Dot
comes out this week, you know, I just love learning
about new different kinds of people and a lot of
what we do at Roku and with Roku Originals is
(06:26):
seeking out those stories that haven't been told yet. I
can think of several examples right off the bat, some
of my favorite shows I've had the privilege of working
on here because it's people who I have not seen
on screen before. And that's a really exciting thing. And
like we've already said, it's very important. I love that
(06:48):
my kids will be able to grow up watching all
of these different kind of people on screen, when that's
not something that I saw growing up. Yeah, and I
you know, I spent so much time trying to conform
and not have my own personal brand because I wanted
to look like everyone else around me, and that's what
I deemed cool. And now I think the opposite. You
(07:12):
have to develop your own personal brand and be exactly
who you are. And I will always encourage that with
the people around me, and most importantly with my children.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I love that, and it is I think for so
long we were on this weird pursuit of perfection. At least,
like I felt that in my household, we had to
act a certain way. When we walked out of that door,
we had to be buttoned, like, you know, And I
(07:41):
still to this day, I'm trying to unlearn it. As
a retired professional athlete, I was on this hunt of
perfection and I think it made me great, but it
also it also took something from me right And I
love that I have the ability to show that my
(08:02):
childhood maybe wasn't that perfect, and you know, there was
a lot of trauma and there was a lot of grief,
but I owned it. I think there's an emotional truth.
I think that's the through line here that like these
young kids get to see that it's okay that things
happen in life and we have to wake up and
(08:25):
no matter how hard it gets, we have to choose ourself.
We have to choose our community, we have to choose safety,
and like it's a part of life. Life is hard,
and the more we open those doors instead of hiding
those parts of who we are, the easier it will
be out in the real world for this younger generation.
(08:48):
Like I knew what it meant to suffer in a
different way as a child, but it made me who
I am today. There are lessons it taught me that
made me a little like bullish and unshakeable and new
Tomorrow is a new day and it gets better and
all these lessons of hardship in life taught me real
(09:11):
character and emotional depth, and I love that I get
to share that with the world. But I also think
what people need to understand is so much goes in
to making this doc. There is something hard about being
that vulnerable for the world to see, and you handled
it so beautifully. But I want you to talk to
me about the cycle of how this works with Roku,
(09:35):
because I want people to have an insight that all
of a sudden, you don't just show up and you're like,
we're gonna make this sure.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well, and first, let me just express gratitude to you
for being willing to be so vulnerable on screen. I
think there are only a handful of people who are
actually okay doing that, and again, it's so important, So
thank you for agreeing to be the subject of this.
(10:03):
When a project comes to me, it's close to being done.
So while it is my full time job to talk
about it, there are so many people, like you said,
who have had hands on this before it ever crosses
my desk. And you know, sometimes Roku is involved in
the production in this case, of course, we were. Sometimes
we acquire it after the fact, but they're cross functionally.
(10:27):
Like you said, are so many people who have passion
for this, who have invested their time and effort into
this and taken care to tell the story in the
right way. And that is something that's hugely important to
Roku is that when we are working with talent, they
finish a project as happy or happier than when they began,
(10:51):
because it's important to us that you do feel truly
part of a family and supported every step of the way.
So it is paramount to us that all of our
production partners, all of our on camera talent, and everyone
in between feel as though they have been accepted into
this family and in production, like I said, I didn't
(11:17):
have the privilege of being there, but there is so
much work that goes into that, so much blood, sweat
and tears, And then when it gets to me, my
job is to make sure that people have the opportunity
to see you do that. And with Roku, we are
really unique in the sense that what we can do
(11:39):
with our platform is truly limitless. We're always introducing new
features making the streaming experience easier and better for our customers,
so that like me last night, all they have to
do is go in and click their remote and they
get to watch you on screen. And like you said,
there is so much that went into making that possible.
(12:00):
Is just the very end of the road. And I think,
you know, for us in the future, that's what we
want for Roku. We want to make it the most
personalized destination out there in the streaming world and continue
to expand and build on these partnerships that we forged
in new partnerships that may come as a result of
people seeing you on screen and being inspired by that.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I love that. I love that, Nicole. And for me,
you know, I think this is the part people don't
quite understand and something I've set out throughout my whole career.
I'm so much bigger than what I do. Soccer was
just what I did. I have a whole ass life
outside of it. You and I both do. We hold
(12:43):
the most beautiful title in the world, which is mom.
And and for me, like this story was not about
a soccer story and a highlight reel, the story was
about identity. It was about motherhood. It was about loss
and reinvention and it's never too late and choosing yourself
and finding yourself over and over and over again, and
(13:07):
as a woman as a mother, you know someone who
is high up at their job, who you know a
high performing person at their job. When you watch this
final cut last night, like what moment? Like what moments
really hit you emotionally?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
There's just so much Seeing what you went through with
your parents really hit me, and you know it. It
all makes me reflect on how I want to be
with my children, how I want to support them and
whoever they may turn out to be. I want to
(13:48):
make my home a nest where my children always feel safe.
Coming back to whether they go on to be athletes
who compete in the World Cup, whether they go on
to be engineers, whether they ultimately are in public relations
at a streaming company, I don't care what they do
(14:10):
as long as they feel safe and supported in doing that. So, yeah,
really getting to watch that relationship with your parents and
everything that you went through there and how I can
learn from that and try to add tools to my
ever growing toolbox on how to mother.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Stay tuned. I'll be back in just a moment after
this brief message from our sponsors Game Changers, is it's
not just about the Ashlan Harris story. Clearly we have
now announced that is it July fourth, there's another the
top twenty five second, July second. That's it July second,
(14:57):
and then what we're going to see in this game
changers saga type. It's not just one story, it's multiple
stories that are impacting sports in general. But what I
want to know is why do stories about athletes often
resonate far beyond sports?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Like?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
What are you seeing? Why are you guys choosing this?
I know because I sat down and did a pitch
call with you guys from the beginning, and they were like, actually,
we want to talk about you, which was awesome, and
I was like, let's do it. But tell me about
why you think athletes often like resonate so much far
(15:36):
beyond especially women. I'm gonna say, because we are more
forthcoming to say the least. Why is that? Why does
it go so far beyond sport?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
That's a great question. I haven't considered that, but maybe
it's because, and you would know better than anyone, being
an athlete is an incredibly hard thing to do. It's
something that we all, oh, well, I shouldn't say all,
but most of us start out doing. You know, my
kids will all be enrolled in little leagues starting at
(16:06):
age three. I can tell you from experience, that is
not the path that my six year old is ultimately
going to go down. She's like, why'd you sign me
up for this again? But it's about learning to be
part of a team, learning that it's not just about you,
and that there is something bigger than just yourself. And
(16:28):
I think for those who end up pursuing sports as
a career, that takes a very specific, strong kind of person,
And you have so much to tell us, Like you said,
beyond just being a soccer star. That's not the only
part of you that you want to talk about. There
is so much more, and we get to peel back
(16:50):
those layers. So at face value, people may only know
that about you, but then when you get to sit
down and really learn about you for fifty minutes, it's like, Wow,
I had no idea that she had to face this
much adversity to be where she is today, and it
has shaped you into being such an incredibly passionate and
(17:14):
influential person. And I think that that can be said
about a lot of athletes. They've all faced a lot
and had these challenges and come out on the other
side stronger and better for it.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah, and I think you nail it there. And especially
when we first sat down with Roku and I was
lucky enough to really sit down with some powerful people
in the space to actually move this into a reality,
I said, we have to show people in all of
their complexity, like it cannot just be a highlight reel.
(17:47):
I think far too often, and in motherhood I say
this as a mom we sugarcoat, We sugarcoat it all.
It is hard, and let's just put it out there
and say it's hard. It is hard becoming a professional athlete.
It is a type of selfishness. It is a type
of isolation. It's a type of life that you don't
(18:14):
get to see what it took, and it takes something
from you. And unless we were gonna show that what
it cost to give everything to success and winning, it
takes something from you and it's not just a highlight reel.
And that was important to me and I love that
(18:36):
Roku is now taking that expanding that into other stories
because I genuinely think what separates men and women athletes
is women are willing to share it emotionally, share it,
like we don't sit, we don't pretend like we've got
the women We've got the car, we got the jewel,
(18:57):
We've got the big mansion. Like nothing about our story
was easy. We had to fucking fight and claw for
every single moment we get, and then we have to
leave it better than we found it. Like you know,
the two thousand and nineteen team, we were fighting for
(19:17):
pay equity. We were at a World Cup suing our
federation who paid our bills. I mean, it's this is women,
this is what we do. I wanted to be a
present mom because I knew what it was like when
you see my story of what the what I did
when I didn't have someone watching and supporting me. I
(19:39):
turned to the streets. I turned the things I'm not
proud of. I turned to things that I needed. It
helped me survive and cope. And you know, the whole
point here is like, let's not share the highlight reel.
Let's not say motherhood is easy. Let's also not sugarcoat
that you can have a career and be a mom,
because something is going to lack if tonight, if I
(20:02):
want to go put down my kids and I want
to read them a bedtime store, I want to cook dinner,
I can't go to the event that pays me the
kickoff World Cup game. I can't do certain things that
puts food on the table and a roof over their head,
something is always given to If I go home, that
means I lose a big paycheck. And it's this constant
(20:24):
grapple of wanting to do both, but I can't necessarily
be exceptional at both. That was kind of long in
a tangent, but I had to express that. And I
don't know if you feel the same way as a
working mom, but it's fucking hard. We don't say it enough.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
We don't. And what has certainly changed me in the
most fundamental of ways is motherhood. It's given me this
deep sense of purpose and identity. And it's not to
say at all that I think being a mom is
my only purpose. Rather it cleared out the cobwebs in
(20:59):
my brain, if you will, and I now have very
clear priorities and a sense of self that I just
didn't have before. And I know you just said it.
It has a way of increasing our capacity. I think
everyone talks about that impossible juggling act, and that.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Is so true.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And there are so many days where I really feel
as though I cannot do both jobs well at the
same time. I have to choose to excel at one
or the other, but not both in tandem. But at
the same time, I've also learned the first time I
heard this, it really resonated me, and it's always stuck
with me. But they're all of these balls that we
are juggling. Some of them are made of glass. They
(21:41):
need to be treated with the utmost importance and care
and attention. And then there are others that are going
to be okay even if we do drop them to
the ground, because we can pick them up later. And
so that philosophy I really try to carry with me,
and it's one that has actually made me a lot
better and more effective and more efficient at work. Something
that the old me would have fixated on mentally for
(22:04):
days or weeks or sometimes even months. I can think
of something pre children that kept me up at night
for years, but now it just rolls off a little
bit easier. So I think we've all been made better
by being mothers.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
It's so true. Yeah, and it yes, and I guess
is what we're trying to say. Two things can be
true at once. But getting back to Roku, I have
to say Nicole what is so important what Sophia and
I talk about so much in our house, and you know,
so came from what I would consider privileged, what she
(22:42):
considers middle class, you know, but I it's great because
she's opened my eyes into her world because we have
so many conversations about access and barriers and all these things,
like because we value a legacy of change, making the
(23:04):
world a better place, making it easier on families, because
she has to hear my experience and now it's close
to her. And what we have really doubled down on
is working with companies, media platforms, you know, big hubs, corporation,
whatever it is. We have to be able to be
(23:28):
in tandem to remove barriers. And what I love so
much about Roku and why I will continue to work
with Roku as much as you guys will have me,
is you have a commitment to free and accessible content.
It fucking matters. Like I have so many paywalls at
this point, it's draining my bank account. I'm like, Okay,
(23:51):
my kids need this, and okay, but I watch sports
and I need this. But then my partner has to
have access to all this, and I'm like, who can
afford all this? Crap like, there's no point of being vulnerable.
There's no point of pushing visibility if people can't access it,
(24:12):
only what certain privileged people can see it. Why is
it so important that Roku has made a platform that
is accessible and free? Please, I want you to talk
to me about that.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
It's just it's just that Ashland, It's that we want
to remove all barriers to entry. Just because someone doesn't
have a subscription to a streaming service doesn't mean that
they wouldn't benefit from watching you on screen. If anything,
I think it's quite the opposite. So this is where
I have to do my publicity. Plug the Roku channel
(24:47):
free to watch. You don't even have to sign up.
Anyone can watch this. You can watch it if you
have a Roku device. If you don't have a Roku device,
you can go online www dot the rokuch. You can
watch it on your phone, iOS or Android. You can
watch it on Amazon Fire TV, you can watch it
on Samsung TV. We really try to be in everybody's
(25:10):
living room because we want to tell those stories. And
that's why our advertising partners are so important to us,
because they allow us to do just that. We want
to bring content to the masses. We recently crossed the
one hundred million streaming households threshold, so that's how many
people we have the ability to reach every single day.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It's really you know, it boils down to this nicole.
Visibility is powerful, but visibility without access only goes so far.
You know, it doesn't make any sense. So how do
you think accessibility shapes the future of storytelling?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Just back to that, if anyone can access it, it's
only going to be better. There is no benefit in
limiting who to see these stories. I think, you know,
real change comes from people discovering stories like yours, feeling
inspired by them, maybe being in a situation where they
(26:14):
feel like they cannot amount to something like that, but
then they see everything that you have gone through and
they think, maybe maybe there is hope for me. Maybe
it's someone who is not comfortable with their gender identity
yet or their sexuality and they don't feel accepted by
their family. I don't know. There's so many different possibilities there.
(26:38):
But if you can get into someone's living room and
inspire one person to be more comfortable with who they
are at their core, than I think all of the
work that we put into this is worth it. At
the end of the day, that would be a success
story for me, much more so than the number of
people who ultimately watch this. If you have a true
(26:59):
effect on one person, then we've done our job.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Stay tuned. I'll be back in just a moment after
this brief message from our sponsors, And now we know
more than ever that algorithm, you know, when it comes
to social platforms, plays a big part in who it reaches,
which hurts it hurts us. I think what responsibility do
(27:26):
platforms have when deciding which stories get amplified? Like, as
you just said, when you turn on that Roku channel,
I am the first thing that pops up. But there
are other stuff going on, you know, just like you said,
the cheerleaders another one. I just had Stephen Colletti on
my podcast, Such a hunk. I freaking love him. Oh
(27:50):
my god, I'm obsessed with him. So, Like, there's so
much that's going on with Roku right now. So I like,
how do you guys, like, what is the responsibility of
deciding which stories get amplified on that main page.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It's a combination of passion projects. We're a lean team here,
so if there is something that feels very important to
one person. They not always, but there have been times
where that singular voice has been able to influence choices
that ultimately led to the green light of a show.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
So we.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Are very supportive of telling stories here that are important
to subsets of people that can be, like I said earlier,
applied universally. So if someone deems it important, it's going
to be seriously considered. We have shows that appeal to
the masses. One of my favorite things I've had the
(28:52):
privilege of working on here at Roku is The Great
American Baking Show. A ton of people are very familiar
with The Great British Bake Off. We have taken it
and spun it into an American version, and it is
so fun to see the reception of people watching that
because it feels good it you know it. It's something
(29:14):
that I've had friends say they watched when they had
newborns and they were up every night. That's it felt
good and it was easy, and it was something they
didn't need to think about. So they would tune in
and watch The Great American Baking Show episode after episode
because it made them feel really happy. And you just
talked about Stephen Coletti we had the reunion Loogan the Beach,
(29:35):
and as an I guess elder millennial, I am the
exact demographic who was watching that show twenty years ago.
They were too. I thought they were just the epitome
of cool. And so if you had told high school
me that one day I would have the privilege of
(29:56):
working on a show with that same cast years later,
I literally would not have believed you. That was so
fun and it, you know, it opened me up to
getting to know Kristin Cavaleri, who I may I was
a Team Else girl in high school. I'm being completely honest,
(30:17):
and Lauren is fantastic and I really enjoyed working with her,
and I also got to know Kristin and I absolutely
love her. So I'm so happy that we get to
have all of these different people on screen and appeal
to so many different interests with what we do.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, they are great. They are great people, and I'm
really happy that it seems like it's doing really well too.
And it's good to see them come back as adults.
I think it's really cool to see the journeys that
life has taken each and every one of them. I
thought that was a really great idea and it's fun
(30:57):
because these people raised us. So hopefully do we do one?
Tree Hill want too? Just kidding back to Game Changers,
back to me, Okay, no, I'm kidding. Uh Well, I
do have a few questions before we we end this
this episode, because I think Game Changers is so freaking
(31:19):
cool and the notion of telling different stories is so important.
Like what do you what's your dream storyline for the
next Game Changers? Like what what would you want to
see that would be like mm hmm, like we need
to tell this kind of story.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Hmm you mean for the Game Changers anthology?
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yep, Like I'll give you mine. I'll answer the question
that I asked. I know that when I went to
the Olympics in Paris, I got to hear a few
of the national team players who played for Afghanistan and
who were all displaced, who had to flee and like
(32:05):
middle of the night like stories of getting busted out
to get to this person they put them in a
bunker to go fly to this country. I want to
know where they are. I want to know they're okay.
I want to know what they had to go through
to play the game they loved. I want to know
what it's like to be born into that type of
(32:28):
experience you didn't get to choose, and what it takes
to get out. I have not stopped thinking about those
girls since all of this, and I want to know
they're okay. I want to know where they are and
how they're surviving. And if you know, like what told
did that experience take on them? They're going to see
(32:48):
the game differently than even me. They're going to see
the world differently than any of us, and it's just
because they were born in a place they didn't get
to choose that would be mine well.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
And I think the beauty of it is as a producer,
seeing the passion that you have for a story like
that means that maybe, hopefully one day we can tell
it right exactly. And that's that's a huge part of
being part of the Roku family is that, like I
alluded to earlier, the opportunities here are limitless. We can
(33:22):
do so much with our platform that maybe that is
the next installment of the Game Changer's Anthology, produced by
Ashland Harris.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I know, I know I've got my now that I'm
producing documentaries, I have my own units studios like Little
card that pops up, I'm like, really official, I'm like
in this, I'm actually really enjoying it, and you know,
hopefully not like a little sneak peek, hopefully in the
fall we maybe just maybe moved scripted with Roku. I
(33:54):
don't know, I'm not maybe I'm not saying anything, but
I'm saying something. Keep our fingers crossed.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
No spoilers here, I work no PR.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah, sorry, PR playing it very cool, but I am
I'm eager to start. You know, I'm on the storyteller
through and through. But my last question for you is,
if you had one word to describe the future of storytelling,
what would it be. It's I'm real brainbusters. I'm really
(34:24):
getting you. You know.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I think I would have to say evolving. And I
have to elaborate on it a bit because I can't
just say one word. That's just not part of my DNA.
But I think that the trajectory that we are on
there is so much opportunity and I just I can't
(34:48):
wait to see what we do with it collectively, not
only at Roku, but as an industry at large. There
are all of these tools that we are now being
given and this access that we haven't had before, and
I just think it's only going to be getting bigger
and better. And I really hope that stories like yours
(35:13):
inspire others to continue telling stories like yours. Right, there
are so many people out there who have such interesting backgrounds,
and I think that there's a true appetite from consumers
to understand people who don't look like them to hear
(35:33):
about these stories. And I just can't wait to see
where we go next.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
It's so beautiful. Well, Nicole, I'm sorry that I could
talk to you all day, but that's all we have
time for today, and I'm so thankful you got to
come to come on and talk about this great experience
that we've all had. And it's just the beginning. We're
(36:00):
we haven't even really gotten any numbers back, but I'm
getting the messages in real time, and it's really cool
to see like middle of America dads, straight white guys
being like wow, this really like bumped up against something
in me. And I wouldn't really watch things like this,
but I did, and damn am I happy to I
can't wait to show my kids. And I've just been
(36:23):
There's been so many beautiful messages and it has nothing
to do with talccer And that's when I know we
nailed it. And I'm proud of that because it shouldn't
just have been. Life is not about the trophies and
the stats and how many caps did you have. No
one's gonna remember that. It doesn't matter. It sure as
(36:43):
hell doesn't matter to me. The legacy I always want
to live by is did I make things better? Did
I share my scars? Did someone did I maybe save
someone's life in the small amount of time that I
got on that camera, Like I I hope it made
someone feel seen. And I think that's the importance of
(37:06):
what we did. And even today's conversation, you know, it
reminded me that storytelling isn't just about entertainment. It's about connection,
and the stories we tell shape what people believe is possible.
They help us feel seen, they help us understand each other,
and when those stories are accessible like Roku, they have
(37:26):
the power to reach people who might need them the most.
So a huge thank you to you, Nicole for giving
us a look behind the curtains, for helping bring stories
into the world that matter, into everyone listening. If you've
ever felt like your story wasn't important enough to tell.
I hope this episode reminds you that sometimes the stories
(37:47):
that change us the most are the ones that make
us feel less alone. I'm Ashlin Harris. This is wide open.
Thank you so much Nicole for being here, and we'll
see you all next week on another episode not
Speaker 2 (38:03):
F
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Wide Open.
I'm your host Ashlyn Harris, and today's guest is someone
most people have never seen on camera, but she's helping
shape the stories millions of people are watching. Nicole Wilcox
is Director of Content, Publicity and Talent Relations at Roku,
(00:30):
where she works behind the scenes connecting talent, filmmakers and audiences.
She understands what it takes to bring a project into
the world, build excitement around it, and make sure important
stories are actually reaching people. Today, we're talking about the
art of documentary's storytelling, what happens behind the curtain once
(00:51):
filming wraps, why accessibility in media matters more than ever
right now. And we'll also dive into my own documentary,
Game Changers, the Ashlyn Harris story, and what it felt
like to have my life become the story. Let's get
into it. This is Wide Open. Welcome Nicole, how are you?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Thank you so much, Ashlyn. I appreciate you having me.
I'm excited to be here. Yeah, I don't do this often.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
You don't, which I love. We're gonna like peel back
the curtains a little bit and invite people in because
so much work, you know, as now I've become a
producer and I'm working behind the scenes in scripted and unscripted,
you really realize how much it takes to make a
project and how long it takes. And I think that's
(01:37):
what most people don't get. People know the actors, they
know the athletes, they know the filmmakers, but they rarely
know the people helping bring these stories to the audience,
to the people. So I'm curious, just to start out,
what exactly I mean. Your title is a mouthful, but
it seems very important, and clearly it is because I
get to have meetings with you often as I continue
(01:59):
to work with Roku, which I love. What exactly does
a director of content, Publicity and Talent relations do? So
my job is twofold.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I am working, you know, as part of this larger
Roku organization. But the reason that I really love what
I get to do is because I have the privilege
of working with people like you, and it is no
day is the same. We get to work with so
many diverse storytellers, and that's why I love exactly the
position that I've landed in, because I get to tell
(02:32):
all of these different stories and that's what we're here
to do. There's a lot of work to be done,
but it's that storytelling and I, you know, your story
is so incredible. While I had seen an earlier cut
of it a couple of months ago, I actually in
preparation for this, watched it again last night on Platform
and I was so excited to go to my Roku
home screen and for it to be the first thing
(02:54):
my remote could click on. I didn't even have to
navigate away.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I gotcha.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I know there are so many of its people out
there looking for something new to watch, and they might
not know about you, and they're just discovering your story
for the first time. And what I love about it
is that while your experiences are so unique and specific
to you, I think that thematically everyone can empathize and
(03:20):
to some degree recall their own personal triumphs and hardships,
and in that way, it's actually quite universal on a
personal level. I watch the footage of you on the
field and I think that must be exactly what I
look like when I play in my amateur pickleball tournaments
on the weekend. So Ashton and I are basically the
(03:40):
same athlete, but I get to work with people like you.
That's the best part of it. And I've kind of
navigated my way into this position where I have the
privilege of doing just that and I get to work
on things that I'm really passionate about.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So great and it's just thank you, and I'm receiving
all this beautiful comments and I appreciate it because it
does take a lot to be this vulnerable, to share
your scars, to open up your life for other people
hopefully to resonate, to feel seen. But also there's criticism
that comes with it. Right, Like we're living in a
(04:16):
really really unique time where a women are not as
safe as they used to be, especially queer women. So
for me, I need to at the top of the show,
most importantly, just say how grateful I am that Roku
decided to share such a hard, heavy, impactful story because
(04:38):
when I was a kid, I didn't see people like me.
I didn't people are not on TV who moved like me,
who looked like me, who talked like me, who took
up space like me. And I was always told to
be quiet and be less like that, be let you know,
like just shrink yourself so you can fit in. And
(04:59):
I knew from childhood, I did not fit in and
I felt different, and I spent a lot of time
searching for who I was, what my identity would look like.
And I think being able to have this type of
visibility and to have young kids be able to watch this,
older people be able to watch this and have that
(05:22):
type of vulnerability, to share my scars through the lens
of a woman and a queer woman, is very, very
impactful with the landscape of you know what we're going
through right now. What have you noticed throughout your time
that you're like, oh, people are really going to fuck
with this, Like, what are the key ingredients?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I think, like you said, you haven't always seen stories
about people like you, and that is so important and
I think now more than ever, people are embracing that
and they want to see more diversity on screen. They
want to learn about people who they've not interacted with
(06:03):
a person like them before. Personally, I love learning about
subcultures too. I find that so like I cannot wait
until the next season of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Dot
comes out this week, you know, I just love learning
about new different kinds of people and a lot of
what we do at Roku and with Roku Originals is
(06:26):
seeking out those stories that haven't been told yet. I
can think of several examples right off the bat, some
of my favorite shows I've had the privilege of working
on here because it's people who I have not seen
on screen before. And that's a really exciting thing. And
like we've already said, it's very important. I love that
(06:48):
my kids will be able to grow up watching all
of these different kind of people on screen, when that's
not something that I saw growing up. Yeah, and I
you know, I spent so much time trying to conform
and not have my own personal brand because I wanted
to look like everyone else around me, and that's what
I deemed cool. And now I think the opposite. You
(07:12):
have to develop your own personal brand and be exactly
who you are. And I will always encourage that with
the people around me, and most importantly with my children.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I love that, and it is I think for so
long we were on this weird pursuit of perfection. At least,
like I felt that in my household, we had to
act a certain way. When we walked out of that door,
we had to be buttoned, like, you know, And I
(07:41):
still to this day, I'm trying to unlearn it. As
a retired professional athlete, I was on this hunt of
perfection and I think it made me great, but it
also it also took something from me right And I
love that I have the ability to show that my
(08:02):
childhood maybe wasn't that perfect, and you know, there was
a lot of trauma and there was a lot of grief,
but I owned it. I think there's an emotional truth.
I think that's the through line here that like these
young kids get to see that it's okay that things
happen in life and we have to wake up and
(08:25):
no matter how hard it gets, we have to choose ourself.
We have to choose our community, we have to choose safety,
and like it's a part of life. Life is hard,
and the more we open those doors instead of hiding
those parts of who we are, the easier it will
be out in the real world for this younger generation.
(08:48):
Like I knew what it meant to suffer in a
different way as a child, but it made me who
I am today. There are lessons it taught me that
made me a little like bullish and unshakeable and new
Tomorrow is a new day and it gets better and
all these lessons of hardship in life taught me real
(09:11):
character and emotional depth, and I love that I get
to share that with the world. But I also think
what people need to understand is so much goes in
to making this doc. There is something hard about being
that vulnerable for the world to see, and you handled
it so beautifully. But I want you to talk to
me about the cycle of how this works with Roku,
(09:35):
because I want people to have an insight that all
of a sudden, you don't just show up and you're like,
we're gonna make this sure.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well, and first, let me just express gratitude to you
for being willing to be so vulnerable on screen. I
think there are only a handful of people who are
actually okay doing that, and again, it's so important, So
thank you for agreeing to be the subject of this.
(10:03):
When a project comes to me, it's close to being done.
So while it is my full time job to talk
about it, there are so many people, like you said,
who have had hands on this before it ever crosses
my desk. And you know, sometimes Roku is involved in
the production in this case, of course, we were. Sometimes
we acquire it after the fact, but they're cross functionally.
(10:27):
Like you said, are so many people who have passion
for this, who have invested their time and effort into
this and taken care to tell the story in the
right way. And that is something that's hugely important to
Roku is that when we are working with talent, they
finish a project as happy or happier than when they began,
(10:51):
because it's important to us that you do feel truly
part of a family and supported every step of the way.
So it is paramount to us that all of our
production partners, all of our on camera talent, and everyone
in between feel as though they have been accepted into
this family and in production, like I said, I didn't
(11:17):
have the privilege of being there, but there is so
much work that goes into that, so much blood, sweat
and tears, And then when it gets to me, my
job is to make sure that people have the opportunity
to see you do that. And with Roku, we are
really unique in the sense that what we can do
(11:39):
with our platform is truly limitless. We're always introducing new
features making the streaming experience easier and better for our customers,
so that like me last night, all they have to
do is go in and click their remote and they
get to watch you on screen. And like you said,
there is so much that went into making that possible.
(12:00):
Is just the very end of the road. And I think,
you know, for us in the future, that's what we
want for Roku. We want to make it the most
personalized destination out there in the streaming world and continue
to expand and build on these partnerships that we forged
in new partnerships that may come as a result of
people seeing you on screen and being inspired by that.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I love that. I love that, Nicole. And for me,
you know, I think this is the part people don't
quite understand and something I've set out throughout my whole career.
I'm so much bigger than what I do. Soccer was
just what I did. I have a whole ass life
outside of it. You and I both do. We hold
(12:43):
the most beautiful title in the world, which is mom.
And and for me, like this story was not about
a soccer story and a highlight reel, the story was
about identity. It was about motherhood. It was about loss
and reinvention and it's never too late and choosing yourself
and finding yourself over and over and over again, and
(13:07):
as a woman as a mother, you know someone who
is high up at their job, who you know a
high performing person at their job. When you watch this
final cut last night, like what moment? Like what moments
really hit you emotionally?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
There's just so much Seeing what you went through with
your parents really hit me, and you know it. It
all makes me reflect on how I want to be
with my children, how I want to support them and
whoever they may turn out to be. I want to
(13:48):
make my home a nest where my children always feel safe.
Coming back to whether they go on to be athletes
who compete in the World Cup, whether they go on
to be engineers, whether they ultimately are in public relations
at a streaming company, I don't care what they do
(14:10):
as long as they feel safe and supported in doing that. So, yeah,
really getting to watch that relationship with your parents and
everything that you went through there and how I can
learn from that and try to add tools to my
ever growing toolbox on how to mother.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Stay tuned. I'll be back in just a moment after
this brief message from our sponsors Game Changers, is it's
not just about the Ashlan Harris story. Clearly we have
now announced that is it July fourth, there's another the
top twenty five second, July second. That's it July second,
(14:57):
and then what we're going to see in this game
changers saga type. It's not just one story, it's multiple
stories that are impacting sports in general. But what I
want to know is why do stories about athletes often
resonate far beyond sports?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Like?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
What are you seeing? Why are you guys choosing this?
I know because I sat down and did a pitch
call with you guys from the beginning, and they were like, actually,
we want to talk about you, which was awesome, and
I was like, let's do it. But tell me about
why you think athletes often like resonate so much far
(15:36):
beyond especially women. I'm gonna say, because we are more
forthcoming to say the least. Why is that? Why does
it go so far beyond sport?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
That's a great question. I haven't considered that, but maybe
it's because, and you would know better than anyone, being
an athlete is an incredibly hard thing to do. It's
something that we all, oh, well, I shouldn't say all,
but most of us start out doing. You know, my
kids will all be enrolled in little leagues starting at
(16:06):
age three. I can tell you from experience, that is
not the path that my six year old is ultimately
going to go down. She's like, why'd you sign me
up for this again? But it's about learning to be
part of a team, learning that it's not just about you,
and that there is something bigger than just yourself. And
(16:28):
I think for those who end up pursuing sports as
a career, that takes a very specific, strong kind of person,
And you have so much to tell us, Like you said,
beyond just being a soccer star. That's not the only
part of you that you want to talk about. There
is so much more, and we get to peel back
(16:50):
those layers. So at face value, people may only know
that about you, but then when you get to sit
down and really learn about you for fifty minutes, it's like, Wow,
I had no idea that she had to face this
much adversity to be where she is today, and it
has shaped you into being such an incredibly passionate and
(17:14):
influential person. And I think that that can be said
about a lot of athletes. They've all faced a lot
and had these challenges and come out on the other
side stronger and better for it.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah, and I think you nail it there. And especially
when we first sat down with Roku and I was
lucky enough to really sit down with some powerful people
in the space to actually move this into a reality,
I said, we have to show people in all of
their complexity, like it cannot just be a highlight reel.
(17:47):
I think far too often, and in motherhood I say
this as a mom we sugarcoat, We sugarcoat it all.
It is hard, and let's just put it out there
and say it's hard. It is hard becoming a professional athlete.
It is a type of selfishness. It is a type
of isolation. It's a type of life that you don't
(18:14):
get to see what it took, and it takes something
from you. And unless we were gonna show that what
it cost to give everything to success and winning, it
takes something from you and it's not just a highlight reel.
And that was important to me and I love that
(18:36):
Roku is now taking that expanding that into other stories
because I genuinely think what separates men and women athletes
is women are willing to share it emotionally, share it,
like we don't sit, we don't pretend like we've got
the women We've got the car, we got the jewel,
(18:57):
We've got the big mansion. Like nothing about our story
was easy. We had to fucking fight and claw for
every single moment we get, and then we have to
leave it better than we found it. Like you know,
the two thousand and nineteen team, we were fighting for
(19:17):
pay equity. We were at a World Cup suing our
federation who paid our bills. I mean, it's this is women,
this is what we do. I wanted to be a
present mom because I knew what it was like when
you see my story of what the what I did
when I didn't have someone watching and supporting me. I
(19:39):
turned to the streets. I turned the things I'm not
proud of. I turned to things that I needed. It
helped me survive and cope. And you know, the whole
point here is like, let's not share the highlight reel.
Let's not say motherhood is easy. Let's also not sugarcoat
that you can have a career and be a mom,
because something is going to lack if tonight, if I
(20:02):
want to go put down my kids and I want
to read them a bedtime store, I want to cook dinner,
I can't go to the event that pays me the
kickoff World Cup game. I can't do certain things that
puts food on the table and a roof over their head,
something is always given to If I go home, that
means I lose a big paycheck. And it's this constant
(20:24):
grapple of wanting to do both, but I can't necessarily
be exceptional at both. That was kind of long in
a tangent, but I had to express that. And I
don't know if you feel the same way as a
working mom, but it's fucking hard. We don't say it enough.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
We don't. And what has certainly changed me in the
most fundamental of ways is motherhood. It's given me this
deep sense of purpose and identity. And it's not to
say at all that I think being a mom is
my only purpose. Rather it cleared out the cobwebs in
(20:59):
my brain, if you will, and I now have very
clear priorities and a sense of self that I just
didn't have before. And I know you just said it.
It has a way of increasing our capacity. I think
everyone talks about that impossible juggling act, and that.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Is so true.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And there are so many days where I really feel
as though I cannot do both jobs well at the
same time. I have to choose to excel at one
or the other, but not both in tandem. But at
the same time, I've also learned the first time I
heard this, it really resonated me, and it's always stuck
with me. But they're all of these balls that we
are juggling. Some of them are made of glass. They
(21:41):
need to be treated with the utmost importance and care
and attention. And then there are others that are going
to be okay even if we do drop them to
the ground, because we can pick them up later. And
so that philosophy I really try to carry with me,
and it's one that has actually made me a lot
better and more effective and more efficient at work. Something
that the old me would have fixated on mentally for
(22:04):
days or weeks or sometimes even months. I can think
of something pre children that kept me up at night
for years, but now it just rolls off a little
bit easier. So I think we've all been made better
by being mothers.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
It's so true. Yeah, and it yes, and I guess
is what we're trying to say. Two things can be
true at once. But getting back to Roku, I have
to say Nicole what is so important what Sophia and
I talk about so much in our house, and you know,
so came from what I would consider privileged, what she
(22:42):
considers middle class, you know, but I it's great because
she's opened my eyes into her world because we have
so many conversations about access and barriers and all these things,
like because we value a legacy of change, making the
(23:04):
world a better place, making it easier on families, because
she has to hear my experience and now it's close
to her. And what we have really doubled down on
is working with companies, media platforms, you know, big hubs, corporation,
whatever it is. We have to be able to be
(23:28):
in tandem to remove barriers. And what I love so
much about Roku and why I will continue to work
with Roku as much as you guys will have me,
is you have a commitment to free and accessible content.
It fucking matters. Like I have so many paywalls at
this point, it's draining my bank account. I'm like, Okay,
(23:51):
my kids need this, and okay, but I watch sports
and I need this. But then my partner has to
have access to all this, and I'm like, who can
afford all this? Crap like, there's no point of being vulnerable.
There's no point of pushing visibility if people can't access it,
(24:12):
only what certain privileged people can see it. Why is
it so important that Roku has made a platform that
is accessible and free? Please, I want you to talk
to me about that.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
It's just it's just that Ashland, It's that we want
to remove all barriers to entry. Just because someone doesn't
have a subscription to a streaming service doesn't mean that
they wouldn't benefit from watching you on screen. If anything,
I think it's quite the opposite. So this is where
I have to do my publicity. Plug the Roku channel
(24:47):
free to watch. You don't even have to sign up.
Anyone can watch this. You can watch it if you
have a Roku device. If you don't have a Roku device,
you can go online www dot the rokuch. You can
watch it on your phone, iOS or Android. You can
watch it on Amazon Fire TV, you can watch it
on Samsung TV. We really try to be in everybody's
(25:10):
living room because we want to tell those stories. And
that's why our advertising partners are so important to us,
because they allow us to do just that. We want
to bring content to the masses. We recently crossed the
one hundred million streaming households threshold, so that's how many
people we have the ability to reach every single day.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It's really you know, it boils down to this nicole.
Visibility is powerful, but visibility without access only goes so far.
You know, it doesn't make any sense. So how do
you think accessibility shapes the future of storytelling?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Just back to that, if anyone can access it, it's
only going to be better. There is no benefit in
limiting who to see these stories. I think, you know,
real change comes from people discovering stories like yours, feeling
inspired by them, maybe being in a situation where they
(26:14):
feel like they cannot amount to something like that, but
then they see everything that you have gone through and
they think, maybe maybe there is hope for me. Maybe
it's someone who is not comfortable with their gender identity
yet or their sexuality and they don't feel accepted by
their family. I don't know. There's so many different possibilities there.
(26:38):
But if you can get into someone's living room and
inspire one person to be more comfortable with who they
are at their core, than I think all of the
work that we put into this is worth it. At
the end of the day, that would be a success
story for me, much more so than the number of
people who ultimately watch this. If you have a true
(26:59):
effect on one person, then we've done our job.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Stay tuned. I'll be back in just a moment after
this brief message from our sponsors, And now we know
more than ever that algorithm, you know, when it comes
to social platforms, plays a big part in who it reaches,
which hurts it hurts us. I think what responsibility do
(27:26):
platforms have when deciding which stories get amplified? Like, as
you just said, when you turn on that Roku channel,
I am the first thing that pops up. But there
are other stuff going on, you know, just like you said,
the cheerleaders another one. I just had Stephen Colletti on
my podcast, Such a hunk. I freaking love him. Oh
(27:50):
my god, I'm obsessed with him. So, Like, there's so
much that's going on with Roku right now. So I like,
how do you guys, like, what is the responsibility of
deciding which stories get amplified on that main page.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It's a combination of passion projects. We're a lean team here,
so if there is something that feels very important to
one person. They not always, but there have been times
where that singular voice has been able to influence choices
that ultimately led to the green light of a show.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
So we.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Are very supportive of telling stories here that are important
to subsets of people that can be, like I said earlier,
applied universally. So if someone deems it important, it's going
to be seriously considered. We have shows that appeal to
the masses. One of my favorite things I've had the
(28:52):
privilege of working on here at Roku is The Great
American Baking Show. A ton of people are very familiar
with The Great British Bake Off. We have taken it
and spun it into an American version, and it is
so fun to see the reception of people watching that
because it feels good it you know it. It's something
(29:14):
that I've had friends say they watched when they had
newborns and they were up every night. That's it felt
good and it was easy, and it was something they
didn't need to think about. So they would tune in
and watch The Great American Baking Show episode after episode
because it made them feel really happy. And you just
talked about Stephen Coletti we had the reunion Loogan the Beach,
(29:35):
and as an I guess elder millennial, I am the
exact demographic who was watching that show twenty years ago.
They were too. I thought they were just the epitome
of cool. And so if you had told high school
me that one day I would have the privilege of
(29:56):
working on a show with that same cast years later,
I literally would not have believed you. That was so
fun and it, you know, it opened me up to
getting to know Kristin Cavaleri, who I may I was
a Team Else girl in high school. I'm being completely honest,
(30:17):
and Lauren is fantastic and I really enjoyed working with her,
and I also got to know Kristin and I absolutely
love her. So I'm so happy that we get to
have all of these different people on screen and appeal
to so many different interests with what we do.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, they are great. They are great people, and I'm
really happy that it seems like it's doing really well too.
And it's good to see them come back as adults.
I think it's really cool to see the journeys that
life has taken each and every one of them. I
thought that was a really great idea and it's fun
(30:57):
because these people raised us. So hopefully do we do one?
Tree Hill want too? Just kidding back to Game Changers,
back to me, Okay, no, I'm kidding. Uh Well, I
do have a few questions before we we end this
this episode, because I think Game Changers is so freaking
(31:19):
cool and the notion of telling different stories is so important.
Like what do you what's your dream storyline for the
next Game Changers? Like what what would you want to
see that would be like mm hmm, like we need
to tell this kind of story.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Hmm you mean for the Game Changers anthology?
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yep, Like I'll give you mine. I'll answer the question
that I asked. I know that when I went to
the Olympics in Paris, I got to hear a few
of the national team players who played for Afghanistan and
who were all displaced, who had to flee and like
(32:05):
middle of the night like stories of getting busted out
to get to this person they put them in a
bunker to go fly to this country. I want to
know where they are. I want to know they're okay.
I want to know what they had to go through
to play the game they loved. I want to know
what it's like to be born into that type of
(32:28):
experience you didn't get to choose, and what it takes
to get out. I have not stopped thinking about those
girls since all of this, and I want to know
they're okay. I want to know where they are and
how they're surviving. And if you know, like what told
did that experience take on them? They're going to see
(32:48):
the game differently than even me. They're going to see
the world differently than any of us, and it's just
because they were born in a place they didn't get
to choose that would be mine well.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
And I think the beauty of it is as a producer,
seeing the passion that you have for a story like
that means that maybe, hopefully one day we can tell
it right exactly. And that's that's a huge part of
being part of the Roku family is that, like I
alluded to earlier, the opportunities here are limitless. We can
(33:22):
do so much with our platform that maybe that is
the next installment of the Game Changer's Anthology, produced by
Ashland Harris.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I know, I know I've got my now that I'm
producing documentaries, I have my own units studios like Little
card that pops up, I'm like, really official, I'm like
in this, I'm actually really enjoying it, and you know,
hopefully not like a little sneak peek, hopefully in the
fall we maybe just maybe moved scripted with Roku. I
(33:54):
don't know, I'm not maybe I'm not saying anything, but
I'm saying something. Keep our fingers crossed.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
No spoilers here, I work no PR.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah, sorry, PR playing it very cool, but I am
I'm eager to start. You know, I'm on the storyteller
through and through. But my last question for you is,
if you had one word to describe the future of storytelling,
what would it be. It's I'm real brainbusters. I'm really
(34:24):
getting you. You know.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I think I would have to say evolving. And I
have to elaborate on it a bit because I can't
just say one word. That's just not part of my DNA.
But I think that the trajectory that we are on
there is so much opportunity and I just I can't
(34:48):
wait to see what we do with it collectively, not
only at Roku, but as an industry at large. There
are all of these tools that we are now being
given and this access that we haven't had before, and
I just think it's only going to be getting bigger
and better. And I really hope that stories like yours
(35:13):
inspire others to continue telling stories like yours. Right, there
are so many people out there who have such interesting backgrounds,
and I think that there's a true appetite from consumers
to understand people who don't look like them to hear
(35:33):
about these stories. And I just can't wait to see
where we go next.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
It's so beautiful. Well, Nicole, I'm sorry that I could
talk to you all day, but that's all we have
time for today, and I'm so thankful you got to
come to come on and talk about this great experience
that we've all had. And it's just the beginning. We're
(36:00):
we haven't even really gotten any numbers back, but I'm
getting the messages in real time, and it's really cool
to see like middle of America dads, straight white guys
being like wow, this really like bumped up against something
in me. And I wouldn't really watch things like this,
but I did, and damn am I happy to I
can't wait to show my kids. And I've just been
(36:23):
There's been so many beautiful messages and it has nothing
to do with talccer And that's when I know we
nailed it. And I'm proud of that because it shouldn't
just have been. Life is not about the trophies and
the stats and how many caps did you have. No
one's gonna remember that. It doesn't matter. It sure as
(36:43):
hell doesn't matter to me. The legacy I always want
to live by is did I make things better? Did
I share my scars? Did someone did I maybe save
someone's life in the small amount of time that I
got on that camera, Like I I hope it made
someone feel seen. And I think that's the importance of
(37:06):
what we did. And even today's conversation, you know, it
reminded me that storytelling isn't just about entertainment. It's about connection,
and the stories we tell shape what people believe is possible.
They help us feel seen, they help us understand each other,
and when those stories are accessible like Roku, they have
(37:26):
the power to reach people who might need them the most.
So a huge thank you to you, Nicole for giving
us a look behind the curtains, for helping bring stories
into the world that matter, into everyone listening. If you've
ever felt like your story wasn't important enough to tell.
I hope this episode reminds you that sometimes the stories
(37:47):
that change us the most are the ones that make
us feel less alone. I'm Ashlin Harris. This is wide open.
Thank you so much Nicole for being here, and we'll
see you all next week on another episode not
Speaker 2 (38:03):
F
Host
Ashlyn Harris
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