Tiffany Persons, Miranda Kwok, Andrés Useche, And Marguerite Sauvage Talk Strength Of Diversity At WonderCon 2025

Diversity in media was the topic of the WonderCon 2025 roundtable interviews with Tiffany Persons (Blink Twice), Marguerite Sauvage (DC, Adventure Time), Miranda Kwok (The Cleaning Lady), and organizer Andrés Useche (All on the Line). Each person had a unique vision of how diversity applied to their work.

To Persons, diversity is essential. In particular, she talked about the hiring and casting process from the producer perspective on the 2024 film, Blink Twice. While the movie itself is political (star Naomi Ackie described it to The Hollywood Reporter as “social satire plus class warfare plus gender politics”), Persons discussed the behind-the-scenes aspects contributing to its diversity.

Persons pointed to Zoë Kravitz’s intention, in her feature directorial debut, to set an inclusive tone. An aspect Persons felt most proud of was how actress Naomi Ackie received top billing over movie star co-star Channing Tatum. Persons noted, “Channing was aligned in making that happen.” She spoke warmly of the “harmonious” nature of the project.

Samantha Breslauer of mxdwn interviewing Andres Useche

Notably, Persons was the first to ever cast American television commercials with same-sex marriages, interracial couples, and single parent households. She shared an emotional story about a casting experience when working with Honey Maid. After making the commercial, the company received “hundreds of hundreds of hundreds” of hate-mail. In response, Honey Maid printed out every single email and made a piece of artwork .

“That was the most beautiful thing that they could’ve done… This is how I want to spend my working hours,” she reflected.

Next, the showrunner Kwok spoke of her experience with diversity. Representation is baked into her show, The Cleaning Lady, as it is the first female-led TV show with Filipino representation. It follows a Cambodian-Filipino doctor who works as a cleaning lady after her visa expires in the U.S.

Kwok spoke with excitement as she shared how she receives a wealth of feedback from people who hadn’t seen Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines, on TV before.  Describing it as an amazing experience, people have told her they “finally feel seen.” One of the characters, Fiona, is based upon a friend of Kwok’s. It was important to her that she include a range of diverse characters.  

Following Kwok, Sauvage talked about her work, including on Faith Herbert, one of the first plus-size superheroines. The DC illustrator talked about focusing on the unique aspects of diverse figures: “You have to nail the face expression and the body expression… The viewpoint on women’s body is different.”

When asked about whether her identity feels political in the comic world, she responded, “Oh, I am a woman too.” But to her, the industry is super liberal: “It’s a family who is trying to move things in a good way.” She offered advice to anyone trying to make it in the comic world: “Do it, don’t think.” Even though she know it’s very simple, it’s better to meet the deadline and be reliable.

To Useche, the organizer of the diversity discussions and a vocal political activist, diversity is about “basic decency.” The Colombian-American film director, screenwriter, composer, and producer focuses his activism on human rights, the plight of immigrants and refugees, climate action, equity, and pro-democracy efforts. Projects like his 2008 short, Si Se Puede Cambiar, have been used in various Democratic presidential campaigns to advance the voice of the underheard.

Useche talked of the close relationship with his mother that inspired him to take a “strong stance against sexism.” He attributed the absence of male voices in the fight against misogyny to “normalized implicit cowardice.” Despite all the negativity in the world, he still has hope as there is “so much to learn from everybody.”