Every year once the patio furniture is packed away, pumpkin spice flavors return, football is back on TV and another fall tradition comes back for in-the-know New Albany residents: The New Albany Lecture Series.
From business pioneers and celebrities to our nation’s top decision-makers, the series engages recognizable intellectuals in groundbreaking conversations. This season’s list of guests and carefully selected moderators keeps pace with past years’ impressive casts, which have included health gurus, best-selling authors, actors and a former U.S. Secretary of Defense.
October 10, Mental Health: Actor, Director and Producer America Ferrera, interviewed by NPR’s Mandalit del Barco
January 23, Artificial Intelligence: Co-Founder, CTO and VP Design of Siri, Tom Gruber, and former Head of Go-To-Market for OpenAi, Zack Kass, moderated by Business & Technology Journalist and Venture Capitalist Molly Wood
February 13, Civil Discourse and Debate: Former Senator Claire McCaskill, former Senator Ben Sasse, moderated by ABC’s Linsey Davis
March 4, National Security: Former Domestic Policy Advisor, U.S. National Security Advisor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, 16th Supreme Allied Commander, NATO, Bestselling Author and NBC News Analyst Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.), moderated by New York Times White House and National Security Correspondent and Bestselling Author David Sanger.
Behind Betty: America Ferrera
America Ferrera has never been afraid of tackling big topics throughout her career. From the convention-breaking cult hit Ugly Betty to her famous, frustrated monologue at the end of the 2023 Barbie film, she has established herself as a prominent voice in American pop culture.
Ferrera played the titular star in four seasons of Ugly Betty between 2006 and 2010. The show is a fish-out-of-water comedy about an ambitious, yet unstylish young woman who works her way into a gig with a high-end fashion magazine.
After making a name for herself in Real Women Have Curves in 2002 and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in 2005, Ugly Betty allowed Ferrera to break out as a leading woman. Once a theater and international relations double-major at USC, Ferrera has always used her platform to discuss social issues and be politically active, which earned her a spot on Time’s 100 Most Influential People list in 2007.
She has consistently advocated for Latino voters’ rights in recent presidential elections and she has spoken out about sexual harassment and advocated for women’s rights, and she was first to speak at the 2017 Women’s March on Washington.
In 2023, Ferrera’s show-stopping monologue in Barbie struck a chord with audiences, and became a defining moment in her career. In 2024, she was named the Global Goodwill Ambassador of the International Organization for Migration, a fitting role given her family immigrated to the United States from Honduras in the 1970s. Her parents were divorced when she was 7 years old, and her father returned to Central America. They did not see him again before his death in 2010.
Mental health advocacy
Ferrera doesn’t shy away from her past when she can make an impact, which has led her to be an advocate for children’s mental health support.
In May 2023, Ferrera spoke to the Child Mind Institute about the social isolation she faced in college when she first left her family to pursue her education. She shared personal stories for the “You Got This” campaign, sharing how opening up about her issues and facing her sadness head-on helped her out of a dark place away from home.
She has addressed the impact social media has on mental health in recent interviews, and shared her thoughts on presence-of-mind and meditation as effective ways to regain control of one’s mental space during difficult times.
A fitting moderator
Karwai Tang WireImage
America Ferrera
America Ferrera
Mandalit del Barco, the moderator for Ferrera’s New Albany appearance, is the perfect fit for this installment of The Lecture Series.
She has worked at NPR for more than 30 years, and currently covers arts and culture.
Born in Lima, Peru, del Barco has covered a wide range of topics throughout her career, including street gangs in the U.S., El Salvador and Honduras, and disaster relief in Haiti. She mentors young journalists through NPR’s “Next Generation” program and works with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists to keep truth and a variety of perspectives in the media.
Ferrera and del Barco’s lecture will be sponsored by Sara and Rick Mershad who previously sponsored Deepak Chopra during his appearance during the 2022 lecture series.
Tyler Kirkendall is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
