Before partnering with April Shih at DIVERSITY HIRE, Jen Goyne Blake was the Founding Director of the Episodic Lab at the Sundance Institute. For nearly 7 years, she headed the program dedicated to nurturing television writers from underrepresented communities. Blake shepherded over 200 writers and produced over 20 Labs during her tenure. Ninety percent of the program's alumni have been staffed on shows and dozens of lab projects have been developed at networks and streaming platforms. The program has become a go-to destination for showrunners and executives staffing new shows. In 2017, out of thousands of submissions, Blake selected Shih's project, Tilting, for the program and the two have been close since then. Prior to Sundance, Blake worked at Relativity Media.