New York, Sep 6

Bollywood's star actor Priyanka Chopra will be among the keynote speakers at the 4th annual South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment Summit Sep 27-28 at Time Warner global headquarters and conference centre here.

Other keynote speakers will include Dr. Mehmood Khan, EVP and Chief Innovations and Science Officer at PepsiCo and Keli Lee, EVP and Head of Casting at ABC Entertainment, according to a media release.

"As creative artists and industry leaders, it is important to help open the world's eyes to the great contributions Indians make to these industries and help pave the way for fellow South Asians," said Chopra.

The two-day networking conference for South Asian leaders and innovators in digital media, television, film, advertising, marketing and entertainment, is co-presented by SAMMA (the South Asians in Media, Marketing & Entertainment Association) and long time presenting sponsor Time Warner Inc.

The SAMMA Summit has grown over its four years and now attracts more than 250 South Asian professionals, innovators and rising stars as well as some of the world's top thinkers in US and global media, entertainment and marketing.

Crafted for South Asian professionals across the media, marketing and entertainment industries, the SAMMA Summit 2013 will be attended by leaders from talent agencies, South Asian actors reinventing US television, digital innovators and leading South Asian channels in the US, the release said.

"From television, music and digital startups to mainstream media and South Asian-inspired content, South Asians are more visible and influential now than ever before and the SAMMA summit celebrates that achievement," said Rajan Shah, board member and a co-founder of SAMMA.

"By harnessing the collective creativity of South Asian innovators, we can reach even higher levels of achievement and bring a powerful and unique voice to an increasingly globalised marketplace."

As part of its mission, SAMMA is also partnering with major US TV networks to create new opportunities for South Asian actors, the release said.

The first such initiative will be the first-ever ABC Actor Audition workshop, exclusively for South Asians, hosted by ABC Casting.

"By partnering with companies with a strong belief in culturally-relevant programming, we hope to open more doors for South Asian actors as well as serve as a great voice for the power of diversity," said summit co-chair Radha Mehta.

By:IANS