Not Just for Laughs: How Comedy Sparks Change

Speakers

• Omri Marcus

  Speaker

  Head of Screenz Originals, Screenz

  Omri Marcus's job is to make things interesting. No, really. For well over a decade, he has been developing, managing, and editing content in digital, mobile, OTT, and traditional TV. Marcus is a creative director who works with media and tech companies. He writes regularly for a variety of international publications on trends in content and technology. Starting as a comedy writer on Israel’s most popular TV programs, Marcus received an Entertainment Master Class scholarship to study the international content industry, following which he embarked on an exclusive, multi-year development contract with Red Arrow Entertainment. In 2014 Marcus founded Comedy for Change, an international initiative that connects prominent writers and content people from all over the world. Comedy for Change has done events in Jerusalem, London, New York, Austin, and more. Every year the initiative honors comedy that generated social change with its Finger Award - chosen by the global comedy writers community.

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• Fenella Kernebone

  Moderator

  Head of Curation, TEDxSydney, TEDx

  Fenella Kernebone is Head of Curation for TEDxSydney, where she programs one of the most acclaimed TEDx series' in the world. She hosts a podcast about storytelling called Lumina with film school AFTRS and will be hosting a new podcast through the Art Gallery of NSW for the Brett Whitely Studio, set for release in 2021. With a long career as a presenter and producer in television and radio – ABC TV’s Sunday Arts and Art Nation, Triple J’s The Sound Lab, Radio National’s By Design and SBS TV's The Movie Show – Fenella is also a sought-after MC, moderator and keynote speaker. Through her company, Frankly Group, she drives a range of projects from curating events, storytelling and presentation training, video and podcast production, and other creative initiatives. Fenella is also an elected volunteer Board Director with the National Trust (NSW)

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• Erika Soto Lamb

  Speaker

  Vice President, Social Impact Strategy, Comedy Central

  Erika Soto Lamb drives change on the toughest cultural and political issues via powerful and persuasive campaigns. Erika is the founding head of social impact strategy at Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land. She was previously the founding chief communications officer at Everytown for Gun Safety, where, in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, she helped build the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country that includes Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Michael Bloomberg-founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Erika was previously a vice president at Ketchum, a global PR firm where she provided reputation management counsel to a major foreign government and other international clients. Earlier in her career, Erika focused on media relations and message development for political candidate and issue campaigns, as well as for public and private sector clients. Erika’s (pro-bono) side hustle is helping elect more women and people of color because she believes representation matters. Erika also sits on the board of the Violence Intervention Program, Inc., a direct service and advocacy organization working to end intimate partner violence and empower women – and in particular Latinas – in New York City. Erika has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stanford University and a Master of Science in Strategic Communications from Columbia University. She is a native of border town El Paso, Texas and now resides in New York City with her family, including two young sons.

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• Caty Borum Chattoo

  Speaker

  Director, Center for Media & Social Impact, American University

  Caty Borum Chattoo is Director of the Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI), an innovation lab and research center at American University that creates, showcases and studies media designed for social change; and Assistant Professor at the American University School of Communication in Washington, D.C. She is an award-winning documentary producer, scholar, professor and strategist working at the intersection of social change, documentary and entertainment storytelling. Her book about the role of comedy in social change, with co-author Lauren Feldman, "A Comedian and An Activist Walk Into a Bar: The (Serious) Role of Comedy in Social Justice," is forthcoming from University of California Press. Her documentary book, "The Blackfish Effect & Other Stories: Documentaries & Social Change in the Information Age," is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. In 2017, she launched The Laughter Effect, a research and creative initiative that examines the role of comedy in social justice. Her social-justice documentaries have aired internationally and nationally on the Sundance Channel, Pivot, NDTV (India), PBS World, Link TV, KCET, DirectTV and theatrically. CMSI's biennial national convening, "Story Movements," brings together creative producers, social justice activists, scholars and others to illuminate civic media and social change. A former collaborator with TV producer Norman Lear and former SVP in social impact communication at global agency FleishmanHillard, her peer-reviewed research on the intersection of storytelling, creativity and social change is featured in leading journals, including Journal of Communication, Journalism, Mass Communication and Society, and more. Borum Chattoo's creative and research work in media and social change has been supported by more than 25 grants from media foundations, including the MacArthur Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, and others.

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