I’m the Founder/Exec. Dir of Shaping Youth.org, dealing with media & marketing’s impact on kids, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-religious-based 501c3.(is that enough ‘nons’ for what I’m NOT?)
As for what I AM…
I’m a passionista. A cyclebreaker. A bit of a maverick. And a lifelong writer/producer who has shifted gears into the nonprofit realm to work on a documentary film in development, “Body Blitz: Media Shaping Youth” focusing on the acceleration of childhood through corporate profit motives and the societal impact on ‘tweens’ 8-12. (filming on location in school playgrounds, shopping malls)
Think 2nd graders saying, ‘do these jeans make me look fat?’ and vamping in Britney wannabe style.
Got it? (yeah, sad)
We’re teaming with other partner orgs interested in how our pop culture is landing on wee ones, from ambient advertising to embedded digital ads and behavioral cues…and we’re out to shift the track on this runaway media train to be more positive. That’s right…use the power of media to turn this tanker around…away from vapid values that’s defining kids by ‘what they have rather than who they are’ not to mention media messaging that’s defining them before they can even define themselves. (Appearance-based ‘musts’ are comin’ at ’em in surround sound and the reverb is not healthy in the least.)
We’ll be using the internet and indie orgs for initial film distribution, much like the Two Angry Moms media model with a bit of interstitial Oprah-ization, YouTube plugs and film festival shorts tossed in.
Michaelene Cristini Risley and Amy Kalafa are both Shaping Youth.org advisory board members who we adore and support fully, if that gives you any feel for like-minded tonality and change agent chops.
Will fill this in further when time allows. Meanwhile, goooooo indies!
