| 2008 Brings a New Year...
and NEW opportunities to EIC! |
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Although we are only a month into 2008, EIC is already taking steps foward to make this year a success! A new year means new ideas, innovative plans and bright new faces at the Entertainment Industries Council. With four new additions EIC is looking to make this year even more successful than last.
Please welcome Ellen Burditt, Melissa Havard, Charlotte Hendricks and Kimberly Rymsha to the EIC team!
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| Ellen Burditt- Consultant, Entertainment Industry Outreach |
| Ellen is a Senior Executive with a 15-year track record of selling television concepts and executing projects. As a top level producer and executive at major multinational entertainment corporations including Lionsgate Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television and The Disney Channel, Ellen excelled in collaborating with and supporting the vision of writers, directors and producers, and has produced movies for TBS and Showtime.
Ellen's impressive production work as well as her knowledge and understanding of addiction makes her a strong asset to EIC. For the Lionsgate/Fox Family Channel series Higher Ground, a drama that depicted a school for at-risk teens run by a person in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, Ellen contributed her in-depth understanding of the pressures, stresses and influencing factors that lead to addictive and destructive behaviors.
Throughout her career, Ellen has championed the selection of stories that profile characters of courage and has created public awareness of social issues pertaining to racial and gender equality, diversity and inclusion, and has driven in outreach efforts in the entertainment industry. Ellen holds a BA in English from Boston College, and a Certificate of Completion from the University of California, Los Angeles, in Drug/Alcohol Abuse Studies. Currently she is a consultant for EIC. | |
| Melissa Havard- Consultant, Entertainment Industry
and Media Outreach |
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Melissa has over 20 years of experience in the health and entertainment cause-related marketing, public speaking and non-profit management fields. Melissa has been a guest lecturer on the subject of social responsibility, the First Amendment, and the entertainment industry at Yale University, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. Melissa is on the Advisory Board of the Jason Foundation; a member of Women in Film and NARAS.
Since forming Casablanca Consulting, she has worked with LA Youth Newspaper, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Fox Network's PAUSE campaign, and currently provides pro bono services to the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation and Laughter for Change. Prior to forming Casablanca Consulting, Melissa was the Director of Edelman Entertainment's Marketing Health campaigns, serving as lead supervisor to highly visible projects involving the collaboration of celebrities, non profit organizations, and corporate clients.
The project closest to her heart while at Edelman was LearnAboutBipolar.com featuring actor Sean Astin. This campaign served to destigmatize mental health illness and raise awareness about bipolar disorder. Melissa's knowledge and understanding of bipolar disorder is especially important to EIC. The EIC has done extensive work to raise awareness about Bipolar and other mental health related disorders in the past and hope to raise even greater awareness of the important issue in the future with Melissa's involvement with EIC's 2008 communication strategies.
Before joining Edelman, Melissa served as the Executive Director for the LA-based Media Project, a non profit organization that provided entertainment industry professionals with the most up-to-date and accurate information about adolescent sexual health issues and trends including HIV/AIDS, pregnancy prevention, and body image. She also served as the creator of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health's Entertainment Initiative.
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| Charlotte Hendricks-Consultant, Sun Safety Alliance |
Dr. Charlotte Hendricks is a certified health education specialist with over twenty -five years of experience in early childhood health education and research. She has experience working with Head Start, Healthy Child Care America, and other health departments, universities, foundations, professional organizations and grants.
As a nationally recognized leader in health and safety education for child care and preschool, Dr. Hendricks received the "Distinguished Service Award" from the American School Health Association in 2000.
Along with being a health specialist and an award winner, Dr. Hendricks has also written four health curriculums for the preschool and early elementary grades; a series of health information materials for parents; book chapters for the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the American School Health Association; and over twenty-five articles in national refereed journals. In addition, Dr. Hendricks is also working on a special sun safety and skin cancer program for toddlers in conjunction with EIC's skin cancer media initiative.
Dr. Hendricks is currently the President of Healthy Childcare Consultants, Inc., and Editor for Healthy Childcare Magazine. | |
| Kimberly Rymsha- Program Manager, Entertainment Industries Council |
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Kimberly is responsible for managing programs and the interface between EIC's public affairs activities and the positive impact of entertainment on health and social issues. Kimberly leads EIC's event planning and serves as a liaison to health experts, entertainment industry professionals and Congressional offices. Kimberly also co-manages EIC's internship program.
Before beginning her career at EIC, Kimberly worked at the Senate Democratic Communication Center on Capitol Hill. She served as the Press Assistant before becoming the Events Coordinator for the SDCC. As Events Coordinator she was in charge of implementing and organizing events for the Democratic Leadership team lead by Senator Harry Reid. Prior to working on Capitol Hill she interned at the CBS Newsroom in Charleston, South Carolina. At CBS she assisted with writing, reporting and producing the nightly news. Kimberly graduated magna cum laude from Hofstra University in New York with a Broadcast Journalism and Political Science major.
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Entertainment Industries Council
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| Visit www.eiconline.org |
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