Michealene Cristini Risley | |
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | Bachelor's Degree in Telecommunications and minors in English and Advertising |
| Alma mater | Bishop Foley High School Michigan State University |
| Occupation | Author Activist |
Michealene Cristini Risley is a best selling Author, writer, director and human rights activist. [1] She ran for the Americans Elect nomination for President of the United States in 2012. [2]
Risley was born and raised in Clawson, Michigan, before spending her teenage years in Troy, Michigan. She graduated from Bishop Foley High School and went on to graduate from Michigan State University with a degree in Telecommunications and minors in English and Advertising. [3] She spent a number of years in Hollywood for such companies as Disney, Amblin and Mattel. While Vice President of Production for Marvel's animation unit she was recruited by SEGA of America to build a consumer products and entertainment division. At that time, SEGA was at less than 4% market share. The Consumer Products division was an incredible team that turned Sonic the Hedgehog until a billion dollar consumer products brand. She also pitched the executive team on the lost opportunity of creating games for girls, built the SEGA TASK force to address these issues. female market share at that time was 3% in 1993, when Risley departed in 1995 it had grown to 20%. The team also worked with two top animation facilities and created two Sonic animated series simultaneously. Both shows, the Network series and the syndication series were #1 hits. Creating two simultaneous hit shows on the same character at the same time, has not been done since. Michealene left SEGA to start her own for profit and not for profit company. She has continued to work with top athletes and sports companies after SEGA SPORTS and was hired by Nike to entertain building a gaming division for Nike or licensing out their roster of athletes to the video game sector. She recommended to Nike that they stick to their core business and license out those characters. Within her new company, Fresh Water Spigot, she took Nike's athletes out to the technology sector for licensing. This included Ronaldo, Brazil Soccer and Tiger Woods. The Tiger Woods/ Electronic Arts deal was the largest deal in the history of the video game sector at that time. [4] As a serial entrepreneur the company that changed the direction of the industry was Adidas Maternity. This was the first branded maternity line ever in the marketplace.
Risley's non profit was established as Freshwater Haven. The focus of that non profit was to use medial to create social change. Within this non profit, Risley is noted for her work as the writer, producer and director for the film Tapestries of Hope , which follows social activist Betty Makoni in her efforts to help sexually abused young women in Zimbabwe through her foundation the Girl Child Network. [5] Risley was imprisoned and then deported to South Africa by the Zimbabwean government for the footage she shot during her time with Makoni and the Girl Child Network. [6] [7] After being safely returned to the United States, Risley became a large part of the push for the passing of the International Violence Against Women Act by creating grassroots efforts with over 45 other human rights groups. [8] The film premiered in September 2010 in over 105 theaters nationwide. [9]
In 2000, Risley was appointed as the VP of Production, Development and Consumer products for Marvel Comics. [10] In 2003, she founded Fresh Water Haven, a 501(c)(3) organization that writes, produces, develops and brings to market films, documentaries and books with the goal of raising awareness about global issues that are in need of reform. [11] [12] A frequent Huffington Post editorial writer, Risley is a noted Human Rights Speaker. [13] In 2003, Risley wrote, directed and produced Flashcards, a short film on child sexual abuse which won numerous awards and aired on PBS nationwide. [14] Risley co-authored the best-selling book This Is Not the Life I Ordered , alongside Deborah Collins Stephens, Jan Yanehiro, and Jackie Speier, which has sold over 50,000 copies (the book details the friendship of these four women and the ups and downs they faced in their lives). [15] After Running Marvels animation unit Michealene was recruited by Sega of America to build a licensing and Entertainment division from scratch. As Senior Director of Entertainment/Consumer Products at SEGA of America, she recruited and built a small group in Beverly Hills, California and eventually moved the whole team up to Sega headquarters in Northern California---where she became fascinated with the tech world and has never left Silicon Valley. In 2006, Risley founded Fresh Water Spigot, a licensing and creative services agency specializing in consumer products categories; she also conceived, developed, and launched the first Adidas-branded maternity product line, The Power of Two, LLC. [16] Michealene was also Vice President of Games at Zynga, a San Francisco-based mobile games company. [17] She has been a CEO of a number of tech start-ups in entertainment sector. In 2019 a revised version of "This is not the life I ordered: was released. Michealene is currently creating a new television series and involved with consulting. She spent most of 2020 working on delivery of PPE product in the United States to alleviate the spread of COVID-19.
As a passionate activist on issues of rape, abuse and human trafficking. Miss Risley has been thrown in prison in Zimbabwe, received death attempts and in 2019 while writing a version of the Larry Nassar story for television and hosting a Human trafficking event through Operation Big Sister, her LYFT vehicle was hijacked by one of the 346 gangs that do human trafficking. She had to flee the area and recover from PTSD. She is no longer working at the grass roots level on these issues.
A community organizer for years including Delegation 2010, the 60 plus non-profit groups she organized to push Congress to resign and fund IVAWA and three presidential campaigns including her own. Special events include: Gentry Magazine fundraiser for 3 years that benefited her non profit, DUCKTALES in NY, Mattel Toy Fair and more.
No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies is a book by the Canadian author Naomi Klein. First published by Knopf Canada and Picador in December 1999, shortly after the 1999 Seattle WTO protests had generated media attention around such issues, it became one of the most influential books about the alter-globalization movement and an international bestseller.
Spanx, Inc. is an American underwear maker focusing on shaping briefs and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The company manufactures mainly pantyhose and other underwear for women and, since 2010, produces male underwear as well. Spanx specializes in foundation garments intended to make people appear thinner or more shapely.
Karen Lorraine Jacqueline Speier is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 14th congressional district, serving in Congress from 2008 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Speier represented much of the territory that her political mentor, Leo Ryan, represented.
Yakuza is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 2. It was released in 2005 in Japan and in September 2006 internationally. The story follows Kazuma Kiryu, a yakuza who spent ten years in prison for a crime he did not commit. After being released, he learns that the criminal underworld is searching for 10 billion yen that has been stolen from the Tojo clan. He comes across an orphan named Haruka who is being targeted by the clan. She is believed to have the key to their lost money and Kiryu resolves to protect her. The game takes place in Kamurocho, a realistic recreation of Tokyo's Kabukicho district.
Celebrity branding or celebrity endorsement is a form of advertising campaign or marketing strategy which uses a celebrity's fame or social status to promote a product, brand or service, or to raise awareness about an issue. Marketers use celebrity endorsers in hopes that the positive image of the celebrity endorser will be passed on to the product's or brand's image. Non-profit organizations also use celebrities since a celebrity's frequent mass media coverage reaches a wider audience, thus making celebrities an effective ingredient in fundraising.
Disney Princess, also called the Princess Line, is a media franchise and toy line owned by the Walt Disney Company. Created by Disney Consumer Products chairman Andy Mooney, the franchise features a lineup of female protagonists who have appeared in various Disney franchises.
Product Red, stylized as (PRODUCT)RED or (PRODUCT)RED, is a licensed brand by the company Red, stylized as (RED), that seeks to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in eight African countries, namely Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. It is licensed to partner companies including Apple Inc., Nike, American Express (UK), The Coca-Cola Company, Starbucks, Converse, Electronic Arts, Primark, Head, Buckaroo, Penguin Classics (UK & International), Gap, Armani, FIAT, Hallmark (US), SAP, Beats Electronics, and Supercell.
A brand ambassador is a person engaged by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to embody the corporate identity in appearance, demeanor, values and ethics. The key element of brand ambassadors is their ability to use promotional strategies that will strengthen the customer-product-service relationship, influence a large audience to buy and consume more.
This Is Not the Life I Ordered: 50 Ways to Keep Your Head Above Water When Life Keeps Dragging You Down is a collaborative non-fiction inspirational self-help book written by Deborah Collins Stephens, Michealene Cristini Risley, Jackie Speier, and Jan Yanehiro. The book was first published in a hardcover format in 2007, by Conari Press. The first printing of the work was for thirty-five thousand copies, and a second printing is planned.
Tapestries of Hope is a feature-length documentary that exposes the virgin cleansing myth that if a man rapes a virgin he will be cured of HIV/AIDS. The film focuses on the work human rights activist Betty Makoni has done to protect and re-empower girls who have been victimized through sexual abuse. Tapestries of Hope aims to bring awareness to the widespread abuse of women and girls as well as the efforts of the Girl Child Network and its founder, Betty Makoni.
Screenvision Media is a cinema advertising and film distribution company in the United States.
HazviperiBetty Makoni is a Zimbabwean women's rights activist who in 1999 founded the Girl Child Network, a charity which supports Zimbabwe's young sex abuse victims. The organization has rescued more than 35,000 girls and provided mentoring to at least 60,000 girls around Zimbabwe. She earned two degrees from the University of Zimbabwe, and has been awarded numerous national and international awards. Orphaned as a child and sexually abused, Makoni is the principal subject in the documentary film, Tapestries of Hope.
John Carter Risley is a Canadian billionaire businessman with interests in fisheries, food supplements, and communications. He is the co-founder of Clearwater Seafoods.
Miniwiz is a Taiwanese company that upcycles consumer and industrial waste into construction and consumer products. The company was founded by Arthur Huang. It is headquartered in Taiwan with offices in Milan, Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai.
Skins, stylized SKINS, is an Australian manufacturing company founded in 1996 that designs and produces compression garment for athletes and sports enthusiasts. After filing for bankruptcy in 2019, the company was acquired by Hong Kong-based holding Symphony, which owns rights over the "Skins" brand.
Danai Jekesai Gurira is a Zimbabwean-American actress and playwright. She is best known for her starring roles as Michonne on the AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (2024), and as Okoye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films, including Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).
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Disney's Aladdin is a platform game based on the 1992 film of the same name developed by Virgin Games USA. The game was released by Sega for the Sega Genesis on November 11, 1993 as one of several games based on the film, including another game that was released in the same month by Capcom for the Super NES.
Sarah Ballard is an American astronomer who is a professor at the University of Florida. She has been a Torres Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a L'Oreal Fellow, and a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow.
Zoe Dirse is a Canadian cinematographer, film director, writer and professor. She is best known for her cinematography work for Studio D under the National Film Board of Canada, the first government-funded film studio in the world dedicated to women filmmakers.
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