WHO WE ARE
The Meteor is guided (and inspired) by our collective: an advisory group of filmmakers, writers, organizers and artists doing great work across the media and arts universe. They are storytellers and solution-seekers, and they work in everything from documentary film to TikTok, but they share a commitment to moving the world forward against injustice. Get to know the initial group of founding members below.
One of our first brainstorming meetings, in Gloria Steinem's living room. From left: Liz Plank, Treasure Brooks, Paola Mendoza, Mona Chalabi, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Cindi Leive, Kara Kearns, Rebecca Carroll, Mariam Ehrari, Gloria Steinem, Sarah Kate Ellis and Ashley Bearden.
Julissa Arce
Julissa Natzely Arce Raya is an activist, writer, and producer. She is producing the TV adaption of her bestselling memoir My Underground American Dream and her third book, You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation, is forthcoming. Her writing has appeared in TIME, The New York Times, and Vogue among others.
Susie Banikarim
Susie Banikarim is an award-winning journalist, director, producer, and media strategist. A veteran of both television and digital media, she is a frequent speaker and panelist on the state of media, storytelling, and inclusivity.
Jennifer Boylan
Jennifer Boylan is the Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard College. A contributing writer for The New York Times and trustee of PEN America, she is the author of 16 books, including She’s Not There, the first bestselling work by a transgender American.
Treasure Brooks
Treasure Brooks is an activist, cultural critic and film student at Harvard University. Her work includes opinion writing, multimedia art and political organizing. She currently hosts and produces The Meteor’s IGTV series “The Meteor Explains.”
Drew Broussard
Drew Broussard is a curator and producer. He has programmed for The Public Theater, Selected Shorts, the Onassis Foundation, The Bellwether, Literary Hub and more. He’s also a writer, musician and podcaster.
Rebecca Carroll
Rebecca Carroll is a writer, cultural critic, host of the podcast “Come Through with Rebecca Carroll” (WNYC Studios) and The Meteor’s Editor-at-Large. Her memoir, Surviving the White Gaze, has been optioned by MGM/TV and Killer Films, with Rebecca attached to adapt for a limited scripted series.
Marsha Cooke
Marsha Cooke is an award-winning news and media veteran. She is currently vice president & executive producer for ESPN Films and 30 for 30. She previously worked at VICE Media Group. Before that, she worked at CBS News for 24 years, where she served as the first Black Asia Bureau Chief.
Brittany Packnett Cunningham
Brittany Packnett Cunningham is an activist, educator and writer. An NBC News and MSNBC contributor, she was a member of President Obama’s 21st Century Policing Task Force and the Ferguson Commission. Her book We Are Like Those Who Dream is forthcoming.
Mariam Ehrari
Mariam Ehrari is a social impact and political organizer. A cofounder of the Women’s March, she worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign as well as with Girls Who Code, Harness and Participant Media. She currently attends law school at Fordham University. She is a founding advisory board member of The Meteor Fund.
Sarah Kate Ellis
Sarah Kate Ellis is the president and CEO of GLAAD, the world’s most visible LGBTQI organization and media advocacy group. She is a frequent commentator on LGBTQI issues and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, as well as in print and online outlets.
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is a Black / Iranian visual artist whose work addresses the oppressive experiences of marginalized people. She has been profiled by the New York Times, NPR, the New Yorker and Time and is the author of Stop Telling Women to Smile.
Sarah Sophie Flicker
Sarah Sophie Flicker is an arts and culture organizer and creative director. A founder of the Women’s March on Washington and the Resistance Revival Chorus, she co-authored Together We Rise and has organized campaigns for Planned Parenthood, NARAL and PLUS, among others.
Kamilah Forbes
Kamilah Forbes is an award-winning director and producer for theater and television. She currently serves as Executive Producer at the World-Famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York, and recently directed the adaptation of Between the World and Me, airing on HBO.
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist and policy expert who builds community around climate solutions. Co-founder of the nonprofits Urban Ocean Lab and The All We Can Save Project, she co-hosts the podcast “How to Save a Planet.”
Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones is a Tony and Obie Award-winning performer and writer known for the one-person Broadway hit Bridge & Tunnel and her current show Sell/Buy/Date. She recently launched Foment Productions, a social justice-focused entertainment company.
Kara Kearns
Kara Kearns is director of the media portfolio at Emerson Collective. Previously she was publisher of a magazine startup, and director of operations at Politico. Kara served as deputy political editor at NBC News Digital and has also worked for AP, MSNBC and CBS News.
Emily Ladau
Emily Ladau is a disability-rights activist, writer, and speaker. She is the editor in chief of Rooted in Rights, co-host of “The Accessible Stall podcast,” and author of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times and HuffPost.
Casey Legler
Casey Legler is a reformed bad-boy, Olympian, New York Times-featured author, activist and ground-breaking nonbinary model. Legler is the author of the best-selling memoir Godspeed, and their writing has appeared in The Guardian, Vogue and New York.
Cindi Leive
Cindi Leive is an award-winning journalist and media leader. The former editor-in-chief of Glamour and Self and author of best-selling books including Together We Rise, she is a senior fellow at the University of Southern California Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy.
Dahlia Lithwick
Dahlia Lithwick is a senior editor and columnist at Slate, where she also hosts the podcast “Amicus,” about law and the Supreme Court. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and more.
Paola Mendoza
Paola Mendoza is a director, activist, author and artist whose work focuses on human rights. A co-founder of The Women’s March, she served as its artistic director. Paola’s most recent book is the YA novel Sanctuary.
Mary Kathryn Nagle
Mary Kathryn Nagle is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and playwright (Manahatta). She is a partner at Pipestem Law, P.C., where she works to protect tribal sovereignty and the right of Indian Nations to protect against domestic violence and sexual assault.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is the only female director to have received two Academy Awards by age 37. She has made over two dozen award-winning films in over 16 countries, including Student Athlete, Girl in the River, Song of Lahore and Saving Face.
Emily Oberman
Emily Oberman is a partner at the design firm Pentagram and an award-winning multidisciplinary designer whose work encompasses strategy, brand identity, motion graphics, packaging and advertising. Her clients include Warner Bros., Saturday Night Live and Fisher-Price.
Mariane Pearl
Mariane Pearl is an award-winning journalist and writer who works in English, French and Spanish. She was most recently the managing editor of CHIME FOR CHANGE, and is the author of the books A Mighty Heart and In Search of Hope.
Phillip Picardi
Phillip Picardi is an editor and journalist. The award-winning former chief content officer at Teen Vogue, he served as editor-in-chief of Out and founded them, a Condé Nast LGBTQ+ platform. He hosts the podcast “Unholier Than Thou” from Crooked Media.
Liz Plank
Liz Plank is an award-winning journalist, the host of “Positive Spin” at NBC News and the author of For the Love of Men: From Toxic to a More Mindful Masculinity.
Dawn Porter
Dawn Porter is a documentary filmmaker whose work (Good Trouble, The Way I See It, Trapped) has appeared on HBO, PBS, Netflix and more. She is currently directing and executive producing an Apple TV series on mental health with Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry.
Alysia Reiner
Alysia Reiner is a Sag Award-winning actress, activist, and producer whose credits include “Orange Is the New Black,” “Equity,” and “Egg.” A member of Resistance Revival Chorus, Alysia is on the board of the Geena Davis Institute for Gender Equality and Earth Day Initiative, and co-creator of the eco-fashion line Livari.
Amy Richards
Amy Richards is an author, producer and political organizer. The author of We Are MAKERS (based on the PBS series), she produced The Glorias and the Emmy-nominated Viceland series Woman. Amy is the president of Soapbox and creator of Feminist Camp.
Tanya Selvaratnam
Tanya Selvaratnam is a writer, arts and social justice organizer, and Emmy-nominated and Webby-winning filmmaker. The author of The Big Lie and Assume Nothing, her work has been published in The New York Times, Vogue, CNN, Glamour and McSweeney’s.
Madhulika Sikka
Madhulika Sikka is a media executive with experience across video, audio and digital. The VP and executive editor of Crown Publishing and former executive producer of audio at The Washington Post, she is also the author of A Breast Cancer Alphabet.
Ginny Suss
Ginny Suss is a producer, content creator, documentary photographer and founder of Ginny Suss Productions. She is also a founder of the Women’s March, OkayAfrica and the Resistance Revival Chorus.
Amber Tamblyn
Amber Tamblyn is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actress, writer, director and author of six books. She’s a contributing writer for The New York Times, poet in residence at Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, and poetry reviewer for Bust.
Dr. Salamishah Tillet
Dr. Salamishah Tillet is a cultural critic, scholar, and activist. The Henry Rutgers Professor of African American Studies and Creative Writing at Rutgers University, she is a critic at large for The New York Times and author of In Search of the Color Purple. Dr. Tillet is co-founder of A Long Walk Home and founding member of Black Girl Freedom Fund.
Rebecca Traister
Rebecca Traister is writer-at-large for New York and author of three books, including New York Times bestsellers Good and Mad and All the Single Ladies. She has contributed to The New Republic, Salon, The Nation and The New York Times, among others.
Jessica Valenti
Jessica Valenti is a columnist and the author of six books. Her latest, Sex Object: A Memoir, was a New York Times bestseller. She also co-edited the anthology Yes Means Yes! and founded one of the first feminist blogs, Feministing.com.
Jenna Weiss-Berman
Jenna Weiss-Berman is the co-founder of Pineapple Street Studios and one of the audio world’s most successful innovators. Earlier, she launched BuzzFeed’s podcast business and helped build The Moth and StoryCorps.
Raquel Willis
Raquel Willis is a Black transgender activist, writer and media strategist dedicated to elevating the dignity of marginalized people. Director of Communications for The Ms. Foundation, she is author of the forthcoming essay collection The Risk It Took to Bloom.
Jamia Wilson
Jamia Wilson is a feminist activist, writer and speaker. Vice President and Executive Editor of Random House and author of several books, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Elle and The Washington Post. She is a founding advisory board member of The Meteor Fund.
Lauren Zalaznick
Lauren Zalaznick has devoted her career in media to transforming the cultural landscape. Most recently Chairman, Entertainment & Digital Networks at Comcast/NBCUniversal, she currently advises leading media companies and curates The LZ Sunday Paper newsletter.
With early support from team members Aly Sarafa, Anna Kurkina, Bianca Alvarez, Grace Han, Hazel Streeter, Kristine Keller, Lisa Moran, Nantasha Williams and Valeria Cordero.
Collage photo credits: Top row, from left: Vivian Wang (Drew Broussard); Jennifer Robinson (Dr. Ayana Eliza Johnson); Katie Jacobs (Amber Tamblyn); Courtesy of Treasure Brooks; Dan Haar (Jennifer Boylan); Courtesy of Dawn Porter. Middle row, from left: Courtesy of Cindi Leive; Adam Pearl (Mariane Pearl); Kisha Bari (Paola Mendoza); Bina Khan (Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy); Laura Fuchs (Rebecca Carroll). Bottom row, from left: Mary Kang (Mona Chalabi); Cole Witter (Raquel Willis); Kenny Goldberg Photography (Sarah Jones); Courtesy of Dawn Porter; Courtesy of Liz Plank; Amber Mahoney (Sarah Sophie Flicker); Rick Guidotti, Positive Exposure (Emily Ladau).
Profile photo credits: Joao Canziani (Julissa Arce); Courtesy of Susie Banikarim; Dan Haar (Jennifer Boylan); Vivian Wang (Drew Broussard); Cassius Johnson (Treasure Brooks); Laura Fuchs (Rebecca Carroll); Heather Sten (Mona Chalabi); John Filo (Marsha Cooke); Reginald Cunningham (Brittany Packnett Cunningham); Nikki Zakkas (Mariam Ehrari); Amy Mayes Photography (Sarah Kate Ellis); Courtesy of Tatyana Fazlalizadeh; Amber Mahoney (Sarah Sophie Flicker); Courtesy of Kamilah Forbes; Marcus Branch (Ayana Eliza Johnson); Kenny Goldberg Photography (Sarah Jones); Tony Powell (Kara Kearns); Rick Guidotti, Positive Exposure (Emily Ladau); Craig McDean (Casey Legler); Mikael Kennedy (Cindi Leive); Courtesy of Dahlia Lithwick; Shayan Asgharnia (Paola Mendoza); Justin Gellerson (Mary Katherine Nagle); Jake Chessum (Emily Oberman); Bina Khan (Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy); Adam Pearl (Mariane Pearl); Brigitte Lacombe (Phillip Picardi); Renee Bevan (Liz Plank); Courtesy of Dawn Porter; Laurie Bailey (Alysia Reiner); Romeo (Amy Richards); Courtesy of Tanya Selvaratnam; Kainaz Amaria (Madhulika Sikka); Remi Adetiba (Ginny Suss); Katie Jacobs (Amber Tamblyn); Courtesy of Rebecca Traister; Leslie Hassler (Jessica Valenti); Courtesy of Jenna Weiss-Berman; Courtesy of Raquel Willis; Renee Bevan (Jamia Wilson).