Kevin Liles
Kevin Liles ascent from unpaid intern to president, author, philanthropist, motivational speaker and consultant to many entertainment and political boards began in 1991 when he became an unpaid intern for Def Jam in the Mid-Atlantic region. By 1993, he had become the Mid-Atlantic Marketing Manager and by 1998, after only seven years, Liles accepted the position of President of the Def Jam Music Group. During his tenure as President, Def Jam revenues doubled to $400 million. In addition to presiding over the label's artist roster and day-to-day business at Def Jam, Liles oversaw the diversification of the Def Jam brand, including establishing Def Jam South, Def Soul, Def Soul Classics, Roc-A-Fella and Murder Inc. He also led the brand-extension efforts and cross marketing deals that linked Def Jam's name to movies, television, DVDs, clothing, financial services, mobile content and video games. As President and CEO, Liles spearheaded Def Jam Interactive - to partner with Electronic Arts - which led to the creation of three Def Jam-branded video games and over ten different sku's. Titles such as Vendetta, Fight for New York and Icon, have sold more than 8 million units worldwide, to date. Liles recently orchestrated a new partnership with 4mm games, launched by former Rockstar game founders Jamie King and Gary Foreman. The first release, the highly anticipated Def Jam Rapstar is scheduled for early 2010.
Following the merger that created the Island/Def Jam Music Group in 2002, Kevin Liles added the title of executive vice president of Island Def Jam Music Group to his resume. Thanks to his uncanny ability to provide leadership while allowing artists the freedom to create, he has been instrumental in the success of and eventual cross-over of many artists who have made the leap from "performer" to "global brand" - Jay Z, Hoobastank, Ludacris, Sum 41, Ja Rule, LL Cool J, DMX, Kanye West, Musiq Soulchild and Ashanti.
By 2004, Liles joined Warner Music Group as Executive Vice President and by 2005; he was part of the executive team that took the company public. As the chief executive behind the implementation of WMG's new 360-degree strategy for enhanced artist partnerships, Liles oversaw the expansion of the traditional record company role in the artist's career. His expertise in all facets of artist relations and brand expansion allowed for successful, complete partnerships with artists in each facet of their careers - fan clubs and ticketing, endorsements and licensing, artist management, TV production and merchandising.
Throughout 2008, Liles was instrumental in assembling a coalition of like-minded entertainers who made strategic visits to swing states in the final weeks before the historic Presidential election. Liles, along with Jay-Z, Beyonce, P. Diddy, Russell Simmons & Mary J. Blige encouraged Americans to exercise their right to vote. Currently, Liles is a committee chairman on the upcoming Jay-Z & Friends "Answer The Call" Charity Concert, taking place at Madison Square Garden on September 11, 2009 and benefitting the NYC Police and Fire Widow and Children's Benefit Fund.
Liles serves as board member/ advisor to Ogilvy & Mather diversity board, New Yorkers For Children, Junior Achievement of New York, The Executive Leadership Council, The SEED School of Maryland, Harbor Bank, and HealthCorps. He is the bestselling author of Make It Happen: the Hip Hop Generation's Guide to Success and oversees both Kevin Liles for a Better Baltimore, which invests in the Baltimore community, and the Make It Happen Foundation, which empowers African-American youth to succeed in the business world.
Hill Harper
Hill Harper is the author of three New York Times bestsellers: Letters to a Young Brother, Letters to a Young Sister, and The Conversation. Letters to a Young Brother was named "Best Book for Young Adults" by the American Library Association in 2007, and to date, his collective work has been recognized with three NAACP Image Awards: Outstanding Literary Work: Debut Author (2007) and Outstanding Literary Work: Youth/Teens (2007, 2008). Hill currently stars on the hit television drama CSI:NY as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes; internationally, for which he has been recognized with three Image Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series; CSI is the most successful television franchise in history. He has also appeared in numerous prime-time television shows and feature films, including The Sopranos, ER, The Game, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Lackawanna Blues, He Got Game, The Skulls, In Too Deep, The Nephew, and The Visit. He is the founder of the Manifest Your Destiny Foundation, dedicated to empowering, encouraging, and inspiring underserved youth to succeed through mentorship, scholarship and grant programs. Hill graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Brown University (and was valedictorian of his department) and cum laude with a J.D. from Harvard Law School as well as honorary degrees from Howard University, Winston-Salem State University, Westfield State College, and Tougaloo College. He also holds a master's degree with honors from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Hill travels frequently as a motivational speaker and resonates with a wide range of audiences including youth, adults, and couples. Named one of People's Sexiest Men Alive, he lives in Los Angeles.
Malaak Compton-Rock
Malaak Compton-Rock began her career in the public relations and special event fields. Her professional life started in the entertainment industry, working for many years at the Terrie Williams Agency, where she contributed to many successful movie and record release campaigns and projects for clients including Eddie Murphy, The Essence Awards, and HBO.
Following a stint in the cosmetics industry, she found her true calling after accepting a position at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Fund). During her three years with the organization, she spearheaded and oversaw the Special Events and Celebrity Relations Department (a position created for her once the Agency saw the need to utilize celebrities). Compton-Rock designed and orchestrated numerous fundraising and advocacy events, geared towards increasing the organization's visibility and promoting private sector and corporate giving. She managed the organization's roster of celebrity spokespersons, planning numerous international field trips for the spokespersons to witness UNICEF-assisted projects in the field, coordinated all celebrity appearances at special events and with the media, as well as created a successful television product placement campaign for UNICEF's core fundraising campaign "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF." She remains proud of the fact that she was able to increase the organization's celebrity support by cultivating and recruiting many celebrities who continue to support UNICEF today including Laurence Fishburne, Tea Leoni, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Claudia Schiffer. She continues to be an active supporter, having visited UNICEF-assisted projects with her family in South Africa and Kenya in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
While still at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, she made the life-changing decision to dedicate her life's work to the non-profit world. With that directive in mind, Ms. Compton-Rock left the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to pursue her dream of starting her own a non-profit organization. After witnessing the sweeping changes in the welfare laws, combined with her love of individual style, Ms. Compton-Rock incorporated styleWORKS, an organization that provided comprehensive grooming services, i.e., hair styling, make-up application, skincare services, clothing, accessories, and image consulting to women moving from welfare to work. After seven years of offering direct services as a non-profit, styleWORKS now provides grooming seminars on a consultant basis only and continues to offer monthly mentoring and job retention-based services, such as the styleWORKS book club.
In 2008, as a way to encourage people to live a life of service and as an umbrella organization for the six main causes that she works on full-time, Ms. Compton-Rock founded The Angelrock Project, an online e-village that promotes volunteerism, social responsibility, and sustainable change. Among its many elements, The Angelrock Project includes valuable information on how to volunteer, advice on making monetary or in-kind donations, links to life-changing non-profit organizations, recommends fair trade companies whose products sustain third-world artisans, and includes a discussion forum and blog. Additionally, The Angelrock Project features wonderful philanthropic individuals, grassroots volunteers and organizations on a monthly basis. The organization can be found at www.angelrockproject.com.
Compton-Rock also founded and coordinates Journey for Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service, a program that takes at-risk youth from Brooklyn, New York to Johannesburg, South Africa for two weeks of global volunteer service. Upon their return, the participants who attend The Bushwick Salvation Army Community Center, become Global Ambassadors for one year engaged in advocacy, service, and educational activities. The 2008-2009 inaugural program was filmed as part CNN's Black in America 2: Solutions hosted by journalist Soledad O'Brien which aired on July 21, 2009. The next global service trip is scheduled for August 18 - September 3, 2010.
Malaak Compton-Rock also created and manages the Champions for Children Committee, a prestigious group of well-known individuals committed to raising awareness about the signs and prevention of child abuse. In 2007, the group received national pro-bono exposure in magazines including People, Redbook, Essence and O, The Oprah Magazine, as well as radio exposure through a series of PSA's heard on Clear Channel stations nationwide. In all, the campaign received over 28 million pro bono media impressions. The group continued to advocate on behalf of this cause with a 2008 public awareness campaign shot by legendary photographer Timothy White. The wonderful photos, including those of Emme, Iman, Marian Wright Edelman, Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann, Deborah Roberts and Al Roker, Malaak and Chris Rock, Susan Sarandon, and Veronica Webb appeared in the April 2008 issue of Redbook Magazine which dedicated the entire issue to child abuse awareness and was seen on billboards and elevator ads nationwide. The evergreen campaign will continue to be used throughout 2009-2010 in the U.S. and abroad.
Along with her husband, Compton-Rock runs The Angelrock Project South Africa, a trust that provides assistance to orphaned and vulnerable children, granny-led households and people living with HIV/AIDS in Diepsloot, a poverty-stricken shanty town in Johannesburg, South Africa. Specifically, The Angelrock Project South Africa Trust offers educational and tuition assistance, food and nutritional support, and living allowance grants for those whose lives have been adversely affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty. Additionally, through a partnership with The Food Garden Foundation, The Angelrock Project has funded sustainable food gardens in Diepsloot and at 6 schools in Soweto to provide food for the community and for income-generating purposes. Moreover, the organization is currently coordinating a daily feeding program and is installing playground systems for the orphan population in coordination with two local non-governmental organizations.
The Rocks are also committed to The Bushwick Salvation Army Community Center in Bushwick, Brooklyn and were proud to open a new library and computer lab through the support of Target, (RED), Dell, and AARRIS Architects, LLP in November, 2008. Additionally, Malaak Compton-Rock is a coordinating the development of a comprehensive art program at the Center which will include a teaching partnership with Pratt Institute and The Black Alumni of Pratt Institute that will begin in January 2010.
Recently, Compton-Rock ventured into new professional waters by filming the Harpo/ABC-TV reality show "OPRAH'S BIG GIVE." Debuting on March 2, 2008, Compton-Rock served as a co-judge offering her insights, encouragement and critiques to contestants whose mission was to give back to society in creative and innovative ways. "OPRAH'S BIG GIVE" offered a positive twist to primetime reality created in the spirit of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and was a ratings hit.
Additionally, she is an avid public speaker who lectures on topics pertaining to philanthropic giving, finding balance in life, raising giving children in a global world, and successfully blending a family and a professional life. Broadway Books, a division of Random House, will release her first book, "If It Takes A Village, Build One: How I Found Meaning Through a Life of Service and 100+ Ways You Can Too" on April 6, 2010.
Malaak Compton-Rock lives in New Jersey with her husband Chris Rock and two daughters. She holds a B.F.A. in Arts/Production Management from Howard University and received an honorary doctorate degree from Fairleigh Dickenson University in May 2009. Compton-Rock sits on the board of directors of The Children's Defense Fund and The Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation. She is a Global Ambassador for The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Global Promise Fund, a member of New York Women in Communications, The Cause Marketing Forum and The Association of Fundraising Professionals. Recently, she was honored to be a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel who selected the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year and to be chosen as one of Ebony Magazine's 2009 "Power 150, Change Agents We Can Believe In." She lives by her favorite Marian Wright Edelman quote "Service is the rent we pay for living."
Soledad O'Brien
Soledad O’Brien is an anchor and special correspondent for CNN/U.S. Since joining the network in 2003, O’Brien has reported breaking news from around the globe and has produced award-winning and record-breaking documentaries on the most important stories facing the world today. She also covers political news as part of CNN’s “Best Political Team on Television.”
O’Brien’s most recent documentaries include Rescued, a look at Haiti’s remarkable children before, during and after the devastating earthquake and Gary and Tony Have a Baby, the story of two gay men and their struggle to have a baby that has a biological and legal connection to both of them. In 2009, Soledad reported for Latino in America, a wide-ranging look at Latinos living in this country; how they’re reshaping America and how America is reshaping them. Prior, O’Brien reported for Black in America 2, a four-hour documentary focusing on successful community leaders who are improving the lives of African-Americans. O’Brien’s reporting for Black in America in 2008 revealed the state of Black America 40 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She has also reported for the CNN documentary Words That Changed a Nation, featuring a never-before-seen look at Dr. King’s private writings and notes, and investigated his assassination in Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination. Her Children of the Storm project and One Crime at a Time documentary demonstrate O’Brien’s continued commitment to covering stories out of New Orleans.
O'Brien joined CNN in July 2003 as the co-anchor of the network's flagship morning program, American Morning, and distinguished herself by reporting from the scene on the transformational stories that broke on her watch, including Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Southeast Asia. For CNN’s Katrina coverage, O’Brien’s reports on the storm’s impact included an in-depth interview with former FEMA chief Michael Brown. She also covered the London terrorism attacks in July 2005, and in December 2004, she was among a handful of CNN anchors sent to Thailand to cover the disaster and aftermath of the tsunami.
O'Brien was part of the coverage teams that earned CNN a George Foster Peabody award for its Katrina coverage and an Alfred I. duPont Award for its coverage of the tsunami. Her numerous other awards include a Gracie Allen Award in 2007 for her reporting from Cyprus on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict as well as her reports from the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. The NAACP honored her with its President’s Award in 2007 for her humanitarian efforts and journalistic excellence. In 2008, she was the first recipient of the Soledad O’Brien Freedom’s Voice Award from the Morehouse School of Medicine for being a catalyst for social change. Also in 2008, O’Brien was the first recipient of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Goodermote Humanitarian Award for her efforts while reporting on the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asia tsunami. In 2009, she received the 2009 Medallion of Excellence for Leadership and Community Service Award from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.
O'Brien came to CNN from NBC News where she anchored the network’s Weekend Today since July 1999. Prior, O'Brien anchored MSNBC's award-winning technology program The Site. O'Brien joined NBC News in 1991 and was based in New York as a field producer for Nightly News and TODAY. Before her time at NBC, she served three years as a local reporter and bureau chief for the NBC affiliate KRON in San Francisco. She began her career as an associate producer and news writer at the then-NBC affiliate WBZ-TV in Boston.
O’Brien is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She is a graduate of Harvard University.