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InContext / An inside look at the business of digital content

Meet the OPA Content All Stars Keynotes: Soledad O’Brien, Jason Silva & Sarah Lewis

July 10, 2014 | By Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN@michellemanafy
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It is an exciting time here at the Online Publishers Association. Under the leadership of our new CEO, Jason Kint, we’re feeling renewed energy and enthusiasm for the digital media industry and the power of compelling content experiences. We are so happy to have an opportunity to celebrate the powerful collaboration between savvy marketers and trusted media brands at our new Content All Stars event September 18th at the Conrad Hotel in NYC.

We’ll deliver an all-star lineup of speakers to energize and engage attendees with their stories about the power of content to create trusted relationships with audiences, drive consumers to action and communicate what’s personal about brands. Read on to hear about three keynote speakers who are guaranteed to deliver insight and inspiration:

Soledad O’Brien was recently described as “a one-woman media storm,” O’Brien is an award-winning journalist, documentarian, news anchor, and producer. In June 2013 she launched Starfish Media Group, a multiplatform media production and distribution company dedicated to uncovering and producing empowering stories that take a challenging look at the often divisive issues of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunity, through personal stories. O’Brien’s critically-acclaimed documentary series, Black in America and its follow-up, Latino in America, are among CNN’s most successful domestic and international franchises and she continues to produce Black in America for CNN. In addition, O’Brien is a correspondent for HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, and a Special Correspondent for Al Jazeera America Tonight. She is co-founder of the O’Brien Raymond Starfish Foundation, which focuses on providing disadvantaged women with a higher education.

Watch Soledad O’Brien on the Daily Show with John Stewart

Jason Silva has been called an “Idea DJ” and a poet—“a revitalizer and remixer of optimism, and above all, a curator: of ideas, of inspiration, and of awe.”  His non-commercial series of short videos, aptly named ‘shots of philosophical espresso,’ explore the co-evolution of humans and technology and have gone viral with more than nine million views and “play like movie trailers for ideas,” according to The Atlantic. Silva is the Emmy-nominated host of National Geographic Channel’s #1 rated series, Brain Games and the creator of the web series “Shots of Awe,” micro-documentaries exploring creativity, innovation, technology, futurism, metaphysics, existentialism and the human condition.

Watch Jason Silva’s TEDGlobal talk on Radical Openness

Sarah Lewis is being hailed as a rising intellectual star and her book, The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery, has been widely praised by a who’s who of creative thinkers. Lewis appeared on Oprah’s “Power List,” served on President Obama’s Arts Policy Committee, was profiled as a “Brainiac Rising” in Vogue, was recently featured in Elle on “How to Fail Artfully” and is a faculty member at Yale’s School of Art. She has held positions at the Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, and her essays have been published in Artforum and The Smithsonian. According to Lewis: “The creative process is actually how we fashion our lives and follow other pursuits. Failure is not something that might be helpful; it actually is the process.”

Watch Sarah Lewis’ TED talk on Embracing the Near Win

If you’ve participated in an OPA event before, you know what to expect: A room filled with the brightest and most creative minds in digital media and marketing enjoying a day filled with conversations, presentations and debate about the tools and tactics that will drive the continued growth and success of the digital content industry. If this is your first opportunity to join an OPA event, request an invite now. Space is limited.

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