Kathleen Cooke
Kathleen Cooke, Co-Founder & Vice President, Cooke Media Group
Los Angeles, CA, USA
About the Presenter
Kathleen Cooke is a media executive, writer and inspirational speaker, as well as the co-founder of Cooke Media Group alongside her husband, Phil Cooke.
As the daughter of a championship high school basketball coach and Bible toting mom and having suffered through a brother’s death at age 5, she strove as a child to be an overachiever. She learned at a tender age how to champion others and to be an influencer even if you’re in the shadows.
She graduated from Oral Roberts University with a degree in education in 1977 and married Phil Cooke. She became a mom in 1984 and 1988 to two daughters, Kelsey, and Bailey. She then began pursuing her long-time passion of theatrical acting and she and her family moved to Los Angeles in 1991 where she became a member of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in 1992. During this time, Kathleen and Phil also co-founded Cooke Media Group where she oversees casting and creative development.
From 2007 to 2011 she was an adjunct professor at Biola University’s Cinema and Media Arts department and co- directed the nationally acclaimed Biola Media Conference. From 2011 to 2016 she founded and directed Christian Women In Media Association’s (CWIMA) Hollywood chapter, co-founded and directed the National Women’s ASCEND Conference, directed Asbury University’s Hollywood Internship program and launched her weekly blog at kathleencooke.com.
But it was the launching of The Influence Lab in 2013 that is keeping her tennis shoes on today as she and her husband travel to multiple cities and countries to produce and mentor leaders on how to use media more effectively. Its focus is to help transform cultural conversation through multiple media platforms, rethink global media missions, and move Christian thinking from the outside into the heart of culture. Kathleen edits the bi-monthly Influence Women Journal to inspire thought, educate, and ignite Christian women working in media and entertainment.
She’s also on the National Advisory Board for the Salvation Army, and the Advisory Boards for Hollywood Prayer Network, 4WordWomen, and Courage For Life.
In 2018, Kathleen authored the devotional, Hope 4 Today: Stay Connected To God In A Distracted Culture, a publication of Broad Street Publishers.
Kathleen believes that your life matters and that you have a significant story that can influence others. She is passionate about inspiring and mentoring people and to see them have a vibrant relationship with God.
About the Presentation
Topic: "Influencing Culture: Lessons from Changing Hollywood from the Inside"
Dr. Richard (Rick) J. Goossen will do a Q & A with a focus on strategies around influencing culture. Kathleen will share about the high level women she’s influencing and mentoring in the entertainment industry who are producers, directors, writers, etc. who are Christians and using their gifts to change the industry from the inside. In addition, Kathleen will discuss “The Influence Lab.” One of the primary goals of The Influence Lab is to use the various media platforms available to us in the digital age to change the cultural narrative about Christianity and the Church. The Influence Lab helps create professional pathways for Christian influence in entertainment and media by challenging executive-level Christians established in the film and television industry to think critically about integrating their faith into their work.