ELO is pleased to announce that Phil Cooke, Co-Founder & President, Cooke Media Group, and Kathleen Cooke, Co-Founder & Vice President, Cooke Media Group, will be participating in the ELO Forums this year. The ELO Forum Toronto will take place on November 19, 2025.
Phil Cooke is the Co-Founder and President of Cooke Media Group in Los Angeles. He works at the intersection of faith, media, and culture. His client list has included studios and networks like Walt Disney, Dreamworks, and USA Network, as well as major Christian organizations from the Voice of the Martyrs, The Museum of the Bible, The Salvation Army, The YouVersion Bible app. He has also worked with many of the most respected churches in the US.
He has produced TV and film programming in more than 60 countries around the world, and in the process, been shot at, survived two military coups, fallen out of a helicopter, and threatened with being put in prison in Africa. During that time, he helped some of the largest Christian and non-profit organizations in the world use the media to tell their story in a changing, disrupted culture.
Phil produced and directed the television specials on the “Nativity Cribs of Malta” for the Museum of the Bible, and “Inexplicable: The Rise of Christianity in Asia,” and produced “The Insanity of God,” a feature documentary that premiered across the US. According to former CNN journalist Paula Zahn, Phil is rare – a working producer in Hollywood with a Ph.D. in Theology. He’s appeared on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and his work has been profiled in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
His book One Big Thing: Discovering What You Were Born to Do was named by the Washington Post as one of the Top Five Business Books for 2012.
Co-written with Jonathan Bock, The Way Back: How Christians Blew Our Credibility and How We Win it Back takes a hard look at why today—particularly in the media—Christians are dismissed as irrelevant. Cooke and Bock show the Christian community how we can once again astonish our critics, and in doing so, completely transform the world for good.
His book Maximize Your Influence: How to Make Digital Media Work for Your Church, Your Ministry, and You is the ultimate reference book for pastors and Christian leaders in today’s digital age.
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.
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 seeing them have a vibrant relationship with God.
Kathleen is also involved in The Influence Lab. One of the primary goals of The Influence Lab is to use the various media platforms available 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.
Kathleen graduated from Oral Roberts University with a degree in education in 1977 and married Phil Cooke the same year. She became a mom in 1984 and 1988 to two daughters, Kelsey, and Bailey. She then began pursuing her long-time passion for theatrical acting and she and her family moved to Los Angeles in 1991 where she became a member of the 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 the 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.
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.
Click on the links below to learn more about Phil and his books:
Cooke Media Group Introduction
Ideas on a Deadline Book Promo
Click on the links below to learn more about Kathleen and her devotional book: