Vanessa Smith

Special Projects Producer, “Marketplace” American Public Media Research economic stories and coordinate interviews of compelling voices for our new series with Frontline and PBS' NewsHour “How the Deck Is Stacked.” Worked on the Sustainability desk on their high profile projects “Water: The High Price of Cheap” and “The Weak Link: The State of Infrastructure.”

Launched the return of Arsenio Hall back to late night television. Supervise and train Associate Producers and Production Assistants. Pre-Interview celebrities, comedians, and musicians. And create exciting, engaging and fun interview segments.

Launched “HuffPost Live,” The Huffington Post’s online streaming network. In charge of celebrity segments, prepare hosts, Big Time Rush, Jerry Springer, Oliver Stone… Supervise and delegate assignments to associate producers. Plan human-interest segments some of which have received over six hundred thousand views. Utilized the power of social media.

Produced and launched "The Young Turks," live hour-long daily political commentary program. Supervised and completed all bookings, pre-interviews and prep for featured guests. Producer for Al Gore on “Politically Direct,” the network's ongoing 2012 presidential coverage.

Producer “All-American Presidential Forums” on PBS Moderated by Tavis Smiley. Was sole producer responsible for logistics, contact with all Candidates—Obama, Clinton, Edwards, Biden, Richardson, etc. Lead producer on location for the 2008 Democratic National Convention- In charge of booking, logistics and content in live segments.

2-time NAACP Award-winning producer for Outstanding TV News, Talk or Information for Tavis Smiley. Responsible for producing, researching, and booking segments with guests including newsmakers in politics, entertainment and the literary world. Produced: President Barack Obama, George Soros, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chairman Sheila Bair, Sec. Hillary Clinton, Sidney Poitier...