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 For over a decade, Donna Michelle Anderson (p/k/a "DMA") has been a writer, "rescue producer" and show runner of dozens of highly rated non-fiction television programs for networks such as CBS, UPN, Fox, Bravo, History Channel, A&E, Lifetime, TLC and more. She is an active member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Producers Guild of America and Showbiz Mensans.
Prior to her success in Hollywood, DMA's challenging professional life included racing the halls of San Francisco's City Hall as a political aide; gracing the runways of New York, Milan and more as a fashion model; and erasing educational obstacles for underserved students as a founder of the non-profit Cornerstone Literacy Center in Manhattan.
It was co-founding Cornerstone in 1993 that guided DMA away from an ongoing career in fashion and performing. A volunteer with teens since graduating from Stanford University with honors at the age of 20, she reinvested her fashion income in student programs she developed in her Upper West Side New York neighborhood — and there, she found both clarity and her calling. She couldn't ask her young mentees to wildly expand their own possibilities if she wasn't taking enormous leaps in her own life.
In 1994, DMA was on national tour with her first musical when she spent a week backstage hand-penning a Seinfeld spec script for the highly competitive ABC/Disney Writing Program. Of the more than 5,000 submissions, DMA was one of only five awarded a Television Writing Fellowship. She arrived in Los Angeles having no idea what a TV writer did or what a TV producer even was. Within two years, she was both — ultimately becoming a sought-after "rescue producer," whose challenge was to fix a failing show and motivate the production team to take on a new process and new goals. She would take those lessons with her as she evolved into a show runner for new hit series.
Using real-life tales from her exciting careers, DMA's keynote, panel and workshop presentations have entertained, motivated and enlightened audiences and conference delegates across the U.S. Her signature stories of her own experiences as a TV producer, former model, political aide, non-profit founder and Stanford grad engage her audiences in a lively exchange, with Hollywood secrets that only can come from a true insider. She knows how to inspire an audience to go from rejecting change to rejoicing in it. She's done it — and she shows you how it's done!
- Executive, Supervising, Senior or Show Producer: Big Brother 3, Queer Eye for the Straight Girl, Star Search, Modern Marvels, Remixed! & more
- Director/Instructor: "Movie in a Box" one-day, comprehensive filmmaking seminars
- Instructor: UCLA Extension Writing Program ("Writing Your Life Into a Movie")
- Story Analyst: Kennedy/Marshall Productions
- Founder/Director: "First in the Family" college application mentoring program
- ABC/Disney Special Talent Programs Television Writing Fellow
- John W. Gardner Public Service Fellow
- Alfred P. Sloan Public Policy Fellow
- B.A. with honors, Political Science, Stanford University
BOOK DMA NOW!
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