ALICIA HAYWOOD
founder, iSpeakMedia
Alicia Haywood is an award-winning producer who has been working in the professional media industry for 24 years. Among her credits: Fusion TV, Microsoft’s AltspaceVR, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, Oprah Radio, Harpo Productions, Onion Studios, AOL/TechCrunch, ABC Radio Networks, The History Channel, The Style Network, SiriusXM and more.
INDEPENDENT + CORPORATE MEDIA
Her film projects have screened in dozens of film festivals across North America, including: the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, Hollywood Black Film Festival, Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival, Chicago International Reel Shorts, Ohio International, Alameda, Annapolis, CheapShot LA, Harlem International, Williamstown, Cleveland, Tiburon International, Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee, California Independent, Sacramento Festival of Cinema, Port Townsend Film Festival, Houston Black Film Festival, and ReelHeart (Toronto).
Between independent productions, Alicia worked in the sales division of King World/CBS/Viacom (The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, Judge Judy, Inside Edition) was Regional Business Administration Manager for AEI Music, managed a music video production company in Atlanta, served as an Accountant for a commercial talent agency in Beverly Hills, handled post-production accounting work for 28 theatrically released feature films (including Toy Story 2, The Sixth Sense, American Beauty, The Matrix, Anna and the King, The Green Mile, Wild Wild West, and The Story of Us) and more than a dozen made-for-television movies and series (including The Drew Carey Show, If These Walls Could Talk II, Early Edition, and The West Wing).
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
With notable career achievements spanning television, film, radio, and digital media platforms, still her most fulfilling successes stem from her role as an educator—making lasting impressions on the minds of the next generation. As founder of The iSpeakMedia Foundation, Alicia is passionate about helping adolescents—and the people who care for them—better understand their relationship with the media. “I discovered I was an educator during a transitional phase in my life. Since then, I’ve made sure to wrap media literacy around anything I teach and everything I do.” For instance, while at Harpo, Alicia served as Director of Oprah Radio VOICES, a pilot community outreach program she designed and facilitated that introduced media literacy education and production to high school students who had never before ventured beyond Chicago’s south side.
Alicia earned her BA in Broadcast Journalism as well as a Master’s Degree in Media Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She also has a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate for Content Creation for Film, Television, & Digital Entertainment Media from the University of California-Los Angeles Extension. She is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., and a graduate of Milwaukee’s first class of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps national service program.
She is recognized as a champion of media literacy and played an instrumental role in launching Media Literacy Week in the United States in 2015.
For more about her media career visit aliciahaywood.com
