Brooklyn, NY; January 9, 2016—What's The 411TV, a Brooklyn-based media company, today, announced its list of 25 People to Watch in 2017; and 46-year veteran of celebrity and entertainment public relations, Angelo Ellerbee, president and CEO of Double XXPosure Media Relations and author of the new book Ask Angelo, tops the list.
A designer by training, Angelo Ellerbee started his business focused on entertainment 46 years ago, and his life is a clear example that relationships matter. Angelo got his start in entertainment publicity working on the film, Native Son, which starred Oprah Winfrey. The Native Son gig came about because of his association with James Mtume, a Grammy Award-winning R&B musician, songwriter, and radio personality, who created the music for the film. Angelo met James Mtume, because Mtume's wife, also a designer, often attended Angelo's shows. From film publicity to recording artist publicity, Angelo's business took off. He became the "go to" publicity firm for record companies' Black music divisions, particularly from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
As in years past, the eclectic list consists of people interviewed by What's The 411TV reporters primarily as exclusives.
Courtney Rashon is a celebrity makeup artist and beauty consultant; owner of Pretty Girl Gang Cosmetics; television host with the award-winning television show, What's The 411; and now, Courtney is the author of the new book, Giving Face: The Art To Looking Flawless For Every Occasion.
Past personalities on What's The 411TV's list previously named 25 Most Interesting People include: Harry Belafonte; documentary photographer Steven Somerstein; the late Maya Angelou; Serena Williams; NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan; authors James Paterson and Ta-Nehisi Coates; breast cancer survivor and founder of Beating Cancer in Heels CEO, Marlena Ortiz; Motown Founder, Berry Gordy; Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov; New York Knicks great and Basketball Hall of Famer Willis Reed; Basketball Hall of Famer and entrepreneur Earvin "Magic" Johnson; NFL player Richard Sherman; former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson; former WNBC-TV news anchor Sue Simmons; and more.
Based in Brooklyn, New York, What's The 411TV connects sophisticated multi-cultural audiences with its content through its distribution platforms of television, online, and mobile.
What's The 411TV produces two weekly television shows, What's The 411, an award-winning entertainment and lifestyle television show and What's The 411Sports, a sports news and commentary television show. The company covers the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, New York Giants, US OPEN, and other sports events.
What's The 411TV's celebrity portfolio consists of interviews with Magic Johnson, Beyonce, Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Hudson, and many, many more.
Ruth J. Morrison is the CEO and Founder of What's The 411 Networks, an integrated media, marketing, and events, company, which produces the award-winning weekly news and information television show, What's The 411; What's The 411Sports, and the soon-to-be, What's The 411Business.
A video streaming pioneer, Ms. Morrison developed and launched from conception the City of New York's multi-channel cable television network and served as a Communications Director and Legislative Advisor to a New York member of the U.S. Congress. She is the first African-American independent television producer to have a weekly television show on WNYC-TV and for three years, she worked in Brasil as an entertainment and television licensing consultant for an American company.
Ms. Morrison earned a master's degree in Interactive Telecommunications from the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and she was a Communications Fellow at the Annenberg Washington Program of Northwestern University. She taught courses in telecommunications at Fordham University and she completed her coursework towards a Ph.D. in Political Science at Columbia University.