We were lucky to catch up with Kathleen Cooke recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kathleen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My favorite toy that kept me occupied as a young girl was an outdoor trashcan that my mom filled with thrift store finds and her cast-offs that I used for costumes for the plays I’d create in my backyard. She even had Victorian handmade Barbie dolls made for me so I could re-enact classic stories like Little Women. The performance bug consumed me growing up in the city of Las Vegas, which had no fine arts – no ballet companies, live theater, opera, or symphony orchestras. It was a city driven by celebrities and pop culture shows. I loved movies and all things theatrical.

I, however, lived in a desert- literally and figuratively.

From an early age, I recognized isolation and the need to gather like-minded creative people together. I wanted to share my stories and theatrical endeavors. When I moved to Hollywood in 1991, the still constant urge to perform and create was finally realized. My husband and I had two daughters, and we launched our production company – Cooke Media Group. Our work was diverse. We did corporate commercials, infomercials, and training videos, and our company slowly grew to produce TV shows and movies. My husband directed and produced, and I learned to do just about anything that was required, from casting actors to all areas of production work, including craft services and a few acting roles I would cast myself in.

We were always in a state of rain or drought working in the media industry.

Yet we never stopped learning and growing our relationships in the industry. The business is about collaboration and trusting the people you work with and for. It is about supporting each other in a rollercoaster production world. Those who had build solid caring relationships survived. Each helped each other out. As the recent writer’s strike continues presently and a possible SAG/AFTRA stake threatens to happen, and the price of living continues to escalate, those in the industry need each other more than ever.

It’s why we (my husband Phil and I) were compelled to launch our nonprofit, The Influence Lab and Influence Women.

We know the need for creatives to be mentored and encouraged. We know that the industry is constantly changing, and to stay competitive, you have to be excellent – trusted to perform. Production work is working with many different kinds of people, each with unique personalities. Leadership skills are required. Caring is required. Community is essential. We have always approached the business from a relational position. When we produce a project, we go to great lengths to ensure that the set is professional but also fun. Screaming is not allowed. And doing your homework is vital. Our cast and crews have always worked hard and gone the extra mile to do what it takes to create the best final product. But we work with real people who have real lives and real issues.

Encouragement, inspiration, mentoring, and grace have to be activated and facilitated.

This happens often outside the hours of work. My spiritual foundation as a believer in Christ Jesus and His teaching and wisdom is foundational to me and the work I do. Biblical wisdom lies at the foundation of our production company. Love your neighbor as yourself, serve others, be humble, care for the poor in spirit, be a peacemaker, be kind, be good, and give back are all words of wisdom and proven leadership skills that have brought success and sustainability not only to our company but to me. Giving back for us had to be incorporated, especially into our company. We wanted to mentor and support others in the industry, but we also wanted to teach them how to teach others. Through years of working in Hollywood, stories of media and entertainment professionals throwing fits and losing it on production sets are rampant. It comes from long hours of work, overwork, personal relationships, and life issues. Personal disruptions can and often do affect the entire cast and crew and can even affect the outcome of the production. Influence Lab and Influence Women were launched so that students and professionals can be mentored to use media effectively to tell their stories. We bring in speakers to encourage and support each other and to inspire artistic and creative excellence. It was created so that those working in the industry could grow relationships and know they weren’t isolated or alone.

Creative and artistic work requires vulnerability.

It never bothered me as a child creating plays in my backyard that my costume wasn’t perfect or that my plays were simple and silly. I performed for anyone that would stop and watch them. As I matured and began to be judged, my openness began to close. I would need to practice and perfect my creative work before I could risk performing them for someone. I had to trust select people to give me constructive feedback and evaluate my work. Artists are vulnerable people, and their art is connected to their heart and their identity. Having a safe community that understands how one’s emotions and feelings are intertwined in a creative endeavor is needed, longed for, and often not found by artists. I believe that if artists are to thrive, they must have this kind of community to which they can connect into. And, they must have a spiritual connection to a higher source – God. God introduced Himself to mankind in the first verse of the Bible as the Creator, “In the beginning God created” Genesis 1:1. God gave us the gift of His creative power to tap into endless resources. As we see, taste, feel, and hear things, our senses are ignited to think and see things differently and uniquely. He empowers us to be bold and vulnerable and to aspire to excellence, I am passionate about wanting others to know who God can be and how He can empower and comfort them in their artistic work. Influence Women brings together like-minded women who care for each other and understand the creative process. They understand the challenges because they have known them their selves. They have felt the loneliness, frustrations, and suffering that are required to be an artist. When artists lack this kind of community, they are left many times with reaching for destructive substances that can fill their lives and ease their pain. Rejection is real and often, and financial stability is a constant threat. In today’s face-paced and competitive industry, we need each other. It’s why I can’t just work in the industry for a paycheck, I am compelled to give to others and teach them how to give, forgive, care, and love because I have seen how rewarding it is. What’s so amazing is that my work to see others flourish has brought me joy. The artistic projects that I have done have brought me many trophies and temporary happiness, but my work with Influence Lab and Influence Women and seeing others succeed has brought lasting joy and rich deep relationships. It is work not about me but about others. It is work I pray others will join me in doing.

Kathleen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into the industry because I could not not become an artist. It was who I was from an early age. Hard work, discipline, grit, and faith in God propelled me. I began to travel to over 40 global cities and countries, speaking and teaching on how to use media effectively and encouraging others to align their faith and career with purpose and a heart that cares for others. I wrote a devotional – Hope 4 Today: Stay Connected to God in a Distracted Culture, to encourage and challenge artists to read the Bible and see their lives change in a positive direction. The pandemic allowed my years of traveling to align my associations and contacts nationally and internationally. I began producing webinars and seeing women connect online and not just at in-person events. The Influence Journal grew and went from a women’s monthly publication to a gender-free weekly journal with over 2,000 weekly readers. Our monthly webinars forced on mentoring and inspiring professionals now serve to weave the global audience together that I had been cultivating pre-pandemic.

Since in-person gatherings have begun again, I have been actively growing Influence Women’s local gatherings. In less than a year, we now have four national groups – Hollywood, Atlanta, Nashville, and Orange County – with many inquiring about how to launch a chapter in their community. We launched a national online Bible study program and membership program, and we host regular online 6-week mentorships for the whole woman. One of our first initiatives to facilitate the growing audience was launching the interactive Influence Women website. This enables us to bring local, national, and global communities together, and we see women being added to the roster daily.

Influence Women has grown faster than I ever thought or imagined in a very short time. We are experiencing growing joys and not focusing on “pains.” I tell people, “I’m keeping my tennis shoes on and tied these days.” As with any organization, we need supporters, donors, mentors, and prayer to keep our mission aligned and on target.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Several years ago, I was producing a large conference gathering for media and entertainment industry professionals to mentor and encourage each other on the CBS studio lot in LA. We were taking over a huge soundstage with hundreds of people attending and bringing in top speakers and leaders in the industry. I had never produced such a big event there before, and I often found myself wondering if I knew what I was doing. As I was setting up the event the day before, the head of the grip department, whose staff was assisting me, stopped me and said, “I need to see you now!” With a fearful heart, thinking I had messed up already, I followed him into his office. He looked sternly at me and said, “Do you know what you’re doing?” My only answer was, “I hope I do.” He then said, “Let me tell you what you’re doing. You’re answering our years of prayers. He went on to tell me that his staff often disliked the shows that were produced on the soundstages they had to work on. Many had content that was often not very positive or wholesome. So his staff would go in and clean the stage after the show ended its shooting, and they would pray that if the show brought moral and social decay, it would have a short life. He then went on to say that the last thing they would do would be to paint the floor for the next production to come in. As they painted the floor with each stroke of their brush, they would pray for a new production to come in that could bring life-giving stories and bring in positive moral values to those that watched them. He then told me, “We painted the floor for you last night with tears in our eyes. You have answered our prayers. You are bringing in industry professionals for this conference who want to produce life-giving content of hope and light. That’s what you’re doing.”
I often remember this story each time I am challenged to find the money and resources and create events that will ignite a new generation to bring light and life-giving content to our screens today. There are many who are laboring with me in love for, goodness and kindness and peace through life-changing storytelling and artistic endeavors. It inspires me still to labor on. Our world needs life-giving artists and creative people more than ever. We are addicted to our screens, and much of what we see in them causes anger, depression, and a lack of hope. Instead of getting frustrated and angry at what we see, let’s support those who can change what we’re seeing and hearing. Let’s support those who can bring positive stories, light, and hope.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I have been blessed and honored to have Jean Christen, our Influence Women’s COO come to work beside me. Jean comes from a marketing and publishing background, and during the pandemic, her 12-year-old daughter’s friend tried to commit suicide after watching a show that teaches teens how to do so. It angered Jean so much she had to do something. Having worked in the corporate world, she knew that programs like these have to be green-lit by a group of professionals who sit around a table and decide to invest in these kinds of destructive shows. Who does that? Where are the professionals who can produce and green-light life-giving content – positive content? She found me and Influence Women by watching one of our webinars with a producer who was doing just that and sought me out. So I recruited her! We work on an all-volunteer basis because we’re passionate about changing the minds and hearts of the world to bring light and love through great storytelling and creative endeavors. Jean has been instrumental in moving Influence Women forward at record speed. But we both know there is much yet to be done. We are presently working on the steps needed to sustain its growth. There are more professionals in other cities are wanting to start chapter groups which require additional funding and administrative and event costs. We are looking for grants and individual and corporate donors that catch the vision and are willing to help support us in our mission.      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://influencewomen.org…… and…. https://influencelab.com
• Instagram: @influencewomenhollywood – @influencewomennashville – @influencewomenatlanta @influencewomenOC and @theinfluencelab
• Facebook: @influencewomenhollywood – @influencewomenOC – @theinfluencelab
• Twitter: @influencewomenH and @influencelab
• Youtube: Influence Women – Influence Lab

Image Credits
Karissa Neff Marbie Waite Elyse Jakowski