Don Reed

Don Reed's life and career path are paved with proven indicators of demonstrated commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Read about Reed’s fascinating trajectory from UCLA National Champion speaker to award-winning Storyteller. Hear about his long held 1,000-episode position at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to his real-life stories of diversity being utilized in graduate writing programs by a Guggenheim Fellows.

Reed (NPR Storyteller/Co-Headed NBC Advertising & Promotion Voice Over/Radio Division) is a multi-hyphenate with a career that spans television, stage, and network advertising & promotion. But the fundamental building block of all his successes is that Reed… tells stories.

NPR’s Glynn Washington has deemed him a “master storyteller” with the Mercury News referring to him as “… a solo powerhouse.” He is New York Times, New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle approved with 5 Award-Winning one-man storytelling shows to his credit – NAACP Award Double Nominee – “East 14 th being the flagship production. Reed has shared several hilarious and heartbreaking stories on the NPR hit broadcast Snap Judgment – aired in over 400 cities across the country and downloaded over 2 million times a month. He has traveled extensively with their national tour, performing for thousands and in 2016 was honored with NPR Snap Judgment Storyteller of the Year for his groundbreaking story “I Miss Toni.” It garnered hundreds of thousands of views and has been utilized as an educational tool from high schools to American University’s Master of Fine Arts Graduate Writing Program in D.C. — as a warmly humorous, deeply dramatic look at supporting and loving a trans family member.

Reed first began speaking in Intercollegiate Speech & Debate competition, while a student at UCLA, eventually becoming the overall National Champion for Speech to Entertain. Reed, already an accomplished speaker, began performing stand up in clubs then on HBO, Showtime, Comedy Central, CBS, and more. On the NACA collegiate circuit, he performed standup and motivational speeches to over 300 colleges and universities, to diverse audiences. Reed continues to connect with youth, through equity speaker series and Black History Month campus events. His corporate speaking/performance events include American Accountants Association, Western Digital, Miller Brewing Company, Creative Mornings, PG&E, UCLA Medical Center, 100 Black Men, Transgender Law Center, and many more.

After a run Off-Broadway with one of his one-man storytelling shows, Reed captured the attention of the executive producers of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” After an exhaustive search – they chose him to perform stand up for the live studio audience daily as the warm-up comedian for over 1,000 episodes. The ongoing process of telling stories there was how Reed further perfected his craft .

Reed had always utilized a range of voices in his standup, so the transition into voice-over (Spiderman, Flintstones, 2 Broke Girls, Network Promos) was natural. He began to write V.O. promos as well. Knowing a trailer is simply a short story to sell a larger story, Reed delivered creative and rose to Co-Head the Voice Over/Radio Division for NBC Advertising & Promotion. Initially brought in as a designated hitter on African American themed content – he began to write, direct, and produce advertising for a wildly diverse array of NBC programming (including Will & Grace, Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, The Tonight Show, Friends, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, The Voice, NBC Nightly News, Dateline, The Golden Globes, The Olympics). The fascinating story between Reed’s bond with voice over and how it impacted his views on D&I is revealed in this keynote presentation.

While at NBC he became a PROMAX Award Winner and later founded his own advertising & promotion entity – an entertainment copywriting company that has serviced movie trailers, promos and games for many Fortune 500 network companies and vendors. This work included achieving the position of Head Writer of over 35 spots for NBC Universal’s acclaimed, Emmy Award-Winning PSA initiative “ The More You Know” – focused on Diversity and Anti-Prejudice. Later expanded into Health, Education, the Environment and more.

Reed has been the secret weapon of many a vendor supplying copywriting and promo concepts for Sony, Disney+, ABC, FOX, TBS, FX, MLB, NFL, “Sex and the City, “The Simpsons”, X-Box, PlayStation, “Ultimate Spiderman”, “Shrek SuperSlam”, “Call of Duty” “Halo” and many more). The dynamics experienced working with these corporate entities fuel some of the stories in this EDI presentation.

With over 20 years of experience in the world of storytelling – tales of diversity and inclusion have been the overarching thread throughout Reed’s multi-faceted career. From public speaking to stand-up comedy to advertising for film and television to his solo shows – Stories of cultural diversity and gender inclusivity are at the heart of it all. In addition, Reed has attended and participated in JEDI Discussion Series Training (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion). He is on the Board of Directors of both Elevate Oakland – a non-profit that brings culturally vibrant art, music, and speakers to Oakland’s public schools – and Shotgun Players – a theater company determined to create bold theatre that inspires, challenges and impacts EDI for both artist and audience within the community.

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