ProSocial is a social impact consulting firm with a focus on entertainment media as a key driver in culture shift and public engagement.

Since 2007, ProSocial has created impactful audience connections for films, TV/streaming shows, and philanthropic initiatives, shaping public engagement around an array of social issues. We have worked with Amazon Studios, Discovery Communications, IFC Films, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Vulcan Productions, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and O, the Oprah Winfrey magazine, as well as many other organizations, corporations, and philanthropists seeking to reach audiences and build movements.

Despite the word “social” in our name, ProSocial isn’t a social media agency—we’re a social impact agency. In other words, though our work often involves strategic use of social media, our focus is on amplifying and advancing social issues. (We’re also not a think tank, a marketing/PR/communications firm, or an advocacy group—but we regularly work alongside these folks, and our public engagement process borrows from each of these skill sets!)

Our Team

Meredith Blake
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Meredith Blake
Founder & CEO

Meredith Blake, Founder & CEO

The chief strategist of ProSocial, Meredith Blake is a nationally recognized public interest attorney and social entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in creating social change. In the role of Founder & CEO, Meredith works with clients to create deep impact philanthropic initiatives and social impact campaigns grounded in research and with an eye toward sustainability. Prior to launching ProSocial, Meredith worked as Executive Vice President at Participant Media. Among Meredith’s notable achievements at Participant was the social action campaign that accompanied the release of Vice President Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth." Before building the social action department at Participant, Meredith spent 10 years running Break the Cycle, the nonprofit organization she founded to empower youth to end domestic violence. Meredith has been profiled in local and national media and honored by numerous organizations for her work and has served as keynote speaker and panelist at leading conferences such as the Sundance Producer’s Lab and Media that Matters. She has served on the boards of Healthy Child, Healthy World and PS1 Pluralistic School and as an advisor to a number of nonprofit organizations going for second-stage funding and national scale. She also is a member of Pleiades Network, an organization that inspires, recognizes, and advances women's leadership in creating a more sustainable world.

 

   
Michael J. Yuda
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Michael J. Yuda
CFO

Michael J. Yuda, CFO

Michael has his degree in accounting from California State University, Northridge. He has an extensive tax background, beginning with work for the Internal Revenue Service as a Revenue Agent and continuing in the tax department of Green Hasson & Janks. After GH&J, Michael became a partner at the entertainment-focused Beverly Hills CPA firm Singer & Tiano. With a desire to branch out on his own, in 1983 Michael founded his own firm, serving large, medium, and small business and personal clients. Before joining the ProSocial team, Mike also had a long history of lending his time and expertise to the nonprofit sector as a volunteer and a board member. To ProSocial, Mike brings this passion for social change, along with experience in the entertainment, finance and accounting sectors. At the agency, Michael leads financial administration, business planning, and budgeting. Michael is licensed as a CPA in both California and Hawaii, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Hawaii Society of Certified Public Accountants.

 

   
Sadie Van Gelder
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Sadie Van Gelder
Director, Strategy & Communications

Sadie Van Gelder, Director, Strategy & Communications

Sadie brings a background in media, content marketing, and nonprofit work to her role at ProSocial. She has held editorial positions at five national magazines, specializing in covering health and psychology for consumer audiences. Sadie also has a strong interest in projects related to the well-being of children and families. A certified parenting coach, she has taught classes and assisted with nonprofit outreach aimed at supporting parents. As a content marketing consultant for an agency working with Fortune 500 companies, she worked on a website aimed at parents of children who have ongoing health challenges. Earlier in her career, she edited the quarterly newsletter of the nonprofit Break the Cycle, focused on supporting young people to build healthy relationships and create a culture without abuse.

 

   
Laura Rivas
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Laura Rivas
Chief of Staff

Laura Rivas, Chief of Staff

Laura has a background in quantitative and qualitative program evaluation and has aided in the design and implementation of multidisciplinary projects for nationally recognized agencies. Working on behalf of community-based organizations, governmental entities, and philanthropists, she has led participatory research, conducted ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews/life histories, facilitated capacity building and advocacy efforts, designed culturally sensitive surveys, and conceptualized organizational theories of change. In addition to a passion for research, evaluation, and policy, she brings expertise in juvenile justice, Chicano/a studies, women’s studies, global studies, and sociology. She earned an MPP (Master of Public Policy) with an emphasis in social, urban, and nonprofit policy, and an MSW (Master of Social Welfare) with an emphasis in organizations, communities, and policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

 

   
Liz Brody
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Liz Brody
Writer/Editor

Liz Brody, Writer/Editor

Liz’s career as a journalist has taken her from sleeping on the street with homeless teens to writing celebrity cover features. Through it all, she’s learned how to tell a good story and what makes people care. For 15 years she served as news and health director at O, the Oprah Magazine and Glamour where she focused on covering sexual assault, trafficking, domestic violence, mental health, and equality and won a National Magazine Award for a deep report on dating abuse. Where possible, she created projects that had impact on the ground, like six collections of “O bracelets'' made by East African women, paid high wages, with ongoing coverage in O Magazine. She has also written about health, business, and tech (published in places like the Los Angeles Times, OneZero and Entrepreneur) and done websites for nonprofits. Her favorite accomplishment, though, was touring as a breakdancing Alvin in Alvin & the Chipmunks. Nothing beats spinning on your back for a stadium of kids.

 

Larry Eason
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Larry Eason
Strategic Advisor

Larry Eason, Strategic Advisor

Larry is a senior strategist with over 30 years of experience helping nonprofits, NGOs, and social impact businesses succeed. Larry specializes in helping organizational leaders design and execute innovative programs, forge win-win partnerships, and tell their stories. After 17 years running campaigns and building nonprofit organizations, Larry co-founded and built a boutique digital agency, which was acquired in 2005. After three years working with PR/Communications agencies, Larry founded DotOrgPower, where he advised national and global clients such as RAND Corporation, the Global Innovation and Collaboration division of World Vision International, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, International Medical Corps, Social Venture Partners, Sustain Global Partnership (collaboration of World Vision, CARE, UPS, TNT, Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton), Charity Navigator, California Department of Mental Health, Alliance for Children and Families, and others. Larry brings to ProSocial his domain expertise in the areas of health, children’s health, education, sustainability and the environment, and humanitarian/base-of-pyramid development. In addition to advising clients in these areas, Larry has served as board chair of Healthy Child Healthy World and is a founding member of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ Digital Advisory Committee. Larry is a USC Jesse Unruh Fellow, lecturing and mentoring USC undergraduates on communications, politics, and current events. A surfer, potter, and painter, Larry lives in Pomona with his wife, daughter, and five rescue dogs.

 

   
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