Sara Hirsh Bordo

Sara previously held positions in media and entertainment including Executive Director of Interactive Marketing at Paramount Pictures, VP of Digital Marketing at MGM Studios, and CEO and Co-Founder of NowLive which was acquired by Live Media Group in 2013. During her experience in entertainment, she was told by her female boss, that she "belonged more in an apron than in an office." Recognizing that women have to champion each other rather than allow each other to feel threatened by each other, Sara founded Women Rising, which is dedicated to empowering women and girls through content and experiences. After more than 10 years away in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, Sara returned to Austin for the opportunity as the Executive Producer for the first TEDxAustinWomen, which ultimately became the #1 viewed TEDxWomen event in the world across 58 countries. After meeting Lizzie Velasquez during TEDxAustinWomen, Sara and Women Rising secured Lizzie's rights to tell her story. Sara's directorial debut, "A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story", broke Kickstarter records with its fundraising campaign becoming one of the site's most successful crowdfunded documentaries of all time. Sara then was hired by Conde Nast to produce and direct an original series, Lizzie's Film, Everyone's Story, for Glamour.com, and in 2016 returned to live experiences by producing, directing, and programming the R3 Summit for Prevention Magazine (Rodale Inc), The Circular Summit, in partnership with Entrepreneur and Inc. magazines, and in January 2017 directed and produced the rally of the Women's March of Texas which became the largest gathering of women in Texas history. Sara then directed and produced, “ProtectHer", a first of its kind sexual assault prevention series and is currently making “We Go Higher: A Documentary of Hope from the 9/11 Kids.” Sara is a member of the Producer's Guild of America New Media Council, was selected to attend The White House Women Entrepreneurship Conference, The White House Champions for Change Summit, and the final White House's It's On Us summit, has been nominated twice for Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneur, and has been featured in publications including Inc., Entrepreneur, Forbes, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, People, The Mighty, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.