Christie Marchese is the founder and CEO of Kinema, a social cinema platform building a world-wide network of screening hosts, filmmakers, and filmgoers. Under her helm, the company raised a $2M seed round led by Kindred Ventures and is actively expanding access to engaging film and effectively eliminating theater deserts.

Prior to launching Kinema, Marchese founded a consulting practice that turned into the leading impact agency Picture Motion, and served as CEO for 9 years generating over $10M in revenue and boasting a client roster that included award-winning filmmakers, major studios & streamers, brands and foundations. There she led a team of impact producers, marketing strategists and communication specialists in over 100+ list of campaigns cross a range of issue areas and mediums, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s Before the Flood, Ava DuVernay’s 13TH, Michael Moore’s Where to Invade Next, Katie Couric’s films Gender Revolution, Fed Up and Under the Gun, Shonda Rhimes and Norman Lear’s series America Divided, Dick’s Sporting Goods’ Keepers of the Game, Discovery’s Racing Extinction, The Weinstein Co’s BULLY and Fruitvale Station, and renown artist JR’s Ellis. 

She was previously the Director of Social Action at Righteous Pictures, and led Digital Strategy for the Social Action team at Participant Media, managing initiatives for Waiting for “Superman”, Food Inc, and The Cove among others. 

Christie is known as an expert in utilizing film and storytelling to mobilize change, and has presented her work at film festivals and conferences around the world, including Sundance, SXSW and TIFF, and for both governments and activists in Dubai, Peru and Pakistan. Before moving to a career in impact film, Marchese ran digital strategy for Norman Lear’s nonprofit, Declare Yourself, and spent time at Human Rights Watch and the International Rescue Committee. She has also served as a contributing writer for Mashable and The Huffington Post. 

Previously recognized as one of Business Insider’s 30 Most Creative People in Advertising Under 30 and Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business. She currently sits on the board of Reinvent Stockton, a foundation dedicated dedicated to supporting students in their pursuit of higher education and supporting innovative ways to address poverty and violent crime, as well as Subject Matter, which provides funds & resources to documentary films highlighting urgent social issues and to nonprofits tackling the featured topics.

Marchese holds a BA from SDSU, in both International Security and Conflict Resolution (ISCOR) and Comparative Religions, with a concentration in Arabic and the Middle East.