Prayer is a critical part of the mission at The Influence Lab and Influence Women. This month, Kathleen Cooke, co-founder of Influence Lab and global director of Influence Women, was invited to pray at the She Leads America Election Day National Prayer event. Joining 85 of the She Leads America honorees, including Dr. Alveda King; Ginger Howard, Former Republican National Committeewoman for Georgia; and Eve Nunez, the Vice President of Networking for National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; she was honored to be a featured prayer leader.
The event gathered leading women together online for early morning prayer to lift up the United States as the polls opened nationwide. As an honoree of She Leads America, Kathleen prayed for professionals in the media industries within the U.S. to exercise their civil liberties and vote.
“Leadership matters, and leaders supporting leaders turn the dial.” —Kathleen Cooke
Liz Doyle, founder and executive director of She Leads America, reports, “We took off our shoes because each spot we were praying from was ‘holy ground’ as we petitioned the commander of the Lord’s army for the sake of our nation.”
In 2022, Kathleen received the She Leads America Award and a Certificate of Congressional Record for her outstanding work in the media and entertainment industry at a ceremony held in Washington, DC. This year, on special invitation, she joined 50 nationally recognized women of distinction from the U.S. and U.K. at Windsor Castle to explore faith-based solutions to counterbalance the attack on biblical values within both cultures.
Kathleen believes “Leadership matters, and leaders supporting leaders turn the dial.” Her leadership talent is what has helped expand Influence Women into major film and television production hubs in the U.S. Dedicated to seeing Christian women take their place as faith-filled leaders influencing media and the arts, chapters can now be found in Hollywood, Orange County, California; Atlanta, Nashville, Baton Rouge, Houston and Dallas.
Pray for The Influence Lab and Influence Women! Partner with us in prayer as we equip pastors and leaders around the world in digital and media strategies to share the gospel effectively.
Partner with us financially! Support the work—make a difference! Media is a powerful way to affect change. Add your gift to support the mission here.
Growing up in “Sin City” – Las Vegas, Nevada – I was exposed to the perception of glamour, bright lights, and stardom. Headliners like Elvis, Frank Sinatra, and the Beatles, to name a few, came and went regularly. The enticements and applause of the performing stages were “candy” for the stars. They thrived on it. Halloween, as a kid, was a night when kids got to get in on the “tricks” of the bright light culture of Las Vegas. It was one night a year when we participated in what we saw in real life every day – people going into casinos, taking chances, getting tricked, looking for stardom, and hoping to walk out prosperous and contented – the candy.
For us, growing up… Halloween was always about make-believe and the candy.
Candy was our big payoff on Halloween night. The more we had, the better. When I raised my two girls in Burbank, CA which has been called “The Media Capitol of the World,” “Media City,” or generally known to most as “Hollywood,” Halloween was about make-believe and grabbing as much candy as you could. In fact, my girls didn’t want buckets for their house-to-house marathon run – they wanted a pillowcase. Halloween was second only to Christmas as the biggest event of the year.
Burbank was full of Hollywood industry professionals. Set designers, prop masters, make-up artists, costumers, and a whole gamut of creative artists. The houses were elaborately decorated and built close together so you could go from house to house quickly and easily. The professional artists went out of their way to entice kids into their game of illusion and make-believe, and it was lots of fun.
With memories of my family fun-filled Halloween nights growing up in Las Vegas, I wanted my two daughters to have the same fun of dressing up in a well-thought-out costume and taking on the perception of what it would be like to be that character for one night and in the land of the movies there were lots of characters to choose from. We always made it a point to ensure that Halloween wasn’t about terror but make-believe and “fun scary.” My girls were also raised from an early age with Biblical knowledge–Satan and his demons are real, wicked, and exist–and they were taught not to play around with the genuine aspects of evil and the paranormal. We taught them that Halloween was a game of illusion and fantasy, and we used the holiday event as a teaching moment to discern the differences.
There is a lot of controversy today within the Christian Church on how and what to teach about the good and bad of Halloween. It has to do with understanding the difference between paranormal and paranoia. It wasn’t about being afraid or living in fear for my girls. It was about fun, make-believe, and candy. I think the controversy within the Church is a ploy of the devil to rattle Christian belief chains and divide and confuse us over innocent fun. When children and adults are secure in their beliefs and their knowledge of who God is, a night of dress-up and scary fun isn’t threatening or feared. My girls knew the difference, which helped them define the two worlds of good and evil.
I am looking forward to Halloween and seeing my grandchildren take part in the illusion of scary things and knowing that they don’t live in the fear of evil and death but in the knowledge of their eternal life in Jesus. He conquered evil and death; as believers, we have nothing to be paranoid about. My grandkids have put on the “full armor of God” before their Halloween costume. Halloween is a night of make-believe, fun, and candy.
Award-winning producer and media executive Kathleen Cooke gathers women in media at NRB 2024 in Nashville for connection and collaboration opportunities within Influence Women.
Los Angeles, CA (February 6, 2024) — Birthed in Hollywood and expanding to production hubs nationwide, Influence Women is raising a new generation of professional female leaders in media, entertainment and the arts. Founded by media executive Kathleen Cooke, the women’s initiative will host a special gathering for women in media at NRB 2024 in Nashville. “Connect and Collaborate – An Influence Women Event at NRB” will feature women who are “leading the way” in creating movies, TV shows, music and artistic projects with excellence on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center.
“Influence Women are developing and creating projects – films, books, podcasts and other creative works that influence our culture in positive ways,” states Kathleen Cooke. “Despite the challenges in the industry, these women are finding ways to ‘make it happen’ and achieve success.”
Influence Women hosts the “Connect and Collaborate” event at NRB 2024.
Founded in 2014 under the umbrella of the nonprofit The Influence Lab, Cooke’s initial goal for the Hollywood women’s group was to inspire thought, educate, and ignite Christian women working in media and entertainment. Influence Women experienced explosive growth from those beginnings, expanding to Orange County, California, and then spreading across the country to Nashville, Atlanta, and Baton Rouge, with a new branch launching this month in Houston.
Focusing on mentorship and leadership programs, Influence Women provides a powerful platform for women to be a force for change in the entertainment industry. Additionally, the group offers Christian community and helps women build the kind of faith that will unleash their calling and purpose in the film, television and creative arts industries.
To interview Kathleen Cooke during NRB 2024, email laura@laurawoodworth.com. To attend “Connect and Collaborate – An Influence Women Event at NRB” register here.
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About Kathleen Cooke, Founder – Influence Women Co-Founder/Media Executive, The Influence Lab/Cooke Media Group
Kathleen Cooke is an award-winning producer, actor, speaker, writer, and co-founder of Cooke Media Group and the nonprofit The Influence Lab. She leads Influence Women, a nonprofit organization for Christian media professionals with branches in Hollywood, Orange County, Atlanta, Nashville and Baton Rouge offering mentorship, career development and a faith community for women in the film, television and arts industries. Author of “Hope 4 Today: Stay Connected to God in a Distracted Culture,” she has appeared on top national and international radio, podcast and television shows including CBN and TBN, and her articles carried by Avail Leadership and Charisma Magazine. Find out more at KathleenCooke.com and InfluenceWomen.org
2023 was a year of IMPACT for The Influence Lab and its women’s initiative, Influence Women.
Thank you to the many generous friends who partnered with us to provide media and digital strategy training and support to ministry leaders in multiple nations including:
Brazil
India
Russia
Canada
Amsterdam
South Africa
Thailand
The breadth of the impact literally numbers into the millions with speaking and training events attended by influential pastors and ministry leaders as well as Christian communicators and businessmen.
Here are a few highlights…
Pastor Paulo Mazoni leads the 20,000 member church in Belo Horizonte.
One event in Brazil was attended by 150 pastors from across the nation responsible for nearly four million church members, while another event was attended by 7,000 pastors, church and small group leaders. Yet another was attended by 20,000 church leaders and members at one of the largest church in Brazil.
In just this year alone, Phil’s “Maximize Your Influence” book has been translated into Portuguese, Russian, Tamil (India), and Indonesian, training pastors with effective digital strategies for their churches and ministries.
What began as a simple Russian translation of Phil Cooke’s “Maximize Your Influence – How to Make Digital Media Work for Your Church, Your Ministry, and You” has evolved into a bi-annual training program for evangelical pastors and ministry leaders across Russia.
Participants in the Thailand meetings included leaders from the Christian TV station in Seoul, South Korea, independent producers from across the nation, and pastors and church media leaders from churches throughout Asia.
Influence Women exploded with growth in 2023.
Focused on raising a new generation of professional female leaders in media, entertainment and the arts, its mentorship and leadership programs provide a powerful platform for women to be a force for change in the entertainment industry.
Influence Women gathered at NRB 2023.
First launched in Hollywood, Influence Women has grown to include chapters in production hubs across the country, including Orange County, California; Atlanta and Nashville with a new chapter launching in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2024!
The Influence Women podcast released its first episode November 2024. Hosted by Kathleen Cooke and featuring film and television industry professionals, this new platform presents another way to inspire women in the arts in their faith and careers.
Influence Women are developing and creating projects – films, books, podcasts and other creative works – that influence our culture in positive ways.
For more, read the year’s The Influence Lab news reports here.
Thank you, Influence Lab partners, for making this year a year of impact. Your generosity is making a difference as the gospel is being shared in effective and creative ways at home and abroad.
We are grateful for considering us a trusted organization whose heart is to fulfill the greatest commission given – to tell of God’s great love and redemption.
Phil and Kathleen Cooke Founders The Influence Lab/Influence Women
2024 promises to be another busy year. Kathleen’s keeping her suitcase packed and her running shoes on!
Are you attending NRB 2023 in Orlando? If you’re a woman working in media, entertainment, arts, music or leadership, here’s a special Influence Women event you won’t want to miss!
Hollywood Decentralized: Why You Don’t Have to Live in LA to be a Female Filmmaker Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at the Orlando World Center Marriott 7:00-9:00 pm ET Contact us for details at info@influencewomen.org
Do you have to live in Hollywood to pursue a career in the industry? In this panel talk, Kathleen Cooke and top Christian women filmmakers and influencers will discuss the pros and cons of living in LA while exploring the options of other production hubs across the nation. The pandemic and valuable tax incentives have opened new film and television production hubs across the nation, and with it, tremendous opportunities for female filmmakers.
Sharing “boots on the ground” insight, attendees will gain actionable steps to pursue their careers outside of the Hollywood system in places like Florida, Atlanta, Nashville and Dallas. Writers, actors, directors, producers and crew members will gain valuable information to navigate their careers successfully in a new decentralized film industry.
Find out more about this special Influence Women event here. For more details and to request an invitation, contact us at info@influencewomen.org
Although Influence Women has its roots in Hollywood, this “branch” of The Influence Lab is spreading across the country. With chapters in key production cities like Nashville, Atlanta, Orange County and Hollywood, Influence Women are creating mentoring and supportive communities as they pursue their callings in media, entertainment, arts, music and leadership.
Become a member of Influence Women today! Get more information here.
