Rise Together Media

04/01/2025

In a time where divisiveness reigns supreme, I’d encourage you to be among the misfits that choose kindness and inclusion in place of fear and prejudice.

Humanity is being asked to stand beside one another — together — without limitations. The goal is simple: Democracy. Not in theory, but in practicum.

Thats my ask of you …

XO,
Dawn

02/28/2025

The greatest thing you can do is live with kindness and intention. That doesn’t mean you accept mediocrity or the bare minimum. It means you choose self respect.

And now, we the people, begin our dissent into disrupting a system designed to keep us down.

I leave you with this:

“Human rights rest on human dignity. The dignity of mankind is an ideal worth fighting for …”

11/01/2024

You learn a lot when you silently observe.

02/12/2024

Getting back to magazine making …

01/09/2024

Creating again feels like my soul has been reinvigorated. I’m actively writing two books. Both are memoirs of sorts (one has all 12 chapters laid out). I’m also happily writing two new series’. Finally broke through my creative slump, have the pilot all but fleshed out on a super personal series I created, and am working on a limited series and making my way through writing the first episode. I have begun work on the docuseries treatment, breaking down story, tentpole events, cadence, etc.

Also thrilled to say I’m working on some interviews, reviews, stories and new designs for both magazines.

This year I am determined to:

Raise capital.
Fund Rise Together Media and secure angel investors.
Sell one of my companies.
Produce projects.
Sell 3 projects.
Do more community outreach.
Build equity partnerships.
Finish my next degree program.
Fuel that passion deep within.
Create new contracts and ensure payments are secured PRIOR to starting the work.
And say NO to things that distract me from my purpose.

This week I’ve also informed my body that it will stop being sick because it’s REALLY annoying. This respiratory thing sucks.

So there you have it.

Go conquer the day! The week! The month! The quarter! The whole damn year.

Here is to ABUNDANCE from the root up!

12/10/2023

Tomorrow I begin a new endeavor as producer and director of a docuseries! I’ll be gone all week and honestly? I am so excited to dig in …

07/18/2023

Happy to share a new piece featuring JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort.

JW Marriott Anaheim has stepped up their game in terms of renovation, innovation, sustainability, art, design, culinary programs ...

07/08/2023

"In the end, what will hurt us most is not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jackson Katz, Phd, is an anti-s*xist activist and expert on violence, media and masculinities. An author, filmmaker, educator and social theorist, Katz has w...

06/07/2023

Being of mixed race should not be something that forces us to pick a side of our own identity

After taking a Latinx/Chicanx course in college, I was assigned a creative project where we discuss one of the many aspects we’ve learned from the class by applying it to a medium of expression that helped us identify cultural gaps in modern day society. This letter was sent to a stranger, as I found it easier to express my own curiosity and truth through a conversation about growing up in America to a family that assimilated as a means of thriving and surviving in a hostile world.

(Please note that family names have been changed for privacy purposes.)

After taking a Latinx/Chicanx course in college, I was assigned a creative project where we discuss one of the many aspects we've learned from the class by

05/10/2023

The award-winning writer-director, Nida Manzoor talks to A.T.O.D about Polite Society, finding her voice and how the backlash of ‘We Are Lady Parts’ made her creatively fearless.
Ten years in the making, writer-director Nida Manzoor brings the genre-bending ‘Polite Society’ to the big screen for an action-packed adventure with a refreshing South Asian twist.

Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society follows aspiring stuntwoman Ria Khan [Priya Kansara] who believes that she must save her older sister Lena [Ritu Arya] from her impending marriage. After enlisting her friends’ help, she attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists. Polite Society (rated 91% on Rotten Tomatoes) is an unmistakably British Comedy that seamlessly evolves into a family drama, heist, action and martial arts movie all-in-one. Through this blending of different genres, Manzoor wanted to explore womanhood and femininity.

“The action genre is quite perfect because being a teenage girl is almost internal angst and it was so fun to be able to use action to externalize those small violences. I love movies so my film was inevitably going to be one that wears its love of film on its sleeve”, says Manzoor.

READ FULL ARTICLE BELOW:

https://atodmagazine.com/2023/05/01/nida-manzoor-talks-polite-society/

Ten years in the making, writer-director Nida Manzoor brings the genre-bending 'Polite Society' to the big screen for an action-packed adventure ...

05/01/2023

I don't know about you, but growing up, my conservative upbringing made s*x a source of shame. I was taught that a body was something to hide, and I can

04/12/2023

We are beyond excited to announce RISE TOGETHER MEDIA is fiscally sponsored by Creative Visions Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that supports creative activists, those that use the arts and media to ignite social change. RTM is:
Creating In The Name of Radical Empathy Through Active Inclusion

Rise Together Media was born out of the idea that its meaning is a verb, a noun, an adjective, and more importantly, a belief system that provides unity and community to creatives and visionaries, novices and experts, who believe that diversity and inclusion are more than mere buzz words. At a time in history when divisiveness is too loud—we refuse to subscribe to that.

We are devoted to the misfits, the courageous, the outliers, the freak flag flyers, the ones who rebel against oppression and rise in the name of togetherness. We want to see women, LGBTQ and BIPOC communities thrive in every way, in all aspects of media from film and television, to tech and publishing, to art and design.

We can't falter in the belief that together we are stronger. We are a community steeped in raising others up. We believe that the tide becomes undeniably strong when those who have been asked to sit down, rise and stand up together. We aim to hire those who believe and practice radical empathy through active inclusion.

I have created this company on my own and am ready for growth. As they say, "If you build it they will come", so I built it! I believe in our mission, and it's time to expand, produce, and employ those who have not been given the platform to utilize their voice.

Join me through Rise Together Media and let's make a lasting difference.

Join me through Rise Together Media and let's make a lasting difference, please give today. Rise Together Media was born out of the idea that its meaning is a verb, a noun, an adjective, and more importantly, a belief system that provides unity and community to creatives and visionaries, novices and...