Featured People
Anthony Brenner – Founder, Lead Designer of Push Design Anthony is a visionary. He is the heart of Push Design, and is simply one of those rare people whose beliefs, passion and spirit combine to sometimes create something that is simply beautiful and paradigm changing.
Anthony founded Push out of love for his daughter and family, and his unwavering commitment to family and health are at the core of their company values. He is the proud father of two beautiful girls, Avery (6) and Bailey (9), and he is happily married to his wife Jenn, who is currently attending Nursing School. Anthony played college football at Eastern Carolina University, where he received his degree in Environmental Design. After a stint as a professional place kicker, he moved back towards his passion – design.
Anthony and Jenn’s eventual diagnosis of Bailey’s chemical sensitivities led Anthony to the epiphany that eventually catalyzed Push Design. Anthony is a highly acclaimed designer, having won numerous awards and accolades. He continues to be a vocal activist for special needs and autistic children and was named the 2005 Runner Up for the Denver professional athletes Humanitarian Award for excellence in Community Service.
Blaire Johnson, Producer/ Director/Cinematographer/ Editor/Researcher founded Green Hope Productions, LLC in 2009, offering documentary-style productions for groups and individuals working to create a healthier, greener, more sustainable world for us all. Blaire’s short documentary, “Mary’s Gone Wild”, on NC Visionary Folk Artist Mary Paulsen premiered at the 2006 Full Frame Festival, screened at the 2007 Cucalorus Film Festival, appeared on UNC-TV, and traveled to other festivals and screenings thorughout the US. “Mary’s Gone Wild” was fiscally sponsored by the Southern Documentary Fund and received a grant from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.
Recently, Blaire filmed behind the scenes footage for Langley’s McArol’s “Superhero”, and produced two videos for Communities In Schools of Durham. Blaire helped NC Pirate Horatio Sinbad complete a documentary 40-yrs in the making on the building of his 54-ft pirate ship, The Meka II. She has been the lead Videographer on Rockefeller Foundation and Empowerment Project-funded documentaries. In 2004, she received her Certificate in Documentary Studies from Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies. Originally from NYC, Blaire has spent the past 16 years in North Carolina. Blaire first learned about industrial hemp when she stumbled upon Jack Herer’s “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” while working at her beloved Barnes & Noble, where she has was worked for the past 6 years. She moved to the coast of North Carolina in 2010.
Linda Booker, Producer/Director/Lead Interviewer founded By the Brook Productions, LLC in 2005, after completing the Certificate in Documentary Studies Program at Duke University. Her short film “MILLWORKER: The Documentary” chronicled the year-long odyssey of an original and heartfelt grassroots theatre production. Her first feature documentary “Love Lived on Death Row” tells the powerful story of four siblings finding forgiveness and reconciliation with their father who was sentenced to death for their mother’s murder. The film has screened in festivals (including Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, Indie Memphis, Little Rock & New Orleans Film Festivals and Cucalorus), universities, and communities across the USA and internationally since its 2007 release. The film project also received a North Carolina community screening tour grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
Linda has produced videos for non-profits including NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, NC Coalition for a Moratorium and Girls Rock. She created and coordinates the ChathamArts Sustainable Cinema Series, an innovative and award-winning film program in Chatham County, NC.
In 2003 she spearheaded the opening of Second Bloom, a thrift shop benefiting victims of domestic violence and has served on the board of the ChathamArts and Family Violence and Rape Crisis Services. She has volunteered with Chatham County Together!, an at-risk youth mentoring program for over a decade and currently does outreach for their Mentoring Children of Prisoners project.
Linda is a Florida State University graduate with a degree in visual communications. Before her documentary and video work, she was a graphic designer and art director for publications in Florida and North Carolina.
Mark Barroso is a 25-year veteran of television news. Most of his work has been segments for national television news shows, including The Today Show, Dan Rather Reports, also all of the nightly news broadcasts. As a producer for an investigative unit for a local affiliate in Tampa, Florida, he won numerous awards from the AP, UPI, and RTNDA, as well as three state Emmy Awards.
As a soundman, his work included five days with the Rolling Stones for 60 Minutes, and an undercover investigation in Honduras, and a spectacular death scene in a fake hunting accident (ala Dick Cheney) for The Daily Show. He is the recipient of the 2008 Linda Ironside Award for filmmaking.
In 2009 Mark shot, wrote, directed and edited “A Puppet Intervention”, his first feature documentary film about theatrical, radical puppeteers Paperhand Puppet Intervention. His production company based in Chapel Hill is called Fork in the Road Films.
Paige Johnson has been a documentary film enthusiast for a number of years and has worked as an interviewer and researcher for Green Hope Productions since its inception. She received a BS in Biology from Duke University and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. She is working behind the scenes on Bringing It Home assisting with marketing, fundraising and finances.
