Women's Lecture Luncheon Series

February 18, 2021 | Andrew Och

First Ladies Man

Andrew Och is an award-winning television producer who has traveled the world in search of provocative stories and adventures. In 2012, he began a historical journey as he traversed America for more than a year documenting the lives of every First Lady of the United States for the C-SPAN series, *First Ladies: Influence & Image.” The series aired in 2013 to great acclaim and helped reveal the untold stories behind the ladies of the White House. The First Lady of the United States, or FLOTUS, is one of the most powerful and influential unelected and unpaid women in the world. There is no major for “First Lady” at any university. From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, Och was given an all-access pass to some of the nation’s most treasured collections and historical landmarks. Och, the unequivocal FIRST LADIES MAN, pulls back the curtain on the public and private lives of this unique sorority of women - with the largest complete collection of video and interviews about America’s First Ladies that exists in the world. These are the women that helped build America and it’s all about the ladies.

April 29, 2021 | Laura Ling

One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home

Laura Ling is an award-winning journalist and author and the host of the podcast, “Everyday Bravery,” a series about finding the courage within ourselves to overcome our biggest challenges. She is the host of the Discovery mini-documentary series, “The Power of Kindness,” which looks at the scientific roots and benefits of being kind. As the Director of Development for Discovery Digital Networks, she oversaw the creation and production of the original web series, which has garnered tens of millions of views online. Ling has hosted two documentary series airing on the E! Network: “E! Investigates” and “Society X with Laura Ling.” The shows investigate topics such as teen suicide, the challenges faced by military spouses and underground youth subcultures in America. Prior to joining E!, Ling served as Vice President of Current TV’s journalism department and created “Vanguard,” the network’s weekly investigative documentary series. As a “Vanguard” correspondent, she traveled the world to report on subjects including slave labor in the Amazon, the drug war in Mexico, Internet censorship in China and women’s rights in Turkey. Under her leadership, “Vanguard” received numerous prestigious awards including the Alfred I. DuPont Award and several Emmy nominations. In March 2009, while reporting on the trafficking of North Korean women, Ling and her colleague Euna Lee were detained by North Korean soldiers along the China-North Korea border. The two journalists were arrested and held captive in North Korea for 140 days before being granted a special pardon and returning to the United States. She documented her experience in the 2010 memoir, “Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home,” that she penned with her sister, Lisa. As a correspondent for “SoCal Connected,” the hard-hitting news magazine series airing on KCET, Ling’s work was recognized with both an Emmy and a national Edward R. Murrow award. Ling has served as a producer for Channel One News and co-created “Breaking it Down,” a documentary series on MTV. Her work has also appeared on ABC’s “Nightline,” NBC, and PBS, and she has written editorials for the “Los Angeles Times” and CNN.com.

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