User:Theresa O'Neal/sandbox

Theresa O'Neal is a brand building professional with over 20 years of experience in communications, marketing, development and fundraising. She has worked with organizations such as Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, The American Cancer Society, Viacom, Bee Season Consulting, EDCSPIN and a host of other non-profits, small businesses and entrepreneurs.

O’Neal’s career path has been diverse but her focus remains simple: helping those who help others. After decades of professional and personal experience, she realized she could align her network of resources to advance one thing, the common good. Her interests were peaked early on, in her work as a Public Affairs Director where she contributed to well-known pro-social initiatives such as Nickelodeon’s The Big Help and Let’s Just Play, Nick at Nite and TV Land’s Family Table and Spike TV’s Check up or Check Out.

It was a world within which she thrived, connecting people with causes. O’Neal’s contributions grew beyond her post at MTV Networks and she became a go-to person, who encouraged an environment of diversity and inclusion. Known for being outspoken yet compassionate, she was rewarded with a 2002 MTV Networks Diversity Award for her dedicated service as Diversity Council Member. She departed from MTVN in 2004 and began a full-time career in marketing, public relations and business development. She soon joined forces with her protégé Brian Dodson, a successful fundraiser who has raised millions for non-profits worldwide. Together they grew Bee Season Consulting which focuses on furthering the fundraising advancements of organizations, especially during challenging economic climates.

In November 2012, O’Neal helped launch Everybody Paddles, a movement inspired by Author Charles Archer which focuses on partnerships, associations, collaborations and togetherness. The first chapter of the book is written by O’Neal, entitled “Community Begins At Home”. In it she passionately reveals where she received her first, real life lessons in philanthropy and what inspired her to care for others. O’Neal’s roster of clients include authors, performing artists, actors, comedians, clergy, designers, doctors and entrepreneurs. She and her clients have been featured on The Today Show, MSNBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News as well as featured many publications such as in O Magazine, The Network Journal, The New York Times, Daily News, New York, Post, Essence and Black Enterprise Magazine.

She remains a sought after public speaker who continues to mentor young men and women on career paths and personal life choice, most recently speaking with students of Pratt University and The After School Corporation (TASC) at New York University’s Kimmel Center, sponsored by the New York Times.