Avenger of the Week | Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon (right) along with Mónica Ramírez and Marai Larasi at the Commemoration of International Women's Day 2018 at United Nations Headquarters. Photo credit: UN Women [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0], via Flickr.

In 2016, Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon started the Hello Sunshine media company to produce more women-centered stories through film, television, audio, social and digital channels, and more. This month, she sold the company for a reported $900 million to a new company and will continue to run Hello Sunshine.

Witherspoon said the Hello Sunshine deal is an endorsement of her bet that Hollywood needs more stories told by and for women.

Hello Sunshine has had major successes with the Emmy-winning Morning Show on Apple TV about two women in the news industry, Big Little Lies on HBO about domestic violence secrets in suburbia, and Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu about two very different women in a suburban community.

According to the New York Times, “With the nearly $1 billion agreement, Ms. Witherspoon is moving beyond the roles that made her famous — in films like Legally Blonde, Wild, Walk the Line and Election — and into the ranks of Hollywood’s power brokers.”

Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine’s chief executive, Sarah Harden, will both have equity in and serve on the board of the new yet-to-be-named company. The Blackstone-backed company is headed by former high-level Walt Disney Company executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. They plan to acquire other entities to meet the demand for more content across all the growing streaming services. Hello Sunshine is also the home of Reese’s Book Club, which has more than two million followers and a corresponding app, so books could be a big part of future growth.

New Orleans-born and Nashville-raised, Witherspoon modeled as a child, was a debutante, and was selected for the female lead in the film Man in the Moon when she applied to be an extra at 14. An avid reader, she attended Stanford University before leaving to pursue her acting career. She is married and has three children.

For demonstrating the financial and entertainment power of women-centered media stories and having the business savvy to launch women as leads across so many networks, Reese Witherspoon is our Avenger of the Week.

For her using her power to create women-centered media stories and launching women as leads across so many networks, @ReeseW is the @GenderAvenger #AvengerOfTheWeek. Through @hellosunshine, she’s taking her opportunities and paying them forward. #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/avenger-of-the-week-reese-witherspoon