Chris Barrett (born July 24, 1982 in Bryn Mawr,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

) is an American Internet entrepreneur,

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

, and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

who is featured in the 2004

Sundance A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada *Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood *Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated place ...

award winning documentary The Corporation and its 2020 sequel The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel.

Early life and background

Barrett grew up in Bryn Mawr, PA and graduated from

Haddonfield Memorial High School Haddonfield Memorial High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Haddonfield, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary schoo ...

in 2001. Barrett attended Pepperdine University.

Career

First Corporately Sponsored College Student

Barrett launched his entrepreneurial career in high school, during a national search for a corporation to sponsor his college education. In exchange for college tuition, Barrett was willing to be a company's “spokesguy” and wear clothes with the sponsors' logo on them. The inspiration for the came after Chris saw a TV commercial featuring professional golfer and Nike spokesperson

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

wearing Nike logo on his hat. Barrett became the first corporately sponsored college student, when he was named a financial responsibility spokesperson for the credit card company

First USA Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, 2 ...

, which was owned by BankOne. The corporate sponsorship announcement happened on NBC’s The Today Show in June 2001.

Powerhouse Pictures

In 2006, Barrett co-founded Powerhouse Pictures with actor Efren Ramirez. Where he directed the documentary After School, about teacher student sex scandals, which was announced on CNN’s Larry King Live.

Political career

Grassroots For Sanders

In 2015, Barrett co-founded #BernItForward, a web app where you would donate $3 on behalf of 3 friends to the 2016 Bernie Sanders Presidential campaign. He then joined Grassroots for Sanders as an assistant fundraising manager, the organization behind the subreddit r/SandersForPresident, where he helped raise $10 million dollars directly to the 2016 Sanders campaign.

Elected to Office

Inspired by Bernie Sanders progressive politics, in 2017 Barrett joined the

Collingswood, New Jersey Collingswood is a borough in Camden County, New Jersey, located east of Center City Philadelphia. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 13,926, While elected to office, Barrett worked with the

Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

to make the voice of younger, more progressive, voters heard within the

New Jersey Democratic party The New Jersey Democratic State Committee (NJDSC) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of New Jersey. LeRoy J. Jones Jr. is the chair and Peg Schaffer is the vice chair. Structure The NJDSC has a 13-member executive committe ...

. Barrett is an advocate for

legalizing marijuana The legality of cannabis for medical and recreational use varies by country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation, and (in regards to medical) how it can be consumed and what medical conditions it can be used for. These ...

and social justice reform, eliminating student loan debt, and

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

The Corporation

Barrett was featured in

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

award winning documentary film The Corporation is a 2003 Canadian documentary film written by

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

law professor Joel Bakan, and directed by Mark Achbar and

Jennifer Abbott Jennifer Abbott (born January 8, 1965) is a Sundance Film Festival, Sundance and Genie Awards, Genie award-winning film film director, director, film editor, writer, editor, producer and sound designer who specializes in social justice and envir ...

. The documentary examines the modern-day corporation. Barrett was interviewed to discuss being the first corporately sponsored college student. Barrett was also featured in the 2020 sequel, The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel, a Canadian

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

, directed by Joel Bakan and

that premiered at the 2020

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. The film profiles new developments in the political and social power of corporations since the release of the original. After 17 years, Chris Barrett returned in the sequel to share his transformation from being the first corporately sponsored college student to pay for his college education to now being a

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

inspired

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

politician. The film also showcases Barrett's run for political office in New Jersey and becoming an elected official.

Direct Your Own Life

Barrett is co-author of the non-fiction business book ''Direct Your Own Life: How to be a Star in Any Field Your Choose'', published by

Kaplan Publishing Kaplan, Inc. is an American for-profit corporation that provides educational and training services to colleges, universities, businesses and individuals around the world. Founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan, the company offers a variety of test prep ...

(). Barrett and Napoleon Dynamite actor Efren Ramirez co-authored the book aimed at encouraging readers to achieve their life goals.

References

External links

*
Direct Your Own LifeChris Barrett
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Chris American film producers American film directors Living people 1982 births