Christian Picciolini

Christian Picciolini is an award-winning television producer, a visual artist, and a reformed extremist. His work and life purpose are born of an ongoing and profound need to atone for a grisly past, and to make something of his time on this planet by contributing to the greater good. After leaving the violent hate movement he was part of during his youth, he began the painstaking process of rebuilding his life. While working for IBM, Picciolini earned a degree from DePaul University and later began his own global entertainment media firm. In 2010 and 2011, he was nominated for three regional Emmy Awards for his role as executive producer of JBTV, one of America’s longest-running music television programs. He has worked as an adjunct professor at the college level, and as the community partnerships manager for Threadless. Most notably, in 2010 he co-founded Life After Hate, a nonprofit dedicated to helping others gain the knowledge necessary to implement long-term solutions that counter all types of racism and violent extremism. An explorer by nature, Picciolini loves to learn new things and thrives on challenging himself with “positive disruptive thinking.” He values kindness, sincerity, and respect for all people, and believes that small ideas can change the world.