Michele Johnsen

Michele Johnsen is an award-winning media and communications expert who specializes in media literacy, public diplomacy, and the effects of digital communication on democracy and culture. She has been an invited media literacy lecturer and panelist at the United Nations Civil Society Conference, The Los Angeles International Visitors Leadership Program (a US State Department program), The California Youth Courts, the University of Irvine International Relations Forum, and at numerous schools, universities and organizational conferences. She has co-taught the University of Washington's Media Literacy Institute since 2022. Michele is author of Media Literacy: A Foundational Skill for 21st Century Democracy, which was published in the of the Hastings Law Journal, and Media Literacy: A Foundational Skill for Cultural Diplomats, which was published by The Journal of Law, Social Justice and Global Development. The goals of Michele’s presentations and research are to build international publics’ media literacy awareness and skills so that individuals of all ages, cultures, religions and nationalities can become empowered media consumers and producers who think critically and make educated decisions about media usage, creation and sharing.

Through the company that she founded in 2004, Ignite Global Good, LLC, Michele works as a communications and strategic messaging consultant for clients in education, nonprofit, arts and technology enterprises. As a journalist, Michele produced the documentary Almost All American, which ran on KQED’s California Report, in the Boston Globe and on PRX. She holds a master of public diplomacy degree from the University of Southern California’s (USC) Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. Her other areas of research include human rights in relation to communications tools and techniques, including cold war era propaganda and informational manipulation. Her writing and production talents have earned her a place on The Center for Public Diplomacy’s list of the “Top Ten Blogs,” an IABC Gold Quill Award, an IABC Silver Six Award, an APEX Award for Publication Excellence, and an Orange County Register Golden Pen Award.