Biography

Florie Brizel has a diversified background in visual and verbal communications. She has earned a reputation as an original and bold thinker who glides easily between cultures and generations. Since 2003, Ms. Brizel has immersed herself in learning about mobile and wireless technology. She believes the rapid, international adoption of mobile use is no less significant a developmental milestone than the Industrial Revolution was at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Unlike the environmental crisis wrought by that change 100 years after its inception, technology-based industries must ensure responsible future growth on a global level to preclude a negative impact on human development.

Having studied filmmaking at NYU, her early career encompassed broadcast advertising (Lord, Geller, Federico, Einstein), television production (MTV/Nickelodeon), newspaper photo editing (The National Sports Daily), and feature film development (“Pollock”). In 1995, she left production to become a freelance writer, which led her to a job as one of two staff writers for a bi-coastal public relations firm (Baker/Winokur/Ryder, now a subsidiary of WPP Group plc), as well as one of two staff writers for a publicly-held company of over 2000 employees (Homestore.com).

Her body of work includes everything from corporate and/or individual bios to press releases, disease-specific information handbooks for rare diseases, high-concept business plans, investment marketing memoranda, case statements for financial support of educational and/or medical institutions, two history books, and a sole researched chapter about wireless connected health (with over 100 references) for an academic social science textbook about mobile communications. This chapter received high praise and the publisher subsequently included it in two academic anthologies.

In addition to her own writing, Ms. Brizel is highly sought after by a variety of clients in the public and private sectors for her ability to analyze their communication objectives and strategize best ways to achieve them. She consults in numerous capacities on other authors’ books and articles (both fiction and non-fiction), and has been hired to write content for several websites. Her ghostwriting has run in such publications as the Los Angeles Business Journal, BillboardNewsmax magazine, among others. She also provides occasional commentary for the LBN E-lert, a daily online and mobile newsletter featuring breaking political, media and entertainment news that currently reaches influencers in all 50 of the United States, plus 26 foreign countries in 11 separate time zones.

In 2009, this dynamic woman was recruited to spend seven weeks in Berlin mentoring 28 exceptional thinkers under age 30 from around the world at Palomar5, a seven-week residency-based technology innovation incubator (funded by Deutsche Telekom). Participants were tasked  with conceiving and prototyping working/living environments of the future, and given access to cutting edge technologies and industry experts to help them achieve this goal. She happily continues to mentor several of these young people.

Ms. Brizel loves science, medicine and technology, and has a mission to use her critical thinking and communication expertise to joyfully make relevant to as many people as possible the extraordinary changes taking place therein daily. She is an advisory board member of the Center for Mobile Studies (CMS) at Xiamen University Malaysia; Mobile Studies International (part of the University of Nottingham/Ningbo, China) and Mobile Studies Africa. She is a consultant to Mobile518: Enhancing Mobile Globally, and is a member of the editorial advisory boards for Mobile Studies International, Mobile Studies Africa, the Center for Mobile Studies (CMS), Xiamen University, Malaysia, and Advances in Wireless Technologies and Telecommunications (a book series published by IGI Global). She is a member of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH), and the Dutch think tank FreedomLab:Future Studies. Her work has been written about in The Huffington Post, and she is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club.

Education & Teaching

Education

New York University, NYC. 1979-81 School of the Arts
• BFA, Filmmaking (concentration: dramatic writing)
University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL. 1978-79
• Selected as one of 19 students university-wide for private writing tutorial with Isaac Bashevis Singer (Nobel Laureate, Literature)
• Selected as chairperson for 1979-80 University Lecture Series
University of Delaware, Dover, DE. 1977-78
• Freshman Honors Program

Teaching

UCLA Extension: Department of Journalism, Public Relations & Fundraising
• Instructor, Winter 2004. “Thinking Outside the Box: Cutting Edge Uses of Print and Electronic Media”
California State UniversityFullerton Guest Lecturer, 2003 & 2004
• Feature Article Writing class
• Media & Propaganda class: “Why Speeches Are Important”
• Communication Week 2004: Innovative Uses of Media in Public
Relations
Whittier Law School
• Guest Lecturer, 2004. “The Use of Name and Likeness as It Relates to Book Publishing”

Honors & Awards

  • FreedomLab: Future Studies. Member, Dutch think tank based in Amsterdam
  • Profiled in The Huffington Post article,The Impact of Cell Phones on Psychology, Community, Culture, Arts and Economics,” written by Jim Luce
  • 3rd Place, 55th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards
    • Online Non-Political Column/Commentary
  • CNN.com, “Why We All Need a Degree in ‘Mobilology”
  • Finalist, 55th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards
    • Daily/Weekly Newspapers – Over 50K
  • Los Angeles Business Journal, “Avoiding Close Calls”
    • Advocacy Journalism