Derek Haskell: Entrepreneur Philanthropist Born February 16, 1980 in Cook County Illinois, to an early childhood educator Karen Haskell and a day laborer Derek Lemonte Haskell Sr. As the middle and only male child of three, Derek Haskell quickly took on a leadership role among his siblings. At the age of four, Derek and his family moved to Los Angeles California, in the search of economic advancement within the areas of education, employment opportunities, and an overall better quality of life.

As a child, Derek’s parents kept him involved in various after school recreational activities; he played football from the age of 9 years old through college (which included two years semi-pro for the Augusta Seminoles, in Augusta, Georgia). Derek received his Bachelors of Arts, in International Business Management, from Paine College, a historical Black College in August Georgia. While in college, Derek worked as a counselor on an international youth training program, partnered with the United States Armed Forces with military children based at the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Shortly after counseling children reared within the Military Industrial Complex, Haskell found himself working with kids who were reared in the Prison Industrial Complex (Youth Detention Center Complex) as a direct care staff and youth drug rehabilitation counselor in Georgia. In 2006, Haskell moved back to Los Angeles to open his own media production company, Pressline Entertainment, LLC .

As founder and current president of Pressline Ent., Haskell felt the need to expose various media projects that uplift the African American community as opposed to those excessive negative images portrayed in today’s media. Haskell’s goal with Pressline is to create media outlets for youth from lower economic communities in a valiant effort to assist minorities with packaging their film and musical ideas.

Haskell, produced and directed many media projects for various city and county organizations and elected officials that include but are not limited to the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa PSA on the United States Censes and Education reform; the Los Angeles Police Department police chief Charlie beck on the topic of community policing; the African American Fire Fighters Association ( L.A. County Stentorians), on the recruitment level of African Americans within the County sheriff and City & County Fire departments. Derek also filmed and/or produced many community wide events for the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper, LA community festival “Taste of Soul”, and Radio Free 102.3 KJLH radio, Front Page with Dominique DePrima. He also works to train many local youth in film and project productions that expose the realities of in their communities.

As a grassroots community organizer, Haskell is also an active philanthropist. In 2010, Haskell founded the C3 Foundation (Community Creates Change). The mission of the C3 Foundation is to serve as a centralized hub for transparent-economical philanthropic giving to underprivileged underrepresented communities, both nationally and internationally.

Haskell has created a communal alliance with Northrop and Grumman to conduct monthly youth activity projects with Los Angeles City Recreations & Parks, with a goal to supplement those essential youth programs that are no longer provided to the parks because of city and state budget cuts.

Haskell is on the executive planning board and head videographer for the Leimert Park Art Walk; helps to provide health services, senior projects, green development projects, and media production services for this monthly event. As an active member and community partner of the Leimert Park Business Improvement District, through this platform he advocates the importance of untraditional means of creating youth employment opportunities and economic sustainability for Los Angeles youth.

Derek is also the creator of the Leimert Park Community Youth Emergency Responder Project, with the goal of providing medical supplies and services to the Local community. Haskell and his team of medical professions will educate and train youth and local veterans to become first responders, in the efforts to assist the local community for the first 96hrs after a natural disaster.

In 2011, Haskell partnered with Morehouse College, To Help Everyone Clinic Inc, and Paine College (Los Angeles Alumni), in a collaborative attempt to spread awareness and understanding of the health care system to African-American males ages 15-25. The main objective is to increase the number of African American male (within Los Angeles County) enrollment in medical schools by 60% by the year of 2016.

Haskell is also the head of the community outreach for First African Methodist Episcopal (FAME) Church of Los Angeles, Young Adult Ministry. His personal goal is to create the largest service project where youth driven, faith based communities collectively work under one umbrella, toward one common goal.