Jolene Creighton (born 1985) is an American media executive, entrepreneur, and noted public speaker and consultant.[1] She was the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the science news site Futurism.[2] In 2017, Creighton co-Founded Gravity Products, a subsidiary of Futurism. The company's inaugural product, The Gravity Blanket, pioneered the weighted blanket movement.[3][4] Creighton also served as Editor-in-Chief of the science and technology news site Interesting Engineering [5] and Executive Editor at the Web3 media publication NFTnow.[6][7]

Early life and education

Creighton attended Waterloo High School in Waterloo, New York. She studied English at Keuka College and graduated magna cum laude in 2004.[8] She earned a master of arts degree from SUNY Brockport in 2011, where her thesis focused on digital media, viral storytelling, and the culture industry.[9]

In 2014, Creighton’s pit bull achieved viral fame after Creighton uploaded a video of the dog barking apprehensively at a pineapple.[10][11] After the video went viral, Creighton noted that the dog was a stray and used the story to advocate for spaying, neutering, and adoption in press. "Ultimately, that night I found Stella, she wasn't alone. Not really. There are a million more animals out there who still need someone. In fact, there's more than a million," Creighton said.[12]

Career

Creighton began her career as an instructor at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she taught courses on writing and communication.[1] In 2012, she co-founded the science news site From Quarks to Quasars, which was acquired in 2015.[13] Creighton left academia and fully transitioned to journalism later in 2015, when she helped launch Futurism and joined the team as the Founding Editor-in-Chief. The publication secured an average of 20 million monthly readers and 100 million monthly video views by April 2017.[14]

In November of 2017, at the height of the Me Too Movement, Futurism was pulled into controversy when it came to light that the publication had a promotional partnership with George Takei, who had recently faced sexual misconduct allegations. Creighton announced that the publication had severed all ties with Takei. "Futurism holds itself and all its partners to the highest ethical standards, and we were unsettled to learn about the recent allegations against George Takei,” Creighton said. “We are no longer pursuing a relationship with him or his distribution channels.” [15][16] In April of 2017, Creighton helped launch The Gravity Blanket with Futurism and raised more than $4.7 million dollars in crowdfunding. The product was ultimately credited with launching the weighted blanket movement, and was eventually spun off into a Futurism subsidiary, Gravity Products.[17][18]

Futurism was acquired by Singularity University in 2019 for an undisclosed sum.[19] In December of 2020, Interesting Engineering announced that Creighton would be joining as Editor-in-Chief.[20] In February of 2021, Gravity Products was acquired for an undisclosed sum to Win Brands Group.[21] The following year, Creighton left Interesting Engineering and joined nft now as Executive Editor.[6]

Selected publications

  • Creighton, Jolene (August 24, 2014). "Dark matter detected?". Hattiesburg American. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  • Creighton, Jolene (February 10, 2015). "Here's what happened when a woman sent a job rejection to a man". Business Insider. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  • Creighton, Jolene (August 2, 2017). "Buzz Aldrin Sees Humans on Mars within Next 20 Years". NBC.
  • Creighton, Jolene (September 8, 2017). "Could 're-engineering' Earth help ease hurricane threats?". NBC News. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  • Creighton, Jolene (March 18, 2018). "OpenAI Wants to Make Safe AI, but That May Be an Impossible Task". Futurism.
  • Creighton, Jolene (February 5, 2019). "The Breakdown of the INF: Who's to Blame for the Collapse of the Landmark Nuclear Treaty?". Future of Life.
  • Creighton, Jolene (May 30, 2020). "The Inevitable Abyss: Each Year, We Lose Yet Another Section of The Universe". ScienceAlert. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  • Creighton, Jolene. "Jolene Creighton, Editor-in-Chief, Science Communication, Futurism". World Economic Forum. Retrieved March 6, 2021.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Future of Now – Jolene Creighton, Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Publication at Futurism, LLC – Technologies That Are Impacting Our Lives Today and the Future Tech That Is On the Horizon". Finding Genius Podcast. October 9, 2018. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  2. ↑ Flanagan, Robin L. (April 10, 2017). "Founding Futurism". Keuka College. Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  3. ↑ Entia, Laura (March 9, 2017). "Why People Are Freaking Out About a Blanket on Kickstarter". Fortune. Archived from the original on May 9, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  4. ↑ Willens, Max (May 3, 2018). "After selling $15 million of gravity blankets (really), Futurism created an 8-person team to develop more products". Digiday. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Interesting Engineering Announces Their New Editor-in-Chief, Jolene Creighton". www.businesswire.com. December 2, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Jolene Creighton's Profile | nft now Journalist | Muck Rack". muckrack.com. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  7. ↑ Jabotinsky, Hadar, Y. (2023). "NFT for Eternity". University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. 56 (3): 834 – via University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Collections.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Flanagan, Robin, L (April 10, 2017). "Founding Futurism". Keuka College. Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Creighton, Jolene E. (April 7, 2011). Pity Those Who Live Without Love: The Function of Love in Harry Potter (MA thesis). The College at Brockport. hdl:20.500.12648/6283.
  10. ↑ Hanson, Hilary (December 15, 2014). "WATCH: Dog Is Really Afraid Of Pineapple". HuffPost. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  11. ↑ Richards, Chris (December 14, 2014). "Watch hilarious footage of dog who is terrified of....a PINEAPPLE". mirror. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  12. ↑ Robertson, Lindsey (December 17, 2015). "Mystified Pit Bull Is Terrified Of First-Ever Encounter With ... A Pineapple". The Dodo. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  13. ↑ Jacobs, Richard (October 9, 2018). "The Future of Now – An Interview with Jolene Creighton, Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Publication at Futurism". Finding Genius Podcast. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  14. ↑ Flanagan, Robin L. "Founding Futurism". Keuka College. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  15. ↑ Sutton, Kelsey (November 14, 2017). "George Takei's Facebook empire strains under sexual harassment allegations". Mic. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  16. ↑ Walters, Joanna (November 24, 2017). "George Takei saga sheds light on the murky world of pay-to-promote news". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 24, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  17. ↑ Tolentino, Jia. "The Seductive Confinement of a Weighted Blanket in an Anxious Time". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  18. ↑ Willens, Max (May 3, 2018). "After selling $15 million of gravity blankets (really), Futurism created an 8-person team to develop more products". Digiday. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  19. ↑ Willens, Max (March 15, 2019). "Gravity blanket seller Futurism acquired by Singularity University". Digiday. Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  20. ↑ Al-Owis, Suhael (December 2, 2020). "Interesting Engineering Announces Their New Editor-in-Chief, Jolene Creighton". www.businesswire.com. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  21. ↑ Patel, Sahil (February 10, 2021). "'Gravity' Blanket Maker Sold to Holding Company for Direct-Commerce Brands". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
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