Michelle Ciulla Lipkin
MCL
MCL

My Work

I have been a media literacy educator and advocate for over 25 years. My work is focused on helping others understand the way in which media messages inform, entertain, persuade, manipulate, and impact us. I do this by teaching, writing, speaking, and working as a consultant on media literacy projects.

Some of the organizations I've worked with:

  • YouTube
  • Meta
  • Google
  • PBS
  • TikTok
  • Microsoft
  • Nickelodeon
  • Roblox
  • NPR
  • CNN
  • UNESCO
  • Trend Micro

I was Executive Director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) from 2012–2025.

Here are some highlights from my time there:

5

million

Raised for the organization

+8200

members

from 300 in 2012

+1400%

budget increase

Expanded to 5 full-time staff

I helped NAMLE grow to be the preeminent media literacy education association in the U.S. and the largest membership organization for media literacy education around the world. I launched U.S. Media Literacy Week in 2015, created the National Media Literacy Alliance, and coordinated 8 national conferences.

We worked with the National Association of State Election Directors to tackle false information about elections, supported PBS Education nationwide on their media literacy efforts, and joined forces with corporate partners including Thomson Reuters, Trend Micro and Google to advance public facing media literacy efforts.

Currently I lecture at the City University of New York (Brooklyn College and John Jay College) and am on the team at Blueshift Education working on educational outreach for documentary films. I also serve on the advisory boards of Life Stories and Truth in Common.

Check out my LinkedIn to see what else I’ve been up to.

Global Recognition

  • Recipient of the 2020 Global Media and Information Literacy Award given by UNESCO
  • Participated in 2024 U.S.- Austria Citizen Dialogue on Global Challenge, a joint initiative with the Embassy of the United States, Vienna and the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Austria
  • Participated in 2018 U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Program (IVLP) Speaker Program to Australia (Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Canberra, and Melbourne)

Speaking Engagements

  • Creating a Healthy Relationship with Media (Meta, Roblox, Amazon Kids, NYC Public Schools) Various Locations
  • Beyond the Noise: Elevating Information Quality in a Generative AI Era, TIM Washington, D.C.
  • Task Force for Safe and Secure Social Media Usage, Bipartisan Policy Center Online
  • Meta Gen AI Summit Online
  • Australian Media Literacy Summit Sydney, Australia
  • DCN: Unlocking Media Literacy Conference Helsinki, Finland
  • Defending Democracy in the Disinformation Age, McCain Institute and ASU Phoenix, Arizona
  • Strengthening the Information Ecosystem, All Tech is Human and the Consulate General of Finland New York, New York
  • Humanities Communication Convening, Center for Humanities Communication Boston, Massachusetts
  • U.S. State Department Foreign Press Office Visitor's Program New York, New York
  • International Media Literacy Research Symposium Lisbon, Portugal
  • International Communication Association Conference San Diego, California
  • New America Summit Washington, D.C.
  • Broadcast Education Association Conference Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Family Online Safety Conference Washington, D.C.
  • National Association of State Election Directors Conference Washington, D.C.

Interested in working with me or learning more?

Contact Me