Ivan J. Juzang
Founder and President of MEE (Motivational Educational Entertainment) Productions Inc.
About Speaker
Ivan J. Juzang, Founder and President of MEE (Motivational Educational Entertainment) Productions Inc., has more than three decades of first-hand experience running a behavioral health communications business he founded during his final year at The Wharton Graduate School of Business. Juzang has used market research, culturally-relevant media and community engagement to address health disparities and mental health issues affecting low-income, underserved and devalued communities across the country and around the globe. He conducts qualitative audience research that provides an “insider’s view” of the challenging daily realities of urban living, and combines it with creative, “outside-the-box” media production and grassroots community mobilization strategies. His work speaks to and incorporates the oral tradition (oral communications culture) to shift attitudes and influence behaviors. For more than 30 years, Juzang and MEE have been profiling the trendsetting culture of low-income Black youth and the ways that stereotypical mass-media images negatively impact an already-traumatized and marginalized Black community. MEE first gained national prominence in 1992, with the release of its primary research study, "The MEE Report: Reaching the Hip-Hop Generation." Funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the report focused on the previously unexplored cultural and communications dynamics of urban teens. MEE's 2004 youth sexuality study, "This is My Reality-The Price of Sex: An Inside Look at Black Urban Youth Sexuality and the Role of Media," also received national media attention because it added young people's voices to the dialogue about sex in America's inner cities. MEE’s 2010 study, “Moving Beyond Survival Mode: Promoting Mental Wellness and Resiliency as a Way to Cope with Urban Trauma” explored issues related to stress, trauma and promoting mental wellness in low-income African American communities. Juzang’ s legacy of insightful focus-group research includes, “The Inner-City Truth 3 Survey” (2013), “Tackling America's Opioid Epidemic From the Ground Up” (2015) and “Heard, Not Judged: Insights Into the Talents and Realities and Needs of Young Men of Color” (2016). Juzang received his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University, and his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. While MEE has primarily been focused on health disparities, Juzang has extensive private-sector experience with some of the biggest and most successful entertainment media brands and makers of Hollywood content. His market research on more than 60 movie/TV projects for Hollywood has validated MEE’s model across sectors and over time.