Christina DiPasquale

Christina DiPasquale is the founder and CEO of Balestra Media, a storyteller and strategist for advocacy campaigns advancing a more just and participatory media, a history researcher, and a documentary filmmaker. Her clients have included the American Civil Liberties Union, the International Rescue Committee, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and Free Press. Christina has worked with movement leaders and non-profit groups to tell their stories through media, including families separated by the Muslim ban, Charlottesville and Ferguson youth, and many more. She is the director of the documentary film “Barrio Television” and has executive produced and scripted several short documentary films for groups that include the Youth First Initiative and Public Welfare Foundation. She has led publicity and social impact campaigns for films including “Dirty Wars,” “When Elephants Fight,” and “Unmanned.” Christina's original archival research has been used by the Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting and the Center for Puerto Rican Studies. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy and serves on the Board of Directors of the Media Burn Independent Video Archive. 

Before founding Balestra, Christina was associate vice president at a media firm where she led the firm’s digital rights practice, working with advocacy groups, filmmakers, and whistleblowers. Previously she was the associate director of press relations at the Center for American Progress, leading media outreach for CAP’s energy, immigration, national security, and LGBT teams and writing policy briefs cited by The New York Times and Rolling Stone. 

Christina was elected to local office as Ward Committeewoman in West Philadelphia and served as deputy press secretary on Congressman Joe Sestak’s 2010 U.S. Senate campaign, after her time as policy advisor to Pennsylvania State Representative Greg S. Vitali. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Political Science from Villanova University.