RACHEL ANNETTE HELSON
October 30, 2017 – Kenucky to the World presented featured special guest Rachel Annette Helson, along with Jan Helson, Justin Walker and Anne Walker, in a conversation with Sam Corbett, President of the Jefferson County Public Education Foundation.
Rachel Annette Helson is an actress, producer, CEO, and philanthropist. Born and raised in Louisville, KY, Rachel Annette always knew that she would work in the entertainment industry. A graduate of Sacred Heart Model School and Louisville Collegiate High School, she honed her theatre skills locally at Sacred Heart Performing Arts School and Walden Theatre, while also spending her summers studying in NYC and Carnegie Mellon, before ultimately moving to NYC to attend New York University’s Tisch School for the Arts where she graduated from in 2009.
Rachel Annette has taken those talents honed in Louisville and New York to work as an actress, producer, script writer, and production company founder/CEO. On Broadway in 2009, while in college at NYU, she was a producer on two Broadway shows, “reasons to be pretty” and “title of show”. She is the youngest producer in Broadway history to be nominated for a TONY Award for her work on Neil LaBute’s “reasons to be pretty.” Online, Rachel Annette has been nominated for a Webby Award for creating and co-writing the award-winning web comedy “stalkTALK.” On TV, you may have seen her act in television shows like “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Knick,” “Power,” and in the recently released Netflix movie “The Polka King” with Jack Black. Rachel Annette is also the co-founder and CEO of One Cute Dog Productions, a video communications company that creates branded content for clients like PediaSure, Dork Diaries, Fuzzy Flyers, The Broadway League, Thermador, and Quicken Loans.
Rachel Annette has used her talents in the entertainment industry to raise funds for philanthropic causes including breast cancer prevention, improving the education system, and eradicating childhood hunger. In fact, Rachel Annette’s own experiences prompted the creation of the Global Game Changers. Upon her discovery at age 15 that four aunts had been diagnosed with breast cancer, Rachel Annette resolved to help in any way she could. Her parents, Jan and Tim, suggested Rachel Annette use her talents to help the cause. As a result, Rachel Annette produced a musical at The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts two years in a row that raised over $100,000 for Komen for the Cure, engaging dozens of professionals across her community of Louisville, Kentucky.
When she moved to New York to attend college at 17, she brought the production benefit idea to Broadway – never forgetting her roots – benefitting both the Louisville and New York Komen chapters. Rachel Annette continues to use her talents to affect causes she feels passionate about, and she hopes to empower the next generation to do so as well.
For more information about Rachel Annette, visit http://www.rachelannettehelson.com/, https://www.instagram.com/rachelannettehelson/, and http://www.onecutedogproductions.com/.
