Posts by Live Talks LA

The inside story of one woman’s quest to bring transparency and accountability to Big Tech, by the Facebook whistleblower who is determined to help us all retake control of our lives.
.
Frances Haugen is an American data engineer and scientist, and whistleblower. A graduate of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and Harvard Business School, she worked at Google, Yelp, and Pinterest before joining Facebook in 2019 and working in its civic integrity department. In the spring of 2021, she disclosed tens of thousands of internal documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Wall Street Journal, revealing Facebook’s awareness and complicity in radicalization and political violence around the world..
.
Brian Merchant is the bestselling author of The One Device. His work has appeared in WIRED, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The Guardian, and beyond. He is the founder of Terraform, VICE Media’s speculative fiction publication, and Automaton, a special project examining AI and automation at Gizmodo. He lives in Los Angeles and is currently a writer for the Los Angeles Times. His newest book, BLOOD IN THE MACHINE: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech, is on sale September 5, 2023.
.
In 2021, when news outlets feasted on “the Facebook Files,” Frances Haugen went public as the former employee who blew the whistle on the company by copying tens of thousands of pages of documents. She testified to Congress and spoke to the media. She was hailed at President Biden’s first State of the Union Address. She made sure everyone understood exactly what the documents revealed: Facebook knew it had accidentally changed its algorithm to reward extremism and refused to fix it; it knew that its customers were using the platform to foment violence, to spread falsehoods, to diminish the self-esteem of young women, and more. But how was it that Haugen was the only employee at the company who dared to step forward?
 
Her story is an inspiring tale of one young woman’s life and the choices she made. From an isolated childhood in Iowa to an unaccredited college, to one among the few women at Google in its heyday, Frances Haugen learned how to focus on what mattered, and to ignore her critics. To harness the strength of standing in the truth.

Michael Milken says the best is yet to comefrom an astonishing medical revolution.

What if cleaning early-stage cancers from your body could become as routine as going to the dentist to clean your teeth, or if a single vaccine could protect you against multiple viruses, or if gene editing could eliminate many birth defects and slow the aging process? Milken believes these, and many other advances, are within reach.
.
Beginning with a description of the culture that helped shape Milken’s early views, Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health traces the life-extending acceleration of progress in medical research, public health, and clinical treatments over the seven decades since Milken’s childhood—and shows how he helped transform the process of developing disease cures to accelerate medicine’s evolution from a dark past to a bright future.
.
After two decades of actively supporting medical research as a philanthropist, Milken became a patient in 1993 when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Over the last three decades, he has increased his focus on making the research process more effective and efficient.

New York Times bestselling author Andy Cohen, everyone’s favorite busiest man in show business, goes from bottle service to baby bottles in a hilarious, heartwarming, and name-dropping account of the most important year of his life.
.
From bottle service to baby bottles. Entertainer and best-selling author Andy Cohen returns to the Live Talks Los Angeles stage with his fifth memoir, The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up. How has having two kids changed Cohen’s once-glamorous existence? Hear what he has to say about shifting from the clubs to the playground as he digests the most important job of his life.
.
Andy Cohen is the author of four New York Times bestselling books. He is the host and executive producer of Watch What Happens Live, Bravo’s late-night interactive talk show. He also serves as executive producer of the Real Housewives franchise and hosts the network’s highly rated reunion specials. He’s won an Emmy and two Peabody Awards for his work, and he lives in New York City with his two children. 
.
He last appeared on the Live Talks stage in 2021 with his book Glitter Every Day: 365 Quotes From Women I Love in conversation with Amber Tamblyn. You can watch that talk here. And here’s the video from his earlier appearance with RuPaul in 2016 where they discussed Cohen’s bestselling Superficial.
.
“Andy Cohen isn’t afraid to talk about anything in his life….the TV exec-turned-talk show host still manages to bring new meaning to the words “tell-all…” ―People (on Cohen’s Superficial)
.
Danielle Schneider is a writer/performer with a background in improv and sketch comedy. Her credits with her writing partner, Dannah Phirman include Standing By, Cola Wars, Clone High, Black Monday, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, KenanandThe Hotwives of Orlandoand The Hotwives of Las Vegas.She most recently guest starred on Hacks and previously starred in Champaign Ill, and on Community.She previously recurred on Marry Mewhile also working as a staff writer on the show, and co-wrote and starred in the show Eye Candy. Her other television credits include Players, Happy Endings, How to Cheat on Your Wife,and Reno 911.Danielle’s film credits include Spring Breakdownand Step Brothers.She is co-host of the podcast B*tch Sesh: A Real Housewives Breakdownwith Casey Wilson.  Danielle also performs regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.
.
Casey Wilson is an actress, writer, director and podcaster who was last seen starring in Showtime’s Black Mondayand Apple TV+’s The Shrink Nextdoor. Casey was a featured player on SNL for two seasons and starred in ABC’s cult classic series Happy Endings. Her film roles include Gone Girland Bride Warsin which she also served as screenwriter. For the last seven years, Casey has co-hosted the hit podcast B*tch Sesh. She is author of a collection of essays, The Wreckage of My Presence.