Brad joined Project Angel Food in the newly created position as Head of Communications & Talent Relations in September 2020. He oversees all brand communications, print, digital, social media and video production across all platforms. In addition, maintains and fosters talent and industry relationships and engages celebrity involvement in Project Angel Food events and initiatives. A two-time Daytime Emmy Award winner, Brad executive produced Project Angel Food’s Lead with Love Telethon on KTLA on June 27, 2020 and is executive producing Lead with Love 2021.
Brad goes way back with Project Angel Food and volunteered preparing and delivering meals out of a church kitchen when the grass roots organization was formed in 1989. Thirty years later, in January of 2019, Brad returned to Project Angel Food as a consultant with decades of entertainment experience to help produce several celebrity-driven events and initiatives throughout 2019-2020 including the 2019 Angel Awards honoring Jamie Lee Curtis, Angel Art with the UTA Foundation, and The Circle of Angels Garden Party with Deborah Cox performing. He was also key in working with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex delivering for Project Angel Food on Easter Sunday 2020 and beyond.
Prior to joining Project Angel Food, Brad was Executive Producer of Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, and launched The Talk for CBS Daytime in 2010. He joined Entertainment Tonight in 1995 and held several positions over the years, culminating with show-runner in 2014. From 2019-2020 Bessey taught communications at California State University, Northridge, where he is continuing his academic endeavors in CSUN’s Communication Studies Master’s Program, focusing his research on feminist and LGBTQ+ social justice issues. In 2020, he presented at the National Communications Association and the CSUN Civil Discourse and Social Change organization’s Social Justice conference.
True to his volunteer roots, Brad makes sure he regularly delivers meals to keep close to the heart of why we do what we do.
