Natasha Lance Rogoff Keynote Speaker
- Filmmaker and executive producer of Sesame Street in Russia.
- Associate in the Art, Film and Visual Studies Department at Harvard University.
- Author of Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia.
Natasha Lance Rogoff's Biography
Natasha Lance Rogoff is an award-winning television producer, writer and director of documentaries, children’s television shows and digital educational content.
She was the executive producer of Ulitsa Sezam (Sesame Street in Russia) and served as producer of Plaza Sesamo (Sesame Street in Mexico) between 1992-1997.
Natasha moved from New York to Moscow in the early 1980s to study Russian at Leningrad State University. Becoming fluent, she made close Russian friends and wrote about Soviet underground culture for mainstream international newspapers and magazines. Natasha led a team of hundreds at Russia’s largest TV station where she faced businesses and creative obstacles that included her Russian broadcast partners being assassinated one after the other, bombings, a hostile takeover of the production studio and cultural clashes between East and West that touched nearly every aspect of the production from scriptwriting to educational content and even to the design of the new Slavic Muppets themselves.
In 1985, she made a film, Rock Around the Kremlin, about Russian rock musicians who endured extreme hardships due to communist censorship, which was aired on ABC TV’s “20/20.” Many of these music artists later composed original music for Ulitsa Sezam’s production. Later in 1993, her PBS documentary, “Russia for Sale: The Rough Road to Capitalism” embedded her with hardline communist fascists who launched the failed coup of 1991, ending the Soviet Union.
Natasha is now an Associate in the Art, Film and Visual Studies Department at Harvard University and lives between Cambridge, Massachusetts, and New York City.
Natasha Lance Rogoff's Speaking Topics
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• The importance of cultural understanding when doing business internationally.
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• How women’s leadership saved the day in Russia... and the Muppets.
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• The cultural landscape of Post-communist Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.
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• The Muppets as champions for Western values – liberalism, capitalism, diversity and inclusion.
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• Producing a successful TV show in a different country – adaptation, cultural translation, collaboration with the local team.
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• How post-Soviet societal and cultural tensions continue to thwart the Russian people’s efforts to create a better future for their country.
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