PR NEWSWIRE: President Barack Obama Meets With *newzcard Founders
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- President Barack Obama discussed innovation, entrepreneurship and technology with *newzcard co-founders Steve Granitz and Justin Kahn during his visit to Cross Campus in Santa Monica on Thursday.
*newzcard has been based at Cross Campus since 2013. The President visited the members-only hub for small business and was given a brief tour of the *newzcard offices and a demonstration of the innovative website and iPhone app that is redefining the way consumers use social media to share professional news photos taken at entertainment, sports, news and fashion events of every size and scope worldwide.
In speaking with Kahn and Granitz about *newzcard and its growing content alliances, Obama praised the founders and said "very smart!"
The company, which is still in BETA and went live only a few weeks ago, has been slowly building a user base. President Obama's visit was the first public presentation of the site.
*newzcard hosts a 24/7 continually updated photo stream featuring professional photojournalism from more than 25,000 photographers around the globe. Images are free to share on almost every major social network, and the site has access to a constantly growing library of more than 40 million photos.
"How many small businesses can say that the first public preview of their website was for the President of the United States?" asked Kahn.
"We had a chance to explain about *newzcard, what we do and how we do it. President Obama was really into it. He asked a lot of great questions. It's a pretty amazing day when your new business gets a public shout out from the President."
During the exchange with the *newzcard team, President Obama also met with Gabby Oglesby, Director of Business Development, and Steve Elzer, Chief Communications Officer for the company.
Steve Granitz co-founded WireImage, Inc. and also serves as its President of West Coast Operations. He oversees the recruitment of photographers on the West Coast and has covered high-profile entertainment events and personalities for the past 30 years, including award shows, concerts, movie premieres, sporting events, breaking news and more. His photos have appeared in numerous publications, including People, Newsweek, Time, US Magazine, Rolling Stone, and countless others. He has shot literally millions of images during his career which has included photographing 25 Academy Award ceremonies and working with major networks providing unit photography services.
A serial entrepreneur, Justin Kahn has launched several startups including iEntertainment, a professional networking site for filmmakers, and InfoPost, an eBay-type website for all things digital which aided software self-publishers, among others. In 2000, recognizing the popularity of celebrity photographs being licensed through InfoPost, Kahn and team co-founded WireImage and it's parent company MediaVast, a digital photo agency and wire service covering high-profile entertainment, celebrities, fashion, music, and sports events which soon grew into the world's largest entertainment photo/video archive. Kahn worked in various capacities at WireImage, serving as VP of west coast operations and launching and helming its video division - before the company was sold to Getty Images Following MediaVast, Justin has worked as a consultant bringing together Israeli start-ups and small to medium broadcasters, journalists, and bloggers on real-time broadcasting/streaming and content creation for Web2.0. Projects have included Hilary Clinton, Fame-is.tv, Breitbart TV, MySpace and more.
For photos from the event visit www.newzcard.com