When Reese Witherspoon pitched Hello Sunshine to now-sponsor AT&T 8 years ago, she had no idea what she was doing.
She had no idea if she could make an impact, nor did she fully even know what she wanted to pull off in the first place. Even with her bare bones vision, AT&T gave her hundreds of thousands of dollars to turn her goal into a tangible reality. And they wouldn’t regret it.
Hello Sunshine started out in 2016 as a production company developing female-centric book-to-screen adaptations created by and for women. Today, this scripted production sector of the company still stands tall. Hello Sunshine has created breakout adaptation miniseries like Daisy Jones & The Six, The Morning Show, Little Fires Everywhere, and Big Little Lies, which were all picked up by different streaming platforms for big checks.
Witherspoon said what motivates her to become a storyteller of many mediums is that she’s just so interested in people.
“I could sit down for two hours with any of you and want to learn how your brain works,” Witherspoon said. “You don’t need to have everything figured out, just hand me the ball until I find the hoop.”
Back when she first became the face of many female protagonists like Elle Woods and June Carter in Walk the Line, Witherspoon realized that complex characters are often just strong women.
“Bringing June Carter out of the shadows and into the light was such a powerful moment for me — realizing that you can take the shininess of Hollywood or fame and shine it on women who deserve the spotlight,” Witherspoon said at the opening panel of this year’s Shine Away. “When I think about Walk the Line, I think about it as a seed of Hello Sunshine.”
Today, this anthropological curiosity in telling women’s stories with genuine passion is evident across the company’s vast brands. From Oct. 11-12, Hello Sunshine held the third annual Shine Away event in Los Angeles, a two-day experiential celebration of the company’s vast success across television production, brand marketing, and live and interactive media from podcasts to verticals. At Shine Away, attendees are met with a fruitful choice of speaker panels, professional workshops, an array of interactive brand experiences from tasting bars to a small business marketplace, and spaces for calm self-reflection, constructive networking with other attendees, and even spaces for connecting with the panelists and authors themselves.
Here is what happens when you put A-list actors, best-selling authors, journalists, producers, activists, and enter-your-dream-media-career-title-here all in one room for a whole weekend:
Jennie Garth taught us to question when and where life felt good and awake, and from there to chase those moments. She also declared that you are the CEO of you. In other words, take care of yourself so you can run the business of yourself. You are the only person that will put that much heart and soul into yourself. That is a choice to choose every single day, and it’s not selfish.
Jen Hatmaker, New York Times bestselling author, said that, no matter how change comes, whether it’s because of a decision you make or someone else gives it to you, you already know what you know, in your body, your brain and your heart. You know when something is over, when something has served its purpose. Trust your own instincts about what you know. The cost is higher to stay in the wrong place than to take a risk and pay the tax for living true to yourself and pivoting.
Actress and author Tembli Locke expanded upon a remark Reese Witherspoon made about time being the most valuable asset. Locke advised that time is a finite resource, but to let that inspire you and drive you, not scare you.
Critically acclaimed author Rainbow Rowell reflected upon her creative process and said that despite audiences always wanting to know what is based on real life experiences versus completely fake in novels, fiction is all a blend. Nothing is all one thing.
Mariska Hargitay said plain and simple, “I can do hard things.” The actress, fresh off her press tour for her documentary, “My Mom Jayne,” explored how navigating the pursuit of her mother’s life provided moments of self-discovery. “In learning about all of these different parts of my mother, and all the different parts of integrating, I allowed myself to be my whole self, which gave me so much more compassion and tolerance and understanding,” Hargitay said. “It makes me more curious about other people, and learning about all of the characters in my movie and the people I come in contact with and trying to understand them and having this disciplined curiosity. It’s now having room for all the parts of myself, and patience and self love.”
Google and Meta VP Sissie Hsiao and journalist and author Jennifer Breheny Wallace discussed the mutual existence of legitimate fears and exciting opportunities that artificial intelligence poses for the emerging generation. Wallace argued that hopefully AI can function to further eliminate mindless, functional tasks, such as how navigation tools like Google Maps function today. This shift could allow for more mental capacity to be dedicated towards meaningful interpersonal connections. Wallace emphasized that AI is not just a technical shift, it’s a value shift that weighs the importance of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators, and that we need to control our value systems by how we regulate AI use.
Model and actress Molly Sims asserted that when one door closes, another one opens — but you have to kick it down.
Malin Akerman, most recently starring in “The Hunting Wives” on Netflix, spoke about how female friendships on set can be a game changer. “The friendships that formed on that set with these women… in this business there can be so much catiness, there is so much of that “Oh, don’t take my spot, who’s breathing down my back,” so to be on set with these women and the love and support, I mean it’s like a celebration if somebody does a somersault,” Akerman said. “Brittany [Snow] and I had some intimate scenes together, and there were so many lovely moments. Before our very first intimate scene together, there were a lot of nerves. We’re so used to dissecting our own bodies and looking in the mirror and finding all the things wrong with our bodies, and it’s terrible. We saw it in each other first hand, and I went “Brit, you know what, we’re fucking beautiful, we’ve worked hard for these bodies, let’s just go out there and have a great time as much as you can with all the cameraman and just support each other right now. I wouldn’t do that with a guy… and that’s our set.
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Shine Away does partially serve as a promotional extravaganza for the company, but there is nothing ingenuine or ulterior about its positivity. Shine Away is an authentic creative haven for female storytellers to feel heard and seen, connect with fellow creators, and cultivate new strategies for propelling their personal and professional careers.
Sure, Reese’s Book Club shop functioned as a marketing brand activation, but it was also a space for attendees to make meaningful connections with the authors themselves. My mom and I conversed with journalist Alison Kosik about how her new book What’s Up With Women and Money will be a godsend for our family friend who is grappling with financial literacy amidst her divorce. I was able to meet and speak with Young Sheldon actor and newly-published-author Reagan Revord about their debut novel, Rules for Fake Girlfriends. We bonded over a shared desire to travel in our 20s and hopes of reconnecting on the West Coast as we both enter the industry.
I walked around introducing myself to staff members and thanked them for their dedication to a company I so dearly admire. I saw how every single person — staff or attendee — at Shine Away emulated just how passionate they are about furthering Witherspoon’s mission.
Never before have I experienced such genuine networking opportunities — ones that awakened aspirations and curiosities I hadn’t even realized were blocked by simple unawareness of what’s possible when so many successful women gather for the same purpose: connection. From the compelling panels and workshops to a front-row seat to Maren Morris’ exclusive concert, Shine Away is truly undefinable. This kind of interactive opportunity, at this level, has never existed before.
Hello Sunshine is revolutionizing the way emerging media professionals can picture their potential, and I was so fortunate to be able to make a side-quest from my college course load and go across the country to experience Shine Away firsthand. I was already a longstanding fan of Hello Sunshine’s mission, but now I am equally as inspired by how that mission is fulfilling my faith in my own future.