Content Creators Founder Tony Russell has worked in the media industry since 2004 after getting his first opportunity to shoot documentaries in high school. As a teenager, he was a production assistant with Rambling Productions documenting his friend’s journey from St. Louis to the West Coast. He then majored in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Mississippi, spending his summers as an intern in Washington, D.C. working in the news bureaus for Fox and CBS News.
While attending Ole Miss, Russell gained valuable experience working as a freelance stage manager and utility crew member for major sports productions for the SEC on CBS and ESPN regional telecasts.
In 2008, at Ole Miss, he was selected to be a student reporter at the first presidential debate between candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.
Following graduation, Russell worked as a news reporter for Raycom Media (now merged with Gray Television), family-owned Griffin Communications, the Hearst Corporation and The E.W. Scripps Company.
Russell has worked in TV markets across the Southeast and the Southern Plains ( Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Tulsa, Oklahoma).
Among his many accomplishments, Russell was on the scene reporting the devastation of the 2011 EF-5 Joplin, Missouri tornado.
In 2017, Russell was assigned to the EW Scripps Company’s jump team to provide breaking news coverage for sister stations during Hurricane Irma.
As a result of his coverage and humanitarian efforts, he was honored by a local school in Florida and appeared on The Weather Channel for his help in saving a dolphin that was washed on the shore of Marco Island.