The Team
Kristen Moss
Executive Producer
Link Tree
Kristen, originally from New Jersey, graduated from West Virginia University where she developed a television network called Sea TV during her Semester at Sea in 2005. While working her way up the ranks in hospitality at the W Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona, she discovered casting and never looked back.
Landing her first Casting Recruiter position in 2011, Kristen moved to Los Angeles, California to work her way into Reality Television Casting. She quickly developed the skills that were needed, and worked her way up the ranks, from Casting Recruiter to Associate, Producer, and now Casting Director, opening her company, KMoss Casting, in January 2020.
Kristen worked briefly as the Head of Casting for Development at Barracuda Entertainment/Electus Media where she developed a show that was picked up for a pilot by Country Music Television.
Today, Kristen holds the position of Creator and Executive Producer of the American Reality Television Awards (The ARTAS)s, which will be holding the 9th Annual Show in November of 2022. She is also the Co-Founder of the popular industry community, “The Academy of Reality Television” which has 3,000+ active industry members. The American Reality Television Awards began in 2012 to give thanks and praise to the industry that offered her so much.
Kristen has cast shows such as The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Let’s Make A Deal, Fear Factor, Cupcake Wars, Big Brother, and Bad Girls Club. Other shows of note are: Bachelor Pad, The Face, The Biggest Loser, The Proposal, MasterChef, MasterChef Jr., Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word, and a variety of game shows for GSN. She has been the Supervising Casting Producer for ABC’s The Great Christmas Light Fight for the past nine seasons and is looking forward to a season twelve pickup with Fremantle.
Kristen has also worked on set as a Contestant Producer for Beat the Clock and Match Game, as well as several other development projects.
Outside of Reality Television, she’s worked in digital marketing with Facebook, Meta and WhatsApp for almost three years on their social campaigns and commercials.
In the Fall of 2020, through KMoss Casting, Kristen led the casting team for a brand-new FOX series that she did the initial development casting for.
She also has experience speaking at various conferences on the casting process and benefits of branding yourself through reality television. Most recently, Kristen was a featured speaker at Chef Connect Seattle, a conference through the American Culinary Foundation. She also was a panelist at the CEO Kid Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, alongside the Winner of MasterChef Junior Season 5, who she cast for the show.
Kristen currently resides in Los Angeles and dedicates her time growing “The Academy of Reality Television” community, leading the Reality Committee for the Casting Society of America and running the Facebook and Instagram account “Reality TV Casting Calls”. She lives with her husband, Marco and her daughter Cali.
Andrew Ward
Executive Producer
Link Tree
Andrew started his dreams of working in television as a young child. One of his favorite past times was to organize the neighbors to put on a local talk show in his house.
Watching television inspired him to be on the other side of the camera and learn how to produce the amazing content that he was seeing. Shortly after graduating college, Andrew got an opportunity to work a casting call for MasterChef in Chicago.
That night when he got home, he informed his roommate he was packing up and moving to Los Angeles, California. She asked him if he wanted to sleep on it, and he refused, saying he knew this felt right.
The following month, Andrew moved to Hollywood, California with only the soft promise of an interview to work on MasterChef full time. After two weeks in Los Angeles, and fully moved in, there was no call.
Andrew had no direction but started hitting the pavement and searching networking groups online to connect to the industry.
Short time later, that call came in for an interview. He was hired on the spot and the Production Manager told him he had never done that before.
He saw passion in Andrew that was a burning fire and knew he would be an asset to the team. Andrew quickly accelerated through multiple fields in reality television from production to casting, then producing. There wasn’t a stone unturned to learn every aspect to better excel as whole. He has worked in major shows including America’s Got Talent, Total Divas, American Ninja Warrior, The Celebrity Apprentice, and many more. Currently Andrew also works at Triller/Verzuz as their Sr. Manager of Event and Broadcast Production.
From networking through the industry, Andrew met Kristen Moss in 2012 where they both started an industry networking group, “We Work In Reality Television”, which later became “The Academy of Reality Television”
Andrew and Kristen created the American Reality Television Awards (The ARTAS) in 2012, and are the sole Executive Producers of the show. The first show aired in 2013, and annually, as the 9th Annual broadcast is set to air in November of 2022. The virtual awards are now called The ARTAS and continue to grow exponentially each year with official submissions from broadcast networks like NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, as well as cable and streaming services like USA, E! Network, Amazon, Netflix and many more.
John Barra
Co-Executive Producer / Showrunner
John’s wide range of producing credits spans 30 years in the television and broadcast industry. He is currently a 2-time Daytime Emmy-award winning Contestant Producer for the legacy quiz show, Jeopardy! He has also served as the Showrunner/Co-Executive Producer for the past nine years with the American Reality Television Awards (#TheARTAS)
John’s beginnings stem from a 20-year run working for the PBS affiliate NJN Public Television. While he was there he served as Executive Producer for the Media Productions department and has 6 Local Emmy-awards in both Philadelphia and New York, with 30 nominations under his belt.
He was also responsible for bringing the successful children’s program, Bloopy’s Buddies, a national APS program to NJN, producing 26 programs, airing on 180 stations nationwide.
A member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) since 1993, he has served on the Board of Governors, and has produced the local Emmy telecast from 2000-2012. He is now a member of the Television Academy in Los Angeles and has been since 2012.
Since his move to Los Angeles in 2012, John turned to competition, kid, family and celebrity game shows. He’s worked on Let’s Make A Deal (CBS), the successful reboots of Double Dare & Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader (Nickelodeon), American Ninja Warrior Junior (NBC), Ultimate Tag (FOX) and Ryan Reynolds’ popular summer game show, Don’t (ABC). He’s also had the opportunity to work side-by-side with hosts Alex Trebek, Wayne Brady, Neil Patrick Harris, Marc Summers, Liza Koshy, Iliza Schlesinger, Leah Remini, Michelle Visage, Matt Iseman, Vivica A. Fox and recent Emmy-nominee, Adam Scott.
John has also talent produced the biggest names in Hollywood ranging from Jessica Lange & The Cast Of American Horror Story to the 10th Anniversary Reunion w/The Cast of LOST, the “Be Powerful, Be Heard” series of voting PSA’s with Michael Douglas, Jason Alexander, Billy Baldwin, Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon. His list of celebrity/notable interviews include: Tina Fey, Buzz Aldrin, Cicely Tyson, Sheryl Crow, Giada DeLaurentiis, John Amos and Robert Kennedy Jr.
John, raised in Roselle Park, New Jersey, is a 1992 magna cum laude graduate from The College of New Jersey, where he returned to the college as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Communication Studies and taught for seven years. Now living in beautiful southern California, he currently resides in Los Angeles.
Shantal Anderson
Executive Producer
Shantal Anderson is a Caribbean American Creative Technologist and Emmy nominated
producer who has received multiple Emmy nominations for her work on major broadcast shows such as Xfactor and Super Bowl Halftime show.
Shantal has spent the last three years creating a Web3 platform that allows creators and brands to meet, build together and create immersive experiences in the metaverse through a creators marketplace.
Shantal was always influenced and impacted by the performing and music arts since the early age of seven. She was classically trained in three different instruments by 12 (clarinet, flute and piano) in addition to taking the same professional singing and music classes as the American singer and songwriter Brandy Norwood.
Shantal graduated from Fairfax High School, based in the center of Los Angeles, California. She was a Senior Class President and served on the Los Angeles Junior City Council as a district representative for district 7, while taking afterschool and weekend classes at a junior city college at the age of 16.
In just 15 years, this vibrant entrepreneur has quickly solidified herself as a force in the
entertainment and tech industry. This Los Angeles native has no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Shantal’s passion and drive has always been consistent and persistent with creating pipelines for young and diverse talented individuals in the new tech space, entertainment and the arts.
Which is why her long term goal is to develop a platform for creators that empowers them to
create in any medium and monetize their work on a fair playing field.
De Mann
Executive Producer
De Mann has been in the entertainment business for over 40 years. He has worked as an actor/singer/dancer, as well as behind the scenes
as a producer/director/choreographer/writer for both film, television, and stage.
De Mann worked under his mentor, 51 Minds co-founder and ‘father’ of reality television, Mark Cronin. After 7 years with Cronin, DeMann partnered with Reel Mood creator/ television producer, Shantal Anderson. Reel Mood is a full service production company specializing in both traditional entertainment production and the metaverse.
Jeff Rivera
Co-Executive Producer
Producer, Jeff Rivera is a Partner at Collective 5 Entertainment, a talent management and production company. To date, he has garnered 19 development deals in both scripted and unscripted television with some of the leading media companies in the world.
As a creator, Rivera collaborates with clients on television, film, audio and book projects across various genres.
Paul Telner
Head Producer - Global Curation and Achievement
Paul Telner is one of the original YouTube stars known for his viral comedy videos which garnered millions of views and caught the attention of ABC’s The View, MTV, GQ Magazine, National Post, and landed him his own national comedy series called The Paul Telner Project on MuchMusic(Bell Media) as well as a deal in the US on cable network G4TV.
After many years of starring and producing his own series, Paul stepped behind the scenes and became the comedy blogger for the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival (2011) and then served as Unscripted Development Executive at Emmy Award Winning Galafilm.
Paul then became Director of Unscripted Development at LA-based Studio71 (Red Arrow). Paul helped build the unscripted department and developed, produced and sold multiple digital and television projects for buyers such as Facebook Watch (The The Text Committee, I Want My Stuff Back, What Just Happened!?), Comcast Watchable (Logan Paul Vs), MTV (Comedy Prank pilot Ownage Pranks etc.), YouTube Originals (Emmy nominated Roman Atwood’s Day Dreams), Food Network US (Made from Scratch), truTV (FALSE ADVERTISING starring The Kloons, produced over 25 shorts Rachel Dratch’s Late Night Snack etc.) and more. Paul has worked closely with top digital and traditional stars Logan Paul, Lilly Singh, Rhett and Link, Roman Atwood, J.B. Smoove, Epic Mealtime, Macy Gray, and helped launch the YouTube channel for superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Paul also co-wrote and developed the first ever Super Bowl Half-Time show (sponsored by Google).
In 2018, Paul took on his new role as creative director for BBTV whose duties include overseeing all original content and Branded Entertainment. Paul also works closely with major digital talent to create value adds on the content side, brand side and beyond. At BBTV, Paul has sold multiple projects to NBC UNIVERSAL, SNAPCHAT, WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY etc. Paul has also created a slate of co-production deals with the likes of Howie Mandel, Mike Tyson, T-Pain, J.B. Smoove, Priscilla Presley, Fremantle Global, Naked Productions, Stick Figure Productions and many more.
In 2019, Paul’s comedy dating series I Want My Stuff Back (Facebook Watch Original) won OUTSTANDING DIGITAL REALITY SERIES OF THE YEAR at American Reality Awards.
In 2022, Paul started a new position as Head of Programming at Viral Nation, a leading influencer agency and content house where he works with some of the most popular influencers and celebrities today.
Sarah Olea
Social Media Manager
I work alongside business owners, brands, influencers, and celebrities to amplify their identities. From one-on-one strategy and training to brand management, I have all the social media and brand representation needs covered.
I started in music management, sales, and PR. I drifted into marketing and landed in social media. I mix all my experiences together and provide my clients with creative solutions that bring their identities to life.
Carlos Martinez
Social Media Associate Producer
Ray Cunningham
Producer - Impact & Inclusion
Ray Cunningham known as Misster Ray is an award-winning best selling author, social influencer, reality tv star, host and now actor best known for his participation on America’s first ever reality tv series College Hill on BET in 2006 and Vh1’s Love & Hip Hop Hollywood 2017-2019. He is a proud two-time HBCU alumni of Virginia State University and a native of Richmond, VA.
He is the award-winning creator of WEtv’s longest running digital series, Reality Wrap and host network’s annual awards, The Realies. He also hosted a digital talk show, 100 and Real for the network. In addition to his multi-media endeavors, Ray has been awarded for being a successful change maker, tastemaker and social media influencer.
Throughout his 15+ year career in multi-media, Ray has developed an extreme passion for HBCUs and political progress for minorities. To Ray, everything that deals with voting and getting the message out has a correlation to media. Therefore, he is glad to be able to combine two of his passions for a common goal through his platforms.
With balancing his commitments in both Virginia and California, he continues his work of systemically helping his community and strengthening his platform for better civic engagement while strengthening minority representation in various forms of media.
Sarah Olea
Social Media Manager
I work alongside business owners, brands, influencers, and celebrities to amplify their identities. From one-on-one strategy and training to brand management, I have all the social media and brand representation needs covered.
I started in music management, sales, and PR. I drifted into marketing and landed in social media. I mix all my experiences together and provide my clients with creative solutions that bring their identities to life.