Speakers & VIPs

Melissa Rivers

Melissa Rivers is uniquely qualified for her current position as host of TV Guide Channel’s event programming.  After leaving E! Entertainment television after nine years, she relished the opportunity to move on and explore other avenues.  Rivers previously served as a feature reporter for “CBS This Morning” and as a regular contributor to MTV’s “Hangin’ With MTV.”  In addition to hosting events, Rivers also served as a producer for the E! network and, hosted two of the channel’s highest-rated specials – “Oh Baby! Melissa’s Guide to Pregnancy” and “Oh Toddler! Surviving the Early Years,” which aired in January 2002.

Despite her hectic schedule, she has managed to find time to voice the character “Evil Princess Erma Plotz” on the animated Disney series, “Dave, the Barbarian,” which aired in January 2004.  She also completed “Settle the Score,” a hybrid game show / talk show for Phil Gurin and Tribune Entertainment.  In addition, she is pleased to be the new spokesperson for the Entertainment Industry Council, a nonprofit organization consisting of entertainment industry leaders to provide awareness of major health and social issues throughout the industry.  Rivers was also honored to be PETA’s spokesperson for their highly publicized, “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign, which debuted in November 2003.  She continues to co-host red carpet pre-award shows, and fashion specials for the TV Guide Channel.

In 2003, Rivers displayed an entirely different side of herself on ABC’s much-anticipated reality series, “I’m a Celebrity! Get Me Out of Here!”  The show featured celebrities leaving behind their pampered lives for weeks of roughing it in a remote outpost of the inhospitable Australian rainforest.  She showed her strength and resilience under adverse circumstances and was the last woman standing, winning second place.  Rivers donated all her winnings from the show to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Most recently she hosted the Fit TV program “The Craze,” which had regular people test a variety of fitness products.

Rivers has virtually “been in the business” since the day she was born in New York City. Rivers attended grade school and high school in Los Angeles after her family relocated to Los Angeles when she was four.  She attended the prestigious University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where she studied European History and graduated with Distinction in Major in 1989.

Upon graduation, Rivers worked as an intern in the Los Angeles office of CBS News and discovered her flair for journalism and on-air reporting.  Her stints at CBS, MTV and E! led to her current relationship with The TV Guide Channel.

Rivers and her son, Cooper, live in Los Angeles.  In her spare time, she is involved with such charitable organizations at Suicide Survivors, Heal the Bay, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.