Spring 2025 Master Class

Melina Gerosa Bellows is the President of Fun Factory Press, a boutique publishing business specializing in children’s non-fiction content. Bellows is a transformational, visionary content leader who harnesses both creative talent and business acumen to drive strategic direction for iconic global multimedia and educational organizations. First and foremost, Bellows is a creator and storyteller able to engage, motivate and inspire teams while leading the development of sophisticated, compelling content. Some of her achievements include transforming National Geographic’s unprofitable kids’ business into a top-revenue-generating flagship through brand and strategy reinvention and product and program expansion. She ideated hundreds of new products and franchises, including The New York Times Bestselling National Geographic Kids Almanac and Weird But True, a 30-book series, an Emmy-winning TV show, and a Sirius radio show. She recreated and introduced National Geographic Kids magazine, quickly doubling readership for publication now ranked as the #1 kids’ magazine. During her time at National Geographic she also architected an education learning framework and branding guidelines used for all National Geographic products to boost brand recognition, stimulate cross-platform opportunities, and optimize revenue. More recently she created and launched two new series for Penguin Random House Totally Random Questions and Totally Random Facts. An award-winning journalist and the author of 20 books, she lives in Washington, D.C. with her Coon cat and opinionated Doodle.