Hosts

Amanda Coolong hosts This Week In Cloud Computing

Amanda Coolong is a Web video producer, host and early adopter of social media.

She produces and hosts This Week in Cloud Computing, and has made guest appearances on every other show that starts with “This Week In”. A self-professed fan of technology startups, she has emcee’d Twiistup, the Influence Awards, and interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs. Amanda is also known as the face of TechZulu.com, an online media company covering emerging and established technology brands by featuring the personalities behind them.

An upcoming authority on new media, Amanda co-hosted the Social Media Club’s live daily show from South by Southwest Interactive, and covered LeWeb in Paris as a member of the Traveling Geeks. She also reported from the red carpet during the inaugural Streamy Awards honoring excellence in Web television, and hosted the TechZulu live streams from BlogWorld and CES.

Amanda also brings her collective industry knowledge and contacts to a select group of clients under her consulting brand, Beta PR. She specializes in marketing and PR campaigns tailored to the needs of early-stage startups. She has over a decade of experience bringing technology brands to market on an international scale.

In her ‘spare’ time Amanda can be found performing Black Velvet at Tech Karaoke; or talking up TacticalCorsets.com, a venture that likely helped her secure the #3 spot on Violet Blue’s coveted list of Top 10 Sexiest Geeks for 2010.

Amanda graduated summa cum laude from Emerson College. She will tell you she received a Bachelor of Science in Speech, but her friends and colleagues will say she got a degree in how to talk, and she does it well. ;-)

She lives on the Interwebz as ‘acoolong’

Ashley Esqueda hosts This Week In Mobile

When she’s not playing World of Warcraft or diving nose-deep into a Chuck Palahniuk novel, Ashley Esqueda is making someone laugh. Her love of comedy began at a young age, when she watched television shows like “You Can’t Do That on Television” and “Married With Children.” Even though she majored in Television Production while attending Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, it wasn’t until her first stint as host of its student-produced late night show “Nightcap” that she realized meeting interesting people, writing jokes, and cracking up audiences was precisely what she wanted to do with her life.

Ashley’s been on national television as a featured contestant on ABC’s “All American Girl,” as well as a talking head/contributor on G4’s “Filter.” She knows her way around a menagerie of topics ranging from celebrity gossip to tech gadgets – and she’s wholly unafraid to express her opinions on any topic she’s passionate about. She also spent time as Senior Editor at Play Magazine, mixing her video game roots with her editorial skills, writing reviews, columns, and interviews with developers and celebrity gamers alike.

In 2010, she finally set her sights on the one aspect of her career still unexplored: stand-up comedy. After attending Judy Carter’s Comedy Workshop in Hollywood, CA, she performed in various showcases in Southern California, including the world-famous Comedy Store. Her huge personality and feisty attitude make her a force to be reckoned with in 2010 and beyond.

Currently, Ashley hosts “This Week in Mobile,” a weekly web series dedicated to Google’s mobile operating system. She lives in Southern California with two very attached dogs, a cranky old cat, and her fiancée Jimi.

Mark Suster hosts This Week In Venture Capital

Mark joined GRP Partners in 2007 after having worked with GRP for nearly 8 years as a two-time entrepreneur. Most recently Mark was Vice President, Product Management at Salesforce.com (NASDAQ: CRM) following its acquisition of Koral,where Mark was Founder and CEO. Prior to Koral, Mark was Founder and CEO of BuildOnline, the largest independent global content collaboration company focused on the engineering and construction sectors, which was acquired by SWORD Group (PARIS: SWP). Earlier in his career, Mark spent nearly ten years working for Accenture in Europe, Japan and the U.S.

Mark received a BA in Economics from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is a dual citizen of the US and the UK.

Mark founded Launchpad LA, a program designed to help mentor LA’s most promising first-time startup CEO’s. He runs the Southern California Venture Capital Alliance (VCA) and is on the board of advisors for the venture capital fund of the UCSD Rady School of Business. Mark sits on the Boards of RingRevenue, GumGum and Ad.ly. He was formerly on the boards of EMN8, Qualys, Koral and BuildOnline.

Ed Crasnick hosts This Week in Comedy

Ed is an Emmy winning writer and creator/performer. His background is comedy. He is no stranger to talking about himself in the third person. He has written and performed in all media for over fifteen years.

On Television Ed has worked on “The Sopranos,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Just Shoot Me,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “Ellen,” “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” “Dr. Katz” and many others. In addition to hosting This Week in Comedy, Ed has been doing “The Self Help Comedy Hour.” It is the first self-help comedy show; uniting comedy, entertainers and self help experts. Ed has also been a development exec who created Instant Comedy. This was a production think-tank where a talented ensemble created a new comedy every week. Currently, Ed has a number of shows in development with producer Michael Gruskoff.

Ed is no stranger to the web, although he has no idea how to behave in a chat room, just like life. On the web, along with Stun Creative; Ed created, wrote, cast, produced and acted in “The Writers Room”, a series sold to Sony digital. On radio; he hosted his own show on KABC and is a frequent guest on WBZ in Boston and The Steve Parry Show in London.

As a comedian; Ed has performed from coast to coast at such venues as Caesars Palace and The Fillmore. He toured for four years including off-Broadway in his one-man show “I’m Not Perfect”. The show received critical acclaim around the country and saved Ed thousands of dollars in therapy costs. He is writing a self help comedy workbook called “I’m Not Getting Better and You’re Getting Rich.” Mr. Crasnick lives with his wife Caryl and daughter Shayna near the sea, where he drinks coffee and worries.

Andrea Rene hosts This Week in Video Games and This Week in iPad

Andrea Rene is an TV and Online personality and freelance producer. Her production company, The Lone Blazers, is currently developing several new series. Andrea also freelances for TheBitBag. Previously, Andrea reported for numerous shows including Mahalo Daily, The Race Across America, and ThisWeekinYouTube. She has also reported from E3, tested video games, done game reviews, and competed in gaming competitions. She has been to numerous red carpet premieres and interviewed celebrities such as Hilary Swank, Jerry Seinfeld, Tony Hawk, Ashley Simpson, Anthony Hopkins, and more! She previously wrote and hosted for Vlaze Media Networks on Get the Daily and on The Daily Dose, which streamed LIVE online 5 days a week. Plus, she has worked on a travel show, a talk show, and even a dating game show!

A former fitness instructor, Andrea’s passions include hiking and soccer, but she also loves to travel and can spend hours playing video games (of course!). As known to anyone who crosses her path, this fiery redhead always has something to say and will be sure to let you know.

Farrell Roth hosts This Week in Movies

Farrell Roth is a host and producer and is delighted that the folks at ThisWeekIn think her obsession with movies is best suited for a studio and not a therapist’s couch. She has spent the past decade working as an entertainment journalist and directing reality TV shows. If you know what a black light is, you’ve seen her work. She also hosted her own cable lifestyle show, worked as a reporter for PBS and moonlighted as a host for Cinemax, where she’d like to stress that she remained fully clothed at all times. Farrell’s dedication to film is steadfast. She pays to see at least 6 movies a week, in the theater, and obsessively attacks the advancement of her Netflix queue like it’s a job.

A born and bred New Yorker, Farrell finally overcame her fear of driving and made the move to LA in 2007 where she promptly took up golf, yoga and hiking and swapped out Tasti D-Lite for Pinkberry. Farrell majored in Film at Middlebury College in Vermont, graduating magna cum laude, but credits the nuns at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan for teaching her everything that matters. And yes, it’s also Lady Gaga’s alma mater, but no she did not know her.

Roger Erik Tinch hosts This Week in Movies

Roger Erik Tinch is a filmmaker, film lover, web geek, tech head and graphic designer. He served an integral role in creating and setting up the Art and Online Department for the CineVegas Film Festival, where he worked for five years. Today he works as the Director of Social Media for MUBI.com and consults for the Sundance Film Festival and Fantastic Fest.

Asha K hosts This Week in Music

Asha K is a 26 year old TV host with a passion for music and entertainment. Born in the UK, raised in Australia, Indian by ethnicity (confused yet?) and residing in the US, she has hosted shows on MTV, Nickelodeon, Disney, Fox, Current TV, Myspace and more!

She has been nominated for 2 TV awards and has a BA in Film and Media from Griffith University in Australia. The Foo Fighters, Muse, Coldplay, The Temper Trap and Serj Tankian are some of her fave musicians/bands. A web addict by nature, she loves scouring myspace, youtube and online newspapers for articles, videos, music and entertainment news that will make great conversation topics and make This Week in Music the most talked about show on the web! Find her on Twitter @thisisasha!