The Head of Marketing for Cable Africa Network (CAN), a division of the MultiMesh Broadcasting Group, a Nigerian-based broadcasting company with 22 content-rich family entertainment channels, Starr Campbell is making her own mark.
After living all over the world, modeling, surviving an accident, and sharing her lessons with young women, Starr is an inspiration that achieving dreams and goals is always possible.
Born in Canada, Starr and her family moved to Westchester, New York when she was seven years old. At age 15, she landed an international makeup campaign for Fashion Fair Cosmetics, the world’s leading makeup line for women of color. Yet beauty is just one aspect of Starr’s makeup; her parents were very progressive and she was always exposed to literature — her father read classic novels to her from a very young age.
As soon as she was old enough to travel on her own, Starr set off to explore the amazing places and cultures she had read about for so long. She moved to Paris, where she was quickly discovered by the president of Elite Models. She modeled for the next two and a half years, living in Paris, London, Milan, and Dublin. As much as this appealed to her, Starr returned to the states to live in New York City and attend Vassar, to study English Literature.
While living in New York, Starr worked for the Bloomingdales in a management position, overseeing sales and marketing. When a colleague suggested that she enter a BayWatch contest held by Backstage Magazine, she did, won and relocated to Hollywood.
Within weeks, Starr found herself in a new town, taping a major hit television series. Her career quickly gained momentum as she landed several national commercials for brands including Lady Gillette, Kodak International, the U.S. Postal Service and Ross, among many others. In an attempt to strike a balance between work and education, Starr enrolled at UCLA to study Print and Broadcast Journalism.
While in school and modeling, she accepted an internship at United Press International (UPI), which enabled her to cover the Oscars and the SAG Awards. Starr also held key positions where she learned the creative and production side of the industry at Jack Morton Worldwide and Caribiner International, two of Hollywood’s leading marketing and communications companies. These positions, coupled with her broad education, gave her the knowledge necessary to launch her own marketing and PR firm, Starr Media Group. It was during this period that Starr was involved in a terrifying accident that shifted her course significantly.
After waking up in a hospital room with a large laceration running down the left side of her face, Starr was faced with the reality that her modeling and acting career was over. It was a defining moment — surprisingly, she remembers a feeling of calm and peace that came after this realization. Her rigorous pursuit of education and self-discovery over the years had resulted in a strong core and sense of self that could not be diminished by the loss of physical beauty.
With the help of faith and good friends, Starr had a full recovery. To spread the valuable lesson she learned, Starr became a spokeswoman for FIDM. She traveled and lectured to students on “Marketing Yourself in The Electronic Age.”
Her message was one of strength and hope, and her intent was to show women that they could show up in the world in a powerful way and conquer anything that they set their minds to. Her lectures received such positive response that she was moved to launch a production company, Field of Dreams, to reach a larger audience by producing inspiring, meaningful films and documentaries.
Starr’s desire to prove that beauty was not about physical perfection inspired her to direct a reality piece centered on her quest to join the cast of the Price Is Right as a “Bob Barker Beauty.” A risky undertaking considering that she didn’t know whether she would be able to actually land the job — yet she was determined and quickly landed the role, enabling her to successfully complete her first documentary, “The Making Of A Price Is Right Model.”
“I’ve always thought that even if you weren’t the most probable candidate for success, as long as you have ambition, persistence, and a strong work ethic, it’s possible to climb mountains and be victorious in all your affairs.” Starr said.
When Multimesh approached Starr to oversee the Marketing division for CAN, Starr felt it was the perfect culmination of all of her experience, both on and off camera. As the Head of Marketing, she is responsible for the company’s aggressive expansion, as well as the much-awaited launch of CAN. Since CAN will add four new channels this fall, with family and value-centered programming, Starr is thrilled to about this opportunity.
“I loved being able to reach out to the young generation,” Starr said. “I’m excited to continue touching this audience, but on a much larger scale, through CAN’s meaningful, family-oriented programming.”
Her beautiful message is heard loud and clear.