Talk:Brian Rusch

Edit note
I am reposting the almost entirely unreferenced material from the article page. I not really persuaded that an article on this guy is all that relevant to SourceWatch either.--Bob Burton 16:47, 11 April 2009 (EDT)

Raised in the small mountain town of Grand Lake, Colorado, Rusch launched his career as a fashion stylist upon moving to Hollywood in 1993. He quickly became the celebrity editor of Vanidad Magazine and was responsible for getting photographers such as David LaChapelle and Dah Len to work with the magazine.

In 1997, Rusch left Vanidad to create FashionTeen.com. FashionTeen was an online portal for teenagers and included the latest fashions from companies like Skechers, Diesel and H&M to exclusive celebrity content. At the height of FashionTeen, the site was host to more than one million visitors every month and was featuring exclusive content with Britney Spears, Madonna, Nsync and the Backstreet Boys.

Rusch sold FashionTeen in 2001 for an undisclosed amount of money.

In 2003, Rusch formed the corporation Mega Muscle Productions. The company's focus is producing workout videos and other products featuring their core team of fitness models. In early 2004, Rusch launched Mega Muscle Models, a division of Mega Muscle and quickly signed some of the top fitness models in the world. He is credited with single-handedly creating the careers of America's top fitness models Derrick Davenport, Julian Fantechi and Lucas Walker, as well as breathing fresh life into those of legends Yvan Cournoyer, Lance LaMar and Dave Nathan.

In addition to his work with models, Rusch has been an influential supporter of up and coming photographers. Recognizing new talent, Rusch has been responsible for launching the careers of photographers Bunker Monday, Burk Jackson and Eric Schwabel and for taking the work of photography legends Henning von Berg, Dianora Niccolini and Steve Henry to new levels. In 2007, Rusch launched Hot Shots 2007, a photography competition for up and coming photographers. The three day event tested these photographers in a variety of scenarios, culminating in Matt Sanders being named the Hot Shot for 2007, a title that accompanied a photography contract with Mega Muscle, an editorial layout in Genre magazine, and the opportunity to shoot a major underwear campaign. The competition was such a success, it has become an annual event.

In 2007, Rusch launched a second corporation, Malama International. The company produces multi-media products including films, audio CDs and books, all with a foundation in Hawaiian culture and spirituality. The company has produced a series of Hawaiian yoga videos, a series of instructional massage videos, and a documentary on the teachings of ancient Hawaiian spirituality as taught by Alika Medeiros. This documentary, ALOHA LIFE, was the winner of the Golden Kahuna for Best Hawaiian Film at the 2009 Honolulu International Film Festival.

Rusch currently resides in San Francisco, California.