Lauren Lexton co-founded Authentic Entertainment in 2000. An Emmy-Award winning producer, Lexton leads the company as CEO, while also serving as an executive producer on all productions. Over the course of the company’s history, Lexton worked on thousands of hours of programming that spans more than 80 shows for over 16 networks.

Currently, Lexton is responsible for the creation and production of hit shows such as “Flipping Out!”, “Ace of Cakes,” “Knife Fight,” “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” “Best Thing I Ever Ate,” and “Toddlers & Tiaras.” Prior to founding Authentic, Lexton worked as a show runner, director, writer and producer for numerous network and cable series.

Lexton graduated cum laude from NYUʼs Tisch School of the Arts and serves on the Board of Directors for the International Documentary Association. Her greatest passion is finding unknown talent and unique stories – often discovering that truth is stranger than fiction.

As SVP of Production & Operations, Kirk Anderson oversees all aspects of production from budgeting to delivery and everything in between.

Kirk has been in the television industry for over 15 years. He started at the bottom as a PA on The Bachelor and hasn’t stopped learning and growing since. Within that time, he has been fortunate enough to be a part of such shows as The Apprentice, The Real Gilligan’s Island, Dancing with the Stars, La La Land, and Billion Dollar Buyer to name a few. He’s worked with networks spanning from Showtime, ABC, FOX, WE, TBS, CNBC, and several others.

Contrary to most people in Hollywood, Kirk is a California native. Hitting the skate park, beach, and snowy mountains with his wife and 4 kids pretty much takes up the rest of his time.

Emmy-nominated executive producer Jeffrey L. Weaver is a producer, writer, director, cinematographer, editor, musician and singer.

Over the last five years, Weaver wrapped an exceptional 209-episode run of TLC’s hit “Little People, Big World” on TLC, ran the inaugural season of the breakout series “Tanked” for Animal Planet, produced “Auction Kings” (which ran for 90 episodes) on Discovery Channel, and Nat Geo’s “You Can’t Lick Your Elbow” with NFL legend Tony Gonzalez for Authentic Entertainment. Most recently, Jeff received an Emmy nomination for the reboot of A&E’s “Intervention.” He’s also developing his own shows.

He’s been actively employed in the entertainment industry since the age of 16, working as a producer, writer and director for a variety of networks, including A&E, Nat Geo, TLC, Discovery, Animal Planet, HGTV, History, OWN, Spike, TNT, E!/Style, NBC, Disney/ABC, Fox, Discovery Health, VH1, Food Network, PaxNet and Travel Channel.

Jeff lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and four children.

Will Pisnieski currently serves as the CTO and Head of Post Production.

Pisnieski joined Authentic Entertainment in 2007 as a post producer, overseeing one of the largest Apple Final Cut Pro infrastructures in the US. In the time since, Pisnieski has grown Authentic in to one of the largest Avid Media Composer and Facilis Terrablock facilities, with over 125 active clients stringing-out and editing content daily.

Pisnieski’s work spans every facet of the reality television. Prior to his work at Authentic, Pisnieski began his career on MTV’s long running reality series “The Real World.” Originally from Elmwood Park, New Jersey, Will relocated to California to pursue a degree in cinematography from the Brooks Institute, a renowned photography school.

When not working on the latest Authentic productions, Will can be found honing his bowling skills and spending time with his family.

With over a decade of experience in unscripted television, Sara Reddy has developed and produced some of the most indelible characters and unforgettable hits in reality TV, including America Chopper, Toddlers & Tiaras, and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, among many other successful series. As an executive producer, Sara has produced hundreds of hours of content, and her passion for storytelling has resulted in programming for networks such as TLC, Discovery, Animal Planet, A&E, MTV, VH1, Showtime, ABC and CBS. Sara is also a fearless cook, and a proud mom to an exceptionally funny and smart daughter named Bailey.

Nneka is a versatile entertainment professional with experience in physical production, talent booking, social media and creative development. In addition to television, she specializes in digital content creation including branded entertainment, lifestyle, and food-related programming. She’s passionate about collaborating with new platforms and partners to bring great stories to life and was recently named a 2017 “Digital It List” honoree by Cynopsis Digital Media.

Prior to joining Authentic Entertainment, Nneka developed and produced both digital and television content for leading global media company POPSUGAR, where she led lifestyle programming efforts and helped to create branded content for clients including Nike, Crest, Levi’s, Dr. Pepper, and St. Ives. During her tenure at POPSUGAR, Nneka’s content vertical maintained the highest performance for the brands.

Currently in his fourth year as Senior Director and Director of Photography for Authentic Entertainment, LaFleur creates television programs for Showtime, Discovery Channel, Bravo, Food Network, TLC, History, Travel Channel, Esquire Network and HGTV.

As a freelance cinematographer, LaFleur worked all over the world in both film and television. In addition to his continual narrative work on films, music videos and commercials, LaFleur is an accomplished multi-camera director, completing shows such as Esquire Network’s “Knife Fight” and “White Collar Brawlers,” along with the new HGTV series “Flipping the Block.”

Originally from Massachusetts, Mark now resides in Los Angeles. LaFleur earned a BFA in Film, Photography and Creative Writing from Emerson College.

Originally from Massachusetts, Paul earned a BFA in Film in Screenwriting from University Of Nevada, Las Vegas. After college and working in the film festival circuit, he fell into the world of reality TV. Quickly excelling, he has cast and developed numerous shows for broadcast and cable. He got his start on “Deal or No Deal,” and has worked on many other hit shows like “American Gladiators,” “Parental Control,” “Tabatha Takes Over,” “The Bachelor,” “Rupaul’s Drag Race” and he produced over 70 episodes of GSN’s hit show “Baggage.”

While at Authentic, he has cast and developed many shows including “Jersey Belle”, “Toddlers and Tiaras”, “White Collar Brawlers” & “Knife Fight”. Paul is known for finding unexpected characters in new and fun worlds. He prides himself in working hard and always being able to laugh at the craziness of working in unscripted. With his background in production, casting and development, he hopes to one day master unscripted, scripted and features.

In addition to working at Authentic, he has been a finalist in The Sundance Writers Labs, Nicholl Fellowship and Outfest Labs. He enjoys traveling, writing, and watching shows where women yell at each other all day long.

Patrick Stringer joined Authentic in 2011, and now serves as Vice President, Broadcast Operations. He started his work with Authentic as an Assistant Camera Operator and quickly decided this was the company for him. Patrick is responsible for overseeing Authentic’s broadcast division and develops new workflows for the company’s field crews.

In his free time, Patrick enjoys all sorts of outdoor activities and is an avid scuba diver, surfer and fly fisher.

Born and raised in The Lone Star State, Michelle studied at The University of Texas at Austin, where she received her Bachelors Degree in theatre and film. Her career in casting began with an internship at Sony Pictures under well-known Casting Director Francine Maisler. After moving permanently to Los Angeles, she made the transition into non-scripted casting. Michelle has cast over 50 development projects at Authentic, and before that was a freelance casting producer for shows airing on The CW, CBS, GSN, HGTV, Food Network, and more. She loves discovering talent and putting together amazing ensembles of “characters,” but enjoys seeing their success even more.

Feel free to throw her a ‘hook ‘em horns’ and talk about how good Tex-Mex is – she never gets tired of either.