Kerstin Emhoff

Kerstin Emhoff (née Mackin; born March 18, 1967) is an American film producer and the co-founder and CEO of the commercial production company Prettybird and creative studio Ventureland. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, Producers Guild of America, and Television Academy.

Emhoff won a News & Documentary Emmy Award in 2012. As the CEO of Ventureland, Emhoff has executive produced documentaries including The Deepest Breath, Bobi Wine: The People's President, If These Walls Could Sing, and AKA Jane Roe.

Life and career

Kerstin Jennifer Emhoff was born in Minnesota, the daughter of Kathleen "Katie" (née Davies) and James Mackin. She has two brothers, Seth Mackin and Kyle Mackin. Her parents divorced in 1982, and her father later remarried. After film school at Boston University, Emhoff moved to Los Angeles, where she got a job at a small production company and "was immediately hooked into the world of short form." By 2002, Emhoff was a principal (and executive producer) at HSI Productions. HSI creatives at that time included Paul Hunter, Hype Williams, and Diane Martel.

Prettybird

In 2007, Emhoff, together with Hunter, left HSI to co-found the production company Prettybird. Emhoff is Prettybird's CEO. Ad Age named Prettybird as Creativity's Production Company of the Year twice, in 2015 and 2021.

She was executive producer of Manhunt: The Search for Bin Laden (2013), which won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, and produced Emmy Award-winning The Tillman Story.