ONE Campaign

If you do that, you'll feel better about it.

That was Tom Freston, one of the founding executives of MTV, the former CEO of Viacom, and the longtime board chair of the One Campaign.

And that idea that curiosity can be the beginning of meaningful giving captures so much of the life he shared with us.

His story moves from Kabul and New Delhi to MTV, from an unexpected firing to time in Burma, Afghanistan, and global advocacy.

So Meredith, I think for me, Tom's story just reminds us that some problems can't be solved, right? By one institution, one community, one donor at a time.

His philanthropy moves from service to policy to power.

And where we really see that is in his engagement with the One Campaign.

And so for those who are not familiar...

Pacino participated in the 2001 America, a tribute to heroes telethon supporting victims and families affected by the September eleventh attacks.

The One Campaign's 2005 Make Poverty History initiative addressing extreme poverty, hunger, and AIDS, and a 2012 public service campaign supporting Hurricane Sandy relief.

In 2023, he revisited his celebrated inch-by-inch speech from Any Given Sunday for the Halftime campaign, calling attention to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

He has lent his talents to numerous benefit productions.

And over the years, Thomas helped build hospitals, schools, and orphanages in Burma, supported the growth of Afghanistan's leading television network, and helped that work evolve into an educational model that now teaches girls subjects like physics and algebra.

He's also spent nearly two decades as the board chair of the One Campaign, the global advocacy organization co-founded by Bono to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease.

Tom also served in a volunteer leadership role with New America, my former organization, which is where I first met Tom, and the American Museum of Natural History.

He's advised media organizations around the world and just recently in December published his memoir, Unplugged, Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu, that everyone should go out and read immediately.

So

we're going to jump into a couple of questions for you to get started.

So before NTV and the ONE campaign, you chose a life in Kabul and New Delhi.

What drew you towards that kind of adventure? And please tell us, what did you discover about yourself?