About: DAWNA LEE HEISINGDawna Lee Heising is the executive producer and host of "Eye on Entertainment", a television interview show on Time Warner Cable. “Eye on Entertainment” was established in 2000 by Ken Huthmaker. Dawna joined the show as a host, and became certified as a producer to continue the show in Ken’s honor after his untimely death in 2006. The show is now a division of Eye on Excellence™ Productions. Through "Eye on Entertainment", Dawna interviews dynamic, amazing people in all walks of life to find out their secrets to success. Past episodes of “Eye on Entertainment” have included interviews on the red carpet at the 2007, 2008 and 2009 "Night of 100 Stars" Oscar parties, the FULCAGE “Christmas with a Conscience” benefit, the Diversity Awards, Eli Manning’s Giant Espy Awards party, the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences, the NAACP Image Awards Nominee Luncheon and other events. Dawna has also joined the Punch Television Network as a host for the Hollywood Punch Report.
Dawna is a long-standing member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and AFTRA, and belonged to the Friends and Artists Equity Waiver Theatre Group on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles for twelve years. She has also worked as a swimsuit model for Ujena, Venus Swimwear and Catalina. Dawna has acted in film, TV and theatre productions, including "Fantasy Island", "The New Gidget", "Bring 'Em Back Alive", "The Jagged Edge”,” Big Trouble in Little China" and was Dana in “Barbie & the Rockers” at Universal Studios and Cleo, the Snake Dancer, in the last "Magnum, P.I." Her uncle is Tak Fujimoto, the acclaimed director of cinematography for numerous films. Dawna is currently also appearing in internet films produced by Robert Michael Conrad and Jim Nestor, including “The Company Man” and “Coffee, Tea or Me”.
Dawna is the current Ms. Universe Ambassador 2009. She is also a former Miss Los Angeles Chinatown, Miss Orange County Universe, Miss San Francisco Universe, Miss California Hemisphere, Mrs. Orange County America, Mrs. California United States, Mrs. American Achievement, Ms. US World and Ms. World Ambassador.
Dawna is the president of Heising & Associates, a public relations company, and is a marketing director for a leading edge electronics company. She has a B.S. in Business Management and MBA from Pepperdine University, and a PhD in Business Management from Pacific Western University. She is listed in “Who’s Who in Technology” and has completed chemistry and economics classes at the University of California at Berkeley, and finance classes through UCLA extension.
She is a long-time volunteer for the American Heart Association, serving as the VIP Chairman for the 2007 and 2008 Orange County Heart Walks. An episode of “Eye on Entertainment” was shot at the OC Heart Walk in 2008, where David McNeil and Dawna interviewed VIP donors and heart disease survivors. She was also on the 2007 and 2008 Planning Committees for the Orange County Heart Gala, one of the biggest events in the county.
Dawna believes that it is very important to contribute to society and strive to make the world a better place to live in for everyone. One of the projects that is closest to her heart is the Engeye Health Clinic in Uganda, a non-profit organization that was founded by Stephanie Van Dyke and John Kalule. Stephanie is currently a medical student at Albany Medical College and will return to Uganda to run the clinic with John when she graduates. Stephanie is a true American hero and was selected in 2008 as a Daily Point of Light for her volunteer work. The website of the organization is: www.engeye.org.
And, last but not least, is Dawna’s extraordinary family. Her husband Paul is a Certified Financial Planner and partner in a very successful company. His senior partner, Rich Moran, has been chosen as one of the Top 20 CFPs in California and Top 100 in America by Worth Magazine for the last six years. Paul is also a former vice president with Con Agra and Bayer, and helped to develop the Healthy Choice food line and flavored Alka Seltzer. Paul is an associate professor of marketing at Chapman University, and teaches financial planning at UCLA and Santa Monica College. Their daughter Marissa is a pharmaceutical representative and has won awards every year for being tops in sales. Marissa married Sammy Halo, a network administrator, on March 16, 2008, and they have a silky terrier named Hiro. Paul and Dawna’s daughter Misty received the Distinguished Bruin Award at UCLA and is an MD/PhD student at Albany Medical College. She is the student president-elect of the American Medical Women’s Association, is on the board for the Engeye Health Clinic in Uganda and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2008 to finish her studies in Japan.
Thank you to David McNeil, Ryan Beck, Kevin Le and Venus Day for taking these pictures!