About Melina

Melina Gerosa Bellows is the Founder and President of Fun Factory Press, a boutique publishing business specializing in children’s non-fiction content and unique offering for adults. Bellows is a transformational, visionary content leader who harnesses both creative talent and business acumen to drive strategic direction for iconic global multimedia and educational organizations. First and foremost, Bellows is a creator and storyteller able to engage, motivate and inspire teams while leading the development of sophisticated, compelling content.

Some of her achievements include transforming National Geographic’s unprofitable kids’ business into a $65M, top-revenue-generating flagship division through brand and strategy reinvention and product and program expansion. She ideated hundreds of new products and franchises, including The New York Times Bestselling National Geographic Kids Almanac and Weird But True, a 30-book series that garnered $16M in revenue, an Emmy-winning TV show, and a Sirius radio show with 31 million subscribers. She recreated and introduced National Geographic Kids magazine, quickly doubling readership for publication now ranked as the #1 kids’ magazine. During her time at National Geographic she also architected an education learning framework and branding guidelines used for all National Geographic products to boost brand recognition, stimulate cross-platform opportunities, and optimize revenue.

Most recently, Bellows created a brand-new imprint for Penguin Random House. Totally Random Kids is an illustrated reference line which debuted with two series, Totally Random Questions and Totally Random Facts. Both series garnered stellar reviews.

Bellows is an award-winning journalist and the author of 18 books. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her two children, dog, cat and a chameleon.

Photograph by Nina Hauser