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Profiles of participants
Kirsten Andresen, Senior Publicist, Green Rubino
Kirsten Andresen brings to GreenRubino more than 13 years of public relations experience with a strong emphasis in the travel, hospitalityand lifestyle categories. She has spent most of her career at respected agencies in Los Angeles and Seattle, where she honed her skills as a media relations expert representing some of the world's finest hotels, resorts and destinations. Media placements for her clients have appeared in most local, regional and national media outlets, including New York Times, USA Today, Travel & Leisure, Town & Country and "The Today Show," as well as The Travel Channel and Food Network. Andresen has received numerous awards for her work, including multiple Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Awards and an Award of Excellence in Destination Marketing from the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA). She is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). Andresen graduated from the University of Southern California and holds a B.A. in Public Relations from the Annenberg School of Communication and a B.A. in Cinema-Television from the School of Cinema-Television.
David Boardman, Executive Editor and Senior Vice President
David Boardman currently serves as Executive Editor of The Seattle Times and seattletimes.com. He has oversight and responsibility for the news department of Washington State's largest newspaper and for its website, seattletimes.com. As an editor for The Times, David has directed three Pulitzer Prize-winning team projects and edited six other stories that were Pulitzer finalists. As a member of the company's senior executive team, David contributes to overall company operations, strategy and long-term planning. Before joining The Times in 1983, David was a reporter and editor at several papers in the Northwest, and worked on a construction project in Liberia, West Africa. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and has a graduate degree from the University of Washington.
Emily Bratkovich, Community Manager at Banyan Branch
Emily Bratkovich is a Minnesota native and 2010 graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in Public Relations and Mass Communication and a minor in Film & Media Studies. Her past work includes ASU's president of PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America), 944 Magazine, NBC Universal and a blogger for a California-based eco company and Seattle's Girl Power Hour. She began her own blog seattlesota.com about her efforts moving to Seattle for a social media career. She is currently a community manager at Banyan Branch, a social media and marketing agency in downtown Seattle. Her passions include sports, music, traveling and cooking.
Ashley Breckel
Karen Gaudette Brewer, PCC Natural Markets food writer
Karen Gaudette graduated from UW in 2000 with a double major in Communications and Political Science (plus a quarter as editor-in-chief of The Daily). She joined the marketing team at PCC Natural Markets as Food Writer after a decade in daily journalism writing for The Associated Press and The Seattle Times. At PCC she edits a monthly food magazine, represents the co-op on social media and television, hosts how-to videos and nutrition podcasts, and creates and manages Web content.
Mark Briggs, Director of Digital Media, KING5.com
Mark Briggs is director of digital media for King 5 Television in Seattle and a Ford Fellow in Entrepreneurial Journalism at The Poynter Institute. Previously, he co-founded Serra Media, a Seattle-based technology company, and spent nine years running newspaper websites in Everett and Tacoma, Wash. As part of his mission to help journalists transform in the digital age, Mark has served as a speaker, trainer and consultant for various projects around the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. the author of Entrepreneurial Journalism, a book about the rise of journalism startups and how to start your own journalism business. He also wrote Journalism 2.0: How to survive and thrive in the digital age
Jack Broom, Seattle Times
Sara Brown, Human Resource professional
Sara Brown, Ph.D., has more than 30 years of experience as a human resource professional, management trainer, columnist and educator in the newspaper business. She was vice president of human resources at The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.), and manager, organization development, at the Los Angeles Times. Brown has conducted leadership workshops for the American Newspaper Publishers Association (now NAA), written monthly columns for the National Newspaper Association, is a past president of the national Newspaper Personnel Relations Association (now Media Human Resources Association). She has also advised small and medium-sized newspapers, nationally, on human resource and organization issues. Brown holds an M.S. from the University of San Francisco and a doctorate in human and organization systems from the Fielding Graduate Institute.
Susan Pierson Brown, Principal, Seven November
Seven November principal Susan Pierson Brown has spent most of her career as a senior communications consultant to leaders in business and philanthropy, and has a particular expertise in working with closely with the national business media.
Tara Brown, UW Medicine
After graduation, Tara Brown spent a few months working for Starbucks and the Seattle Sonics & Storm. Committed to starting a career with the Sonics, she gave her notice at Starbucks, only to hear on her last day that Howard Schultz had sold the Sonics. Fortunately, she made her way back into the UW in September of 2006 via a part-time project appointment, which became full-time in less than a year. She has now been there for more than four years. As the Recognition Program & Events Coordinator, she runs the employee recognition program for the UW Medical Center and plans sports tournaments, banquet dinners, organization-wide picnics, as well as facilitating the formal awards program, for more than 5,000 employees. She writes a newsletter and creates all of the marketing for her program.
Shanon Burke, Seattle Storm Corporate Sponsorship Service Coordinator
Shanon Burke planned to be a journalist and graduated from the UW with a double major in editorial journalism and history as part of that plan. After graduation, she landed a job at her hometown paper, The Puyallup Herald, which was the same paper she interned for the summer prior; she was on her chosen path. For almost five years, Shanon worked her way from reporter to interim editor of the award-winning weekly paper. But then her path diverged. She became a consultant for the ninth largest school district in the state and she loved her job. However, the lure of full-time with benefits proved too great, and again, her path changed when she took a job as the Manager of Publications for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. That fun, challenging and complex job took an unexpected turn after three years when she fell victim to downsizing. Her once clearly defined career plan changed again when the Seattle Storm called. She answered and she has been the Corporate Sponsorship Service Coordinator ever since.
Jacque Coe, Bellevue School District
Jacque Coe is a senior communications professional with experience in strategic communications, public relations, executive leadership, brand strategy, media relations, crisis management and issues management. Known as a ferocious networker, she is currently the Director of Communications and Community Engagement for the Bellevue School District, where she is a member of the Superintendent's Cabinet. This is the third executive team for Jacque. Prior to Bellevue, Jacque was Communications Director for the Washington Lottery, and Director of Marketing and Communications for the Alliance for Education. Before her career in public relations, Jacque was a television news journalist for 14 years at TV stations through the Northwest--most recently at KING in Seattle. Jacque has been a News Director, Reporter, Anchor and Assignment Editor — holding numerous positions in TV management and winning a number of awards. Her career has been marked by rapid advancements and promotions from the bottom to the top in several positions as well as experiencing the agony and the ecstasy of the job search process. A common panelist on job search techniques, Jacque is a graduate of Eastern Washington University, nationally accredited by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and is the current Vice President of Education and Accreditation for the local chapter of PRSA.
Kaetlyn Cordingley, Legislative Correspondent for Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester
Kaetlyn Cordingley, a native Montanan, graduated from the UW Honors College in December of 2009 with a degree in Journalism. She now lives in Washington, D.C. working in the United States Senate for Montana Sen. Jon Tester as a legislative correspondent. Highlights of her time at UW include her study abroad in Rome with the Honors Program and the opportunity to work with Prof. David Domke on her thesis, a study of collective identity use in major presidential speeches. Last fall, she presented her thesis at the National Communication Association Convention in San Francisco.
Kristine Cowen, Gates Foundation
KC Cowen graduated from the University of Washington in 2008 with a bachelor's degree from Department of Communication. After working at several local Seattle non-profit organizations, she now works at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a Program Assistant in the Global Health Department on the HIV/TB Team.
Whitney Curry, Zillow.com
Whitney Curry is a Senior Public Relations Specialist and hiring manager at Zillow.com. In this role, she works with national print and broadcast news outlets to secure placement for the company in consumer facing real estate stories, celebrity news magazines, and industry trade publications. Whitney has led Zillow’s mobile PR for the Zillow iPhone App, the number one real estate app in Apple’s iTunes store, and the Zillow Android App.
Elise Daniel, UW Marketing
Elise Daniel has been managing the UW's social media presence since fall 2007, beginning with managing former UW president Mark Emmert's Facebook profile. In addition to managing the day-to-day updates on the UW's Facebook and Twitter pages, she stays current on emerging social networks and helps make strategic decisions about what the UW should pursue. She also advises marketing and communications professionals across the UW on how to maximize the effectiveness of their use of social media. Prior to coming to the University, she worked at Microsoft for five years, managing websites and e-newsletters, and before that worked at various organizations in Texas as an editor and writer.
Mary Anne Dorward, CEO My Real Voice
As a professional speaking coach, Mary Anne Dorward has helped hundreds of people give powerful and winning presentations. Her clients include politicians, CEOs, sports celebrities and humanitarians. A member of the National Speakers Association, Mary Anne has addressed hundreds of groups and delivers entertaining, educational and inspirational keynote speeches around the world. Mary Anne has helped businesspeople across the country sharpen their ability to speak both strategically and authentically to their many different audiences – clients, investors, board members, employees and the media. Committed to being a force of positive influence for the greater good, Mary Anne has coached leaders in the not-for-profit community, not only helping organizations gain visibility but also to raise millions of dollars. But a commitment to making the world a better place doesn't mean Mary Anne only takes high profile clients; just the opposite. She knows that the most important speech many of us give is a toast at a wedding, a eulogy, or for a dinner with friends. Mary Anne delights in working on projects of all scales, helping everyday speeches become extraordinary ones. www.myrealvoice.com
Candice Douglass, Dir. of Marketing and Communications, College of Arts & Sciences, UW
Candice Douglass is a communications professional who has had an extremely varied career. She began as a legal secretary right out of high school and through the years became a top-notch litigation paralegal. She then used those skills to launch a marketing communications career in the professional consulting services area, where she ultimately earned a degree in Communications with an emphasis in PR (magna cum laude) from the UW. She has worked in biotech where she launched a cancer-fighting drug in Europe and then moved to a cause-based foundation where she led a national partnership to raise awareness about foster care in the United States. Her career journey has been unique and unusual, demonstrating the value of translating skills and experiences from one industry to another. Today, she serves as the Director of Marketing and Communications for the UW's College of Arts & Sciences, the largest unit on campus.
Stacey Engle, Director of Marketing at Fierce, Inc.
After graduation, Stacey Engle was a study abroad Program Coordinator for the University of Washington where she developed and led transformational learning experiences in the United States and Greece. Her passion for learning led her to a leadership training company, Fierce, Inc. She has helped build and develop roles in sales, lead generation, and marketing. Stacey is now the Director of Marketing at Fierce and creates, manages and executes on marketing strategies and programs for the company.
Jess Estrada, Director of Marketing, Banyan Branch
Jess Estrada is director of marketing at Banyan Branch, a social media
agency based in Seattle. She is also a Seattle lifestyle blogger at
FreshJess.com. Jess graduated from the University of Washington in 2005 with
a degree in Communication and a certificate in Retail Management.
Anna Fahey, Sightline
Anna Fahey is Senior Communications Strategist at Sightline Institute, a sustainability policy think tank. She oversees opinion research and distills best practices in messaging for regional policy champions. You'll find her writing talking points memos and blog posts on how to communicate about tricky issues like climate change and government. Prior to Sightline, Fahey received her MA in political communication from the University of Washington.
Cynthia Flash, Flash Media Services
Cynthia Flash ('85) began her work as a journalist in 1985. She has written and edited for news organizations in Idaho, Arizona, California and Washington, including nine years with The News Tribune in Tacoma. She has also written and/or placed thousands of articles for local and national print publications and websites including Life Magazine, Business Week, People Magazine, The Industry Standard, The Seattle Times, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Puget Sound Business Journal, Washington CEO magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, TechWeb.com, EarthWeb.com, Internet.com, MBusiness magazine, Knowledge Management Magazine and The Oregonian. She found Flash Media Services, a public relations firm, in 2000 and specializes in public relations, writing, editing and online reputation management. Flash's interests include skiing, running, playing the piano, and spending time with her husband (UW '84 and '87) and their two teenage sons.
Ursula Frank, HR Consultant, formerly Bank of America
Ursula Frank has over 20 years experience in operations management, leadership and associate development, and strategic Human Resource planning. She has also served as a management consultant in the areas of performance and process improvement, team-building and change management. She finds the greatest fulfillment in supporting the development of a learning environment and encouraging individuals to optimize their influence by increasing their personal effectiveness.
Edgar Gonzalez, Assistant Dean for Advancement and External Relations in the UW College of Built Environments
After graduation, Edgar Gonzalez worked as Associate Director of Development for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, where he was responsible for major gift fundraising in the Natural Sciences Division. He then moved to the Alliance for Education as their Director of Development where he provided strategic and administrative oversight for all aspects of fundraising, including major gifts, annual giving, corporate and foundation support, sponsorships, board development, and special events. He rejoined the UW development efforts earlier this year, bringing with him more than ten years of experience in fundraising and development. He is president of the Department of Communication Alumni Board.
Aaron Graham, Campaign Project Manager
Aaron Graham concepts, manages, and reports on marketing campaigns for his clients at Spring Creek Group, a social media marketing agency located in Pioneer Square, Seattle. With his company, he also has a background in Community Management and social marketing technologies. When at UW he was in ASUW as a part of the UW Leaders program and graduated in 2008 with a degree in Communication with a concentration in Business.
Kadee Gray, Social Media Marketing Manager for Produxs
Kadee Gray graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Communication and planned to go into the public relations industry. After graduation, she worked for three long years in jobs that did not fulfill her career dreams. Finally in 2011, Kadee landed the role of social media marketing manager for a small start-up in Fremont. Though she was short on experience, the personal risks she took in social media in her post-graduation years ultimately lead her to her dream job.
Chris Grygiel, Washington state News Editor for The Associated Press
Chris Grygiel is the Washington state News Editor at The Associated Press where he directs the daily news coverage in Washington state for the AP. Before that, he coordinated political coverage for seattlepi.com. He previously worked at its predecessor, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and for The Associated Press on the wire service's New York national desk and covered the Nevada, Montana and Indiana legislatures.
Jamala Henderson, KUOW Presents producer
Jamala Henderson researches, selects, and produces personal narrative stories of individuals from around the Northwest. In addition she produces commentaries where local folks recommend a variety of arts and media experiences, i.e. book, movie and music. Before coming to KUOW, she studied film and video at The Evergreen State college, where she received her B.A. After several years of working in the video field, she began to pursue radio while working for the UW's television station, UWTV. She started off hosting some shows at KBCS, a volunteer radio station over in Bellevue, then worked at the Evergreen Radio Reading Service for several years as a Broadcaster.
Zeina Hamed, Barokas PR
Zeina Hamed earned a double degree in International Studies and Communication from the University of Washington. With a keen interest for public relations, she completed two internships at boutique agencies in Seattle; working with clients ranging from consumer technology to hospitality industries. After graduating in June 2011, Zeina began her career at Barokas PR as an Assistant Account Executive. She is excited to share her perspective on "things I wish I knew before graduating" with current UW students!
Blake Harris, Fierce, Inc
Blake Harris graduated with a Communications degree from the University of Washington in 2007. Blake began his career working as an Account Executive with a local technology firm. Two years later, he left and joined his current company Fierce, Inc. in the spring of 2010. Blake was recently promoted to Vice President of Client Development in January 2012.
Suzanne Hartman, Director of Communications & Public Affairs, Seattle City Light
Suzanne Hartman is a 25+ year corporate communications professional. She had her own public relations/public affairs agency for ten years and successfully sold it to a national firm where she worked for several years, building one of the Top 20 environmental PR practices in the country. Suzanne is known for her strategic counsel on reputation management and strategic communication programs. In 2007, she was selected as the PRSA Puget Sound Chapter "PR Professional of the Year." Her practice areas include corporate positioning, reputation management, crisis communications, media relations and community relations. She has conducted political candidate training sessions for women in Jordan and Kuwait.
Ansel Herz, Blogger and Editor, Seattle Globalist
Ansel Herz is a blogger for the Common Language Project and a Program Operations Specialist at the UW Department of Communication. He was previously a freelance multimedia journalist reporting from Haiti for two years. His work has been published by ABC News, the New York Daily News, Al Jazeera English, Inter-Press News, and Free Speech Radio News, among other publications and broadcast outlets. In 2011, he was key writer and researcher in an exclusive series of articles, published by The Nation magazine and Haiti Liberte, based on WikiLeaks cables related to Haiti. Herz is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism.
Mollie Ruiz-Hopper, Digital Media Coordinator, The Finest Accessories Inc.
Mollie Ruiz-Hopper is the digital media coordinator for a luxury hair
accessories company, The Finest Accessories Inc. Mollie Ruiz-Hopper is a
graduate of Western Washington University with a degree in Communication
Studies. She founded her lifestyle fashion blog in January of 2010,
MollieinSeattle.com, Mollie also writes for KOMO News online's Lifestyle and
living section. Mollie is passionate about fashion, enjoying Seattle and
social media.
Matt Ironside
Matt Ironside graduated in 2006 from the University of Washington Journalism Program. He was the Lead Homepage Producer for The Seattle Times coverage of the shooting deaths of four Lakewood police officers, for which the newsroom won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. He is currently the Senior Producer for Operations at the Times.
Matt Johnson, Consultant at Loft9 Consulting
An entrepreneur at heart, Matt Johnson took the self-employment leap as an undergrad and started his own DJ management and event production business to pay for school. After several years of entertaining the masses, he transitioned to off-stage roles with local start-up MediaNet Digital and corporate behemoth Sony Music Entertainment. Now an associate at Loft9 Consulting, Matt dedicates his days to building the young company, with his nights spent helping local entrepreneurs develop their business plans while exploring his own business ideas. Matt holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Seattle University, and a BA in Economics from the University of Washington.
Keri Kellerman
Keri Kellerman is the Director of Advancement (and Head Cheerleader) for UW World Series at Meany Hall. An artist at heart, Keri used her background in art and public relations to create a successful career in nonprofit arts administration. Prior to joining the UW World Series, she led the development efforts of On the Boards, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre and the Center on Contemporary Art. Through her work, Keri encourages people to risk more than is safe, care more than is wise, dream more than is practical and expect more than is possible.
Dan Lamont
Dan Lamont started his own business in 1981. His graduate research and thesis were on the subject of new business and production models for new media, and he recently started another business (Tatoosh Media) based on the principals developed in that study. He has taught business and marketing for media professionals at the college level and he frequently presents on the topic at professional conferences and he has moderated numerous panels.
Greg Lane, President and CEO, TVW
Amy Laughter, Major Gifts Officer, Overlake Hospital
Keri Kellerman, Director of Advancement (and Head Cheerleader) for UW World Series at Meany Hall An artist at heart, Keri used her background in art and public relations to create a successful career in nonprofit arts administration. Prior to joining the UW World Series, she led the development efforts of On the Boards, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre and the Center on Contemporary Art. Through her work, Keri encourages people to risk more than is safe, care more than is wise, dream more than is practical and expect more than is possible.
Kevin Laverty, Verizon
Lesa Linster
Lesa Linster is the owner of Linster Creative. Linster Creative provides clients support with strategic planning, marketing, communications and special event planning and production.
Cathy MacCaul, director community affairs and media inquiries, YWCA
Cathy MacCaul is Director of Community Affairs and Public Policy for the YWCA Seattle-King-Snohomish. In her role she oversees a team who is responsible for all communications including marketing materials, ywcaworks.org, media relations, social media, crisis management, internal communications, community outreach and public policy. Prior to working for the YWCA, she worked for Microsoft as the Communications Manager for the company's global community affairs department. She began her career in public relations for World Vision, an international relief and development agency.
Lucas Mack, 4th Avenue Media
Nina Miller, Owner and Graphic Designer of justmilled.com
Nina Miller started Just Milled to specialize in the art of designing custom paper goods, wedding and party invitations, as well as focusing on helping small businesses with branding and marketing design. For all her customers, her goal in custom work is to capture the true essence of who they are and convey that with authentic design. For event invitations, the company focuses on the theme of the celebration and bring it to life; and for businesses, for example, we design logos that highlight their brand and capture attention.
Caitlin Murphy, author, lifestyle blogger, journalist
Caitlin Murphy is a freelance television host, anchor and reporter and she is currently the health and fitness reporter and expert for Channel One News out of New York City. Channel One News is broadcast daily in middle and high schools to 6 million teens nationwide. It's also the former home of journalists like Anderson Cooper, Maria Menounos and Lisa Ling. Caitlin also recently worked as an anchor, reporter and producer for a local lifestyle television station on Bainbridge Island. She is skilled at knowing how to build a personal brand using new and social media. She is a contributing writer for ChannelOne.com, she has written a health and fitness book for college students called "Fighting the Freshman Fifteen" and she runs a healthy living website LivingGreatWithCait.com. Caitlin has been featured in the Seattle P-I, KING5 and KING5's Evening Magazine, alloy.com, gurl.com (an iVillage company) and KOMO News Radio.
Molly Schachter, Communication Coordinator, El Gaucho | AQUA by El Gaucho
Lindsay Schuessler, Microsoft
Lindsay Schuessler grew up in Washington, just outside of Seattle. She received Bachelorʼs degrees in Business Administration and Management and Political Science from the University of Washington. After college, she spent time living in Los Angeles and New York City, then returned to Seattle and started working at Microsoft. Lindsay has worked in the Sales, Marketing and Services Group Readiness Group, on various Rapid Deployment Programs and Technology Adoption Programs, including the Windows Server 2008 RDP and Office 2010 TAP, and worked in the U.S. Partner Readiness group. She currently is the Operations Manager for the Global Licensing Sales Excellence team in the Worldwide Licensing and Pricing Group.
Robin Shapiro
Robin Shapiro is CEO & Founder of Health Perspectives Group, a family of companies focused on utilizing personal experience to transform human health (www.hpgroupllc.com). Ms. Shapiro also co-founded and is currently the President & COO of Allied Health Advocates, a professional patient advocacy firm dedicated to helping patients and their families navigate the health care system [www.ahadvocates.com]. She is a 1988 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia where she earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree in News-Editorial Writing and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
Paul Steinle, Journalist
Paul Steinle is a veteran journalist who has been teaching since 1991. Steinle began reporting in local radio in Ohio, and was a reporter and producer at WBZ-TV and WCVB-TV in Boston. He reported from Saigon and Hong Kong as a foreign correspondent for Group-W radio from 1969–1974. During this period he won an Overseas Press club citation for reporting from Vietnam and produced a television documentary on rural China. Subsequently he was a TV news director in Syracuse and in Seattle, and was president of UPI, Data Broadcasting Corp., and the Financial News Network. He is married to Sara Brown, Ph.D., a consultant in organizational development, and they live with their dog, Tallula, in Ashland, Ore.
Liz Talley, Windermere Real Estate
Alisia Tazioli, Managing Director at law firm Major, Lindsey, & Africa
Alisa Tazioli is a Managing Director in the Seattle office of Major, Lindsey & Africa, the leading firm for the placement of lawyers in companies and law firms worldwide. Alisa has experience leading corporate counsel searches including General Counsels for public and private companies based in the Pacific Northwest, bringing legal recruiting experience both from law firm and corporate settings. A life long resident of the Seattle area, Alisa attended the University of Washington receiving a BA in Sociology.
Terry Tazioli, host of TVW's Author's Hour and former Travel Editor for Seattle Times
Terry Tazioli is a principal in Little Man Productions, a professional story-telling service specializing in video, audio, print and online. He is also the host for Author's Hour on TVW in Washington State. The program features author interviews, lectures and readings and is devoted to non-fiction covering politics, public affairs, government, history and the Pacific Northwest. For 14 years, he was editor of Scene, The Seattle Times' nationally recognized lifestyle section. Prior to that, he was a TV-news assignment editor and then the producer of Top Story for KING-TV in Seattle. He worked at the East Side Journal in Kirkland, WA, the Journal American in Bellevue, WA, and he has taught news writing at the UW and Bellevue Community College.
Art Thiel
Sportspress NW is an independent sports news website covering the Seahawks, Sounders, Mariners and University of Washington football and basketball. We've been in business 13 months and are providing quality daily sports journalism to KING5,com, the Spokesman-Review and negotiating with other established media platforms to share our content.
Nicole Tsong
Nicole Tsong is a former reporter for The Seattle Times who left journalism last year to teach yoga full-time. A certified Baptiste power vinyasa teacher, she also serves as the affiliate relations manager for Baptiste Power Yoga Institute. She first arrived in the Northwest as an intern for The Seattle Times, and became a staff reporter in 2005. She has worked for the Anchorage Daily News and contributes to MSN.com.
Tessa Weber, Corporate Communication Specialist, Intellectual Ventures
Tessa Weber is a University of Washington grad with a B.A. in Communication. She currently works for Intellectual Ventures with the Corporate Communication team on both internal and external events and public relations. Before working at IV, Tessa was the President of the Association for Women in Communication UW Student chapter as well as juggling multiple internships and event jobs including Loyal Heights Elementary, Barokas Public Relation and Reel Grrls.
Will Weissert
Will Weissert is a politics reporter for The Associated Press based in Austin, Texas. A graduate of the University of Michigan, he worked at newspapers in Michigan, New Mexico and Washington D.C. before beginning his career with AP in 2000 as the correspondent in charge of the bureau in Guatemala City. He later spent six years in Mexico City and four in Cuba before returning to the United States to help cover the U.S.-Mexico border and, most recently, Rick Perry’s presidential campaign. Weissert has covered everything from the war in Iraq to Fidel Castro’s surprise resignation after nearly 50 years in absolute power; from allegations of juiced balls produced at a Major League Baseball factory in Costa Rica, to the surreal and alcohol-soaked odyssey that is American spring break in Cancun.
