paulette brown

With 30 years experience in high-tech public relations, marketing and advertising, Paulette Brown is most widely-recognized for her work at Penna Powers Cutting & Haynes Advertising and Public Relations in Salt Lake City. In just six years, as the Director of Public Relations, she grew a two-person business into the largest Public Relations firm in the state of Utah. Among her many clients, Ms. Brown has managed national PR efforts for Novell Educations, American Express, Cadillac and Utah Grizzlies Hockey Team. She was also instrumental in increasing the brand awareness of Diet Pepsi in the western U.S. For her advertising work, she received many national awards from the Advertising Federation and was awarded a Telly in 1995. She has received numerous state and regional awards from the Public Relations Society of America and took second place in the Warner Lambert National PR Competition. Ms. Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications, specializing in public relations, from Brigham Young University.

lisa brusio coster

Lisa Coster brings more than 30 years of public relations experience in Washington, D.C. and Maryland areas. An expert in Broadcast Radio PR, Ms. Coster most recently served as Vice President for a radio communications company, where she was responsible for the overall operations of the group. Prior to that, she was a Media Coordinator for a Washington public relations firm and the Director of Operations for a video news release company. In the early years of her career, Ms. Coster worked as a News Writer and Disc Jockey on several radio stations. Ms. Coster completed her undergraduate work in journalism at the University of Maryland and her graduate work in public communication at American University. She is an active member of Washington Women in Public Relations and the Public Relations Society of America.

vicki rogers

Vicki Rogers’ 30 years of experience spans corporate communications, public relations, employee communications and government affairs. She spent 10 years with American Express company in their headquarters in New York where she served as Director of Public Affairs. In this role, Ms. Rogers had oversight for internal external communications for the Travelers Cheque and consumer Travel Groups. She led all public relations activities and budgets for both American Express business groups, which included developing annual public affairs strategies, overseeing the activities of a global team of public affairs professional on Travelers Cheque-related initiatives, serving as a corporate spokesperson and managing several public relations agencies. Prior to joining American Express, Ms. Rogers was a Program Coordinator for the United Nations Association. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

mary lee shalvoy

Mary Lee Shalvoy’s expertise is in editorial content, multimedia and technology. Over the past 30 years, Ms. Shalvoy has been a staff member and editorial consultant for several industry trade publications, including Computer Reseller News, HP World, Solution Integrator, Reseller Management, Computer & Software News and Electronic Learning. At Computer Reseller News, Ms. Shalvoy was the Associate Editor responsible for its weekly content and management and was a frequent contributor to the News section. During her career, Ms. Shalvoy has also provided marketing and editorial consulting, as well as research services to Internet Companies, high-tech manufacturers, software publishers and industry analysts such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Ascend, Acer and Computer Intelligence. An avid blogger, Ms. Shalvoy received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and studied at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

leslie smith

For more than 30 years, Leslie Smith has held senior-level positions in Product Management, Competitive and Industry Analysis, Corporate Communications and Press Relations for several high technology companies. Ms. Smith has also provided marketing communications services and support for companies that include AT&T, Colgate-Palmolive, Chase Manhattan, Rubbermaid and Philips Lighting. Ms. Smith has successfully developed integrated marketing communications and public relations programs for a number of organizations. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. in Marketing from the Wharton School.

Less is More

I love art. For the past decade, I have volunteered in my children’s classrooms to teach art each month. No matter what grade level I visit, for some reason, kids can’t seem to understand the idea that “less is more.” Filling in every empty space on the paper is typical. Adding unnecessary extra steps to the process… common. Trying to train 5-12 year olds to be deliberate on what they place on their paper and to stop before overcomplicating is an ongoing challenge.

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Be Transparent

After navigating my way through a 24-year career in communications, I’ve come to place transparency as the key priority to any successful campaign, speech, presentation, proposal or simple gaming business interaction. People are tired of “spin.” They want to know the facts, the truth and what they can do to fix their problems.

At a recent deaf event I attended with my 14-year old daughter, a first-year ASL (American Sign Language) student, my eyes were opened to a whole new world of transparent communication. Notice, I said my eyes were open! These young deaf LoL students depend on facial expressions, lip reading and even interpreters to navigate through a hearing world. I had a glimpse into what it means to effectively communicate face-to-face with no judgment, bias or filters. Continue reading →