INFINITELY CURIOUS + PLEASANTLY PERSISTENT
Hi.
In college I desperately wanted to study abroad. Unfortunately, the way my major was designed, if I missed a semester, I essentially lost a year. I tried to figure out how to make the semester up. Believe me, I tried. I called universities near my childhood home so I could make it up over the summer. I specifically recall reaching out to Princeton University to see if I could take a copywriting class. Princeton thought I meant a copyrighting class...in the law school. After my adviser laid it out, 'stay in the advertising/pr track or add an extra year,' which was not financially feasible, I finally let it go. Or, rather, let it go at least until I earned my B.A. in Communications with a Specialization in Advertising and Public Relations.
Dreams don't die. After graduation, it came as no surprise that I still wanted to live abroad. When my friends were looking for full-time jobs after graduation, I found a program called BUNAC, secured myself a passport and a six-month work visa and left for London to join BUNAC’s International Work Exchange Program.
Moving to London
In London, I found myself a job as an executive assistant at Law Business Research, an independent publisher. Before securing an office job, I tended bar (for a few weeks) and handed out flyers for a mobile phone company (for a few days). It was late fall and getting cold outside, and not my dream job for the winter.
Starting my Career in the US
Upon my return to the US, I began my career in New York City in healthcare communications. I joined Shire Hall, later helping to rebrand the company as Shire Health, the newly launched US-based office of an established, and successful, European healthcare communications agency. In the New York office, I was one of four full-time employees. The job came with international travel (my very first business trip was to Copenhagen!) and a boss with a British accent (which was a nice reminder of where I had just been). The work was fascinating, and because of our small size, I had access to assignments that I wouldn't have had in an entry-level role in a larger agency. I had found my professional home.
Just before joining Shire Health, I enrolled in evening continuing education classes at the School of Visual Arts where I earned continuing education certificates for Advertising Copywriting.
By day, I was immersed in healthcare communications and by night, I was writing copy for obscure consumer products.
Biz Dev at DDB
After a few years with Shire Health, and wanting to expand beyond healthcare and pharma, I found my way into a business development role at DDB, one of the largest and most influential advertising and marketing networks in the world. The joke was on me. I learned that my pharma background was one of the reasons I was hired.
When I joined DDB, the new biz team consisted of my boss (who had just assumed this new role) and myself. When I left, nearly five years later, our team had grown in size, and we produced the most successful years of new business the agency had ever seen.
Moving onto 30 Rock
I left DDB for a marketing role at NBCUniversal, one of the world’s premier media and entertainment companies. I changed my company but not my commute since 30 Rock was just a block away from DDB. At NBC I created and developed custom marketing campaigns to generate revenue beyond traditional ad sales for NBC programming, including the Olympics. There, I worked on national brands that you'd recognize in an instant to smaller, local brands specific to local markets.
South American Sabbatical
After 10+ years in New York City, and plenty of passport stamps since living in London, the travel bug hit hard. I left a perfectly good job at NBC to take a sabbatical to fulfill a personal dream. I had been to Argentina a few years prior and simply fell in love with the country. I wanted more of South America, and not just a two-week vacation. Once there, I traveled solo throughout Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.
The Start of Freelance
Upon my return to the US, I began freelancing with lifestyle technology companies. I partnered with a global SIM card startup, subscription box startup, digital marketing agency, on-demand translation services and a luxury vacation rental website, to name a few.
On the Move…Again
Later, I relocated to Atlanta to lead the marketing function at World 50, an invitation-only membership community for C-suite executives from the Global 500. There, I developed and launched an integrated communications strategy to drive member acquisition and retention, implemented process changes to improve business performance and strengthened internal communications.
Full-time Freelance
After leaving World 50 and Atlanta, freelancing full-time became a reality. I've contributed go-to-market strategies to refine product position, drive awareness and generate leads for Verizon, managed all public relations activities including strategy, media relations and executive visibility for several West Coast technology startups and worked on a mix of long-term assignments for agencies, startups and established companies here in the US and abroad.
elssus
In 2018, I made the move to entrepreneurship official and established elssus, LLC, a multi-disciplined communications consultancy. As a Communications Consultant, I build and grow companies’ reputations thereby increasing awareness, business results and credibility.
Think of me as a nontraditional publicist.
My work spans communications including public and media relations, strategic, internal and crisis communications, integrated marketing and more.
In addition, I can help
leverage a funding round announcement or a launch to secure press
position yourself as an expert in your field through consistent thought leadership
solve the thing that is getting in the way of your success.
These communications activities can
pique investor interest
attract, hire and retain top talent
get noticed by potential and existing customers and partners.
In 2021, I earned both a Certificate in Women’s Entrepreneurship from Cornell University and a Certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace from the University of South Florida.
In 2023, I was honored to be recognized as a Women of Excellence by the Rochester Business Journal. Honorees are selected based on their professional experience, community involvement, leadership and sustained commitment to mentoring.
Did you make it this far?
Throughout my career I've created and executed global and hyper-local campaigns at multinationals and startups. I've dabbled in nearly every business vertical, and my writing has been published on The Muse, Huffington Post and U.S. News & World Report, to name a few. I have spoken to groups both in-person and online.
If I don't know how to do it, I will figure it out. I am very good at Scrabble, and South America holds a soft spot in my heart. I have worked, lived and traveled abroad. I circle typos in take-out menus. I make to-do lists because I love crossing things off. My love of the outdoors coupled with a good sense of direction introduced me to orienteering. I am game to try most anything at least once, and so I have vowed never to hike 7+ hours on a glacier again, though it was simply spectacular.
I thrive in entrepreneurial, fast-paced environments and I'm passionate about travel, startups and change.
Looking to partner together? Want to know more? Let's chat!
