The short version
I have spent most of my career doing exactly what the Umpqua Valley Winegrowers Association needs.
My first job out of Oregon State was at an association management company in Portland, where I staffed nonprofit trade groups: budgets, board directives, committee meetings, all-member conferences on three continents. I spent the next decade in public relations, first at a Portland agency and then at one of San Diego's top firms, placing clients in Forbes, Fast Company, Business Insider and Reuters.
While working full-time in Portland, I volunteered my way from regional director to executive director of a national scholarship nonprofit, where I managed a fifteen-person board, seven regional chapters, and the fundraising events that paid for the scholarships.
I know what it looks like when an association runs on volunteer goodwill and grant money. I know how to build the unglamorous back end: media lists, editorial calendars, sponsor decks, run-of-show documents. That is what stops the events and the outreach from being improvised each year.
What you need & what I've done
Mapped to the work already on your plate
Two annual eventsGreatest of the Grape & Umpqua Underground
I have orchestrated fundraising and industry events including Cheers to Education, a blind beer-tasting and auction benefit I ran in Portland for two consecutive years, and 100-plus attendee all-member meetings across North America, Europe and Asia for trade associations.
Membership22 wineries, and wineries on the fence
At Nereus I organized the UEFI Forum's first international educational seminar, which brought in 20 new member companies. Recruiting members is a communications problem: show the value plainly, in public, and the persuasion mostly takes care of itself.
Public relationsThe piece that's been "when we can get to it"
More than a decade of media relations, including a wine-technology client whose coverage I sourced myself: cold calls to editors, a feature assigned, a wine columnist introduced. I have worked in Cision, Muck Rack and Meltwater, enterprise tools priced well past what an association this size should spend. What carries over is knowing what a properly built media list looks like, and I can put one together for Southern Oregon and the Portland market without paying for a database.
NewsletterStrong list, no editorial calendar
I built the 2023 communications calendar for Eden Housing, a nonprofit with a 50-year history and a constant stream of announcements. Turning "what should we send this week" into a planned quarter is a solved problem, and I have the template.
Digital campaignGrant-funded, ready to move
Integrated marketing and advertising campaigns, including the consumer launch of USB Type-C, where we lifted total advertising impressions 75 percent. I also work in basic HTML and CSS, so website copy and event-page structure are things I can fix rather than flag.
Board supportNine directors, limited capital
I have staffed nonprofit boards professionally at VTM Group for Trusted Computing Group, UEFI Forum and the New York eHealth Collaborative, handling multi-million dollar budgets, quarterly reporting and committee management. And I have sat on a national board as its executive director, so I know both sides of that table.
Work samples
Coverage I secured, and the wine client I already worked
In 2019 I ran media relations for BottleVin, a Silicon Valley startup putting NFC and QR smart labels on bottles for Reynolds Family Winery, Bricoleur Vineyards and Balboa Winery. It is the closest thing in my file to your industry, and the outreach was mine.
The Silicon Valley VoiceNov 2019
Santa Clara Based BottleVin Looks to Change the Way You Enjoy Wine
Sourced start to finish. I called the newsroom, followed up with the managing editor until she assigned the story to a writer, then coordinated the interview with the co-founder. A full feature from a cold pitch.
VentureBeatAug 2019
Launch support. I built the media list behind this announcement and ran the outreach around it, targeting wine trades, Bay Area business press and Napa and Sonoma local papers.
Napa Valley RegisterJul 2021
Napa Valley's BottleVin: Where wine meets technology
The relationship behind it. My pitch to the Sonoma Index-Tribune got routed to their wine columnist, Anne Ward Ernst, and I set up her first conversation with the company. She wrote this feature later. Wine coverage is a long game.
Fast Company2019
Pivot Bio named to the World's Most Innovative Companies list
Awards and speaking program. At BAM Communications I ran the awards and events program for this agtech client: this list, the Forbes Most Innovative AgTech Startups list, and a speaking slot at Forbes AgTech Salinas.
Numbers
Results I can point to
Education First · Scholarship nonprofit
First-year lift in contributionsas Portland regional director; 42% again the following year.
Regional chapterscoordinated as executive director toward one fundraising goal.
Board members counseledincluding regional and national directors.
Agency & association roles
New member companiesfrom a single association seminar I organized.
Press briefings securedat IDF San Francisco, against a target of 10–12.
Increase in ad impressionson the USB Type-C consumer launch campaign.
Career
Where this came from
Current
Co-Founder & Community Director
The Creative Campus · Roseburg, Oregon
Grew a seven-family homeschool co-op into a community learning program with a full calendar of clubs and five scheduled annual events. I write the releases, run registration, and am currently building the local sponsor program.
2021–2023
Business Development & Marketing Manager
Trust Relations
New client relations and marketing for a fully remote public relations agency.
2019–2023
Senior PR Strategist
Johnston Communications · Freelance
Media relations, press materials and media lists across wine technology, affordable housing, healthcare nonprofits, live music and theater. Clients included BottleVin and Eden Housing.
2018–2019
Senior Account Executive
BAM Communications · San Diego
Storytelling for venture-backed startups in biotech, agtech, healthtech and energy. Built reporter relationships at Business Insider, Fast Company, Forbes, Inc., Men's Journal, Politico and Reuters, and ran the awards and speaking program for an agtech client.
2012–2018
Senior Public Relations Strategist
Nereus · Portland, Oregon
Integrated campaigns, content and media outreach for telecommunications, consumer electronics and device security clients, including the USB Type-C launch and the UEFI Forum's first international seminar.
2010–2015
Regional Director, then Executive Director
Education First · Volunteer
Ran operations, fundraising and program development for a national scholarship nonprofit. Counseled a board of 15+ and directors across seven chapters. Before that, led the Portland chapter and its annual benefit.
2010–2012
Account Executive
VTM Group · Portland, Oregon
Association management for nonprofit standards bodies. Board-level directives, financial planning and multi-million dollar budgets, committee management, and all-member meetings across North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe.
2006–2010
B.A., International Relations & Political Science
Oregon State University · Corvallis
Focuses in business administration and Spanish. Fluent in Spanish, written and spoken. Panhellenic Council programming, and a summer at Umpqua Bank back home in Roseburg.
Right now
Why this, and why now
I grew up in Roseburg, spent a decade in Portland and San Diego, and moved my family back four years ago. I have been curious about this valley's wine industry the entire time, and I said so often enough that Hanna Demara eventually made an introduction.
I am available for 5 to 10 hours a week and can start quickly. I would rather begin somewhere small and useful, whether that is the digital campaign, a media list or an editorial calendar for the newsletter, and let the work argue for itself.
Get in touch
Happy to answer anything the board wants to ask.
A one-page resume and additional writing samples are available on request.