OUR TEAM
Meet the BrandEcho team.
THE FOUNDERS
Mark Douglas
CEO and Co-Founder
Mark is a seasoned branding, marketing and media industry veteran with 30 years of strategic management experience in the communications, radio, television and cross-medium marketing platforms. Read more…
Mark is a seasoned branding, marketing and media industry veteran with 25 years of strategic management experience in the communications, radio, television and cross-medium marketing platforms. Prior to co-founding BrandEcho, Mark served as General Sales Manager with NBC Universal at KPXN-TV in Los Angeles, where he directed all national and local sales efforts, and implemented non-traditional revenue and new business growth campaigns and new cross client marketing opportunities. Mark also managed commercial air-time sales for Young Broadcasting/KCAL-Television in Los Angeles, and directed sales of radio advertising to major Southern California market advertising agencies for CBS/Infinity Radio Sales (Interep). He has served as General Sales Manager for KSNE-FM radio in Las Vegas and as General Manager of KTHT-FM in Fresno; and served in multiple management capacities for the Spacecom Broadcast Group. He also garnered extensive experience in research and demographic market analysis side with Media Marketing Technologies (Arbitron). An early products adapter, Mark loves innovation, “geek” technology, and discussing the power of omni-channel communications.
Jamie has 25 years of experience in communications and marketing, and an extensive background in strategic brand development. Her concentration includes general consumer, e-commerce, technology, financial, entertainment and lifestyle marketing, and corporate brand management experience. She established The Brand Company in 2004 to service entrepreneurial clients in the consumer brand, financial and corporate arenas. Clients have included Honor, Papa John’s International, P&G, Jaguar, Accella Performance Materials, Shopular, Levity Entertainment Group, First City Credit Union, WesCorp, Optevi Search, Harmoney Financial, and TeleFlip, Inc. Prior to starting BrandEcho Communications, Jamie was a senior vice president and senior partner with the Los Angeles office of the international public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, where she was responsible for running the agency’s Communications, Corporate, and Technology Divisions. A savvy and creative brand marketer and Silver Anvil award-winner, Jamie has developed a series of successful media relations and marketing campaigns that have taken her clients to the forefront of their respective industries and entrepreneurial start-ups, to gain breakthrough industry credibility and acclaim.
Jamie Douglas
President and Co-Founder
Jamie has 25 years of experience in communications, marketing, and strategic brand development. Her concentration includes technology, corporate, and general consumer lifestyle marketing. Read more…
THE TEAM
Dawn Michelle Wilson
Sustainable Marketing Director
Dawn Michelle Wilson
Sustainable Marketing Director
For more than 18 years, Dawn Michelle Wilson has been strategically positioning brands to connect companies and their products to customers in a way that elevates both brand awareness and the corporate bottom line of the clients she represents. Dawn is a seasoned, senior-level executive with deep experience in brand management, business development, strategic marketing and communications, and cause marketing/ Corporate Social Responsibility practice building. She specifically has conducted social marketing, public relations and advertising for Fortune 500 companies and philanthropic and government entities – and her specialty includes consultation in the sustainable marketing, corporate citizenship, community engagement, staff training, and organizational culture development arenas. Past clients include Talenti, Von Dutch, NASCAR, Coca-Cola, Goodwill Industries, East West Bank, Russell Simmons’ Hip Hop Summit, and the American Lung Association.
Jeanette Okwu
Social Media Director
Jeanette Okwu
Social Media Director
Jeanette is a champion and an independent thought leader on social and emerging technologies, with a track record of crafting successful digital brand strategies and implementing effective social media initiatives. She brings first-hand experience in media, digital marketing and social technologies to BrandEcho clients, but also offers strong strategic business experience that helps companies to integrate successful social strategies into their global brand landscape. As a digital strategist, she has tapped emerging social technologies for A-list clients including Mercedes AMG, The La Prairie Group and Daimler Chrysler. Jeanette has held several senior management positions at companies like womenwine.com, Ted Paulson Digital Agency and several internet start-ups. Prior to moving to the United States, she was an executive producer and on-air personality at Germany’s biggest private television network, RTL. Her profound knowledge in the digital and Social Media Marketing landscape makes her a sought after speaker on topics surrounding Facebook, SEO and Social Bookmarking for top businesses and brands.
Cera Ruby
Social Media Manager
Cera Ruby
Social Media Manager
An expert in social media strategy, execution and tactical programs, Cera directs social media efforts for the agency. With more than a decade of experience working in the related fields of online marketing and communications, she oversees content development, paid social initiatives, digital contesting and promotional campaigns, and online traffic monitoring and analysis. Her previous experience includes managing all daily social media programs for the world-class Terranea Resort and other leading travel/hospitality brands.
Michelle Clayborne
Entertainment Director
Michelle Clayborne
Entertainment Director
Michele Clayborne is an entertainment and lifestyle public relations consultant with extensive background in launching and publicizing consumer products and services in both North America and Europe. Her direct experience includes managing and directing branding initiatives, media relations campaigns, special events and launching emerging online companies. As a Vice President at Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, Michele managed public relations and marketing communications professionals specializing in consumer marketing, lifestyle marketing, luxury goods marketing and entertainment-related projects. She was instrumental in creating heightened brand visibility for clients such as National Public Radio, FullTiltPoker.com, Gold’s Gym, Cingular Wireless, Hasbro, Schwarzkopf & Dep, Belvedere Vodka, Jose Cuervo’s 1800 and Gran Centenario Tequilas, Big Lots and The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). In addition to her agency experience, Michele served as an entertainment consultant for MTV Europe and British Sky Broadcasting, and corporate relations manager for Sky Pictures, the feature film division of British Sky Broadcasting in London. Michele began her public relations career at PolyGram Films in Los Angeles and she is a voting member of the British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA).
Raùl Garza
Hispanic Media Relations Director
Raùl Garza
Hispanic Media Relations Director
Raúl’s experience in strategic communications and marketing encompasses research, corporate communications, advertising, promotions, events, speech and script writing, executive positioning, media relations, digital and social media, branding and visual communication, strategic partnerships, consumer education, marketing campaigns, issues management, and nonprofit marketing. His agency clients have ranged from A-Z — literally, an airline to a zoo. Areas of expertise also include media and entertainment, higher education, and diversity. In the media sphere, Raúl has been a talk radio producer and a member of the international judging board of the Peabody Awards. International programming and multicultural content are areas of expertise.
Jennifer Spoerri
Senior Media Relations Director
Jennifer Spoerri
Senior Public Relations Strategist
Jennifer’s 25 years of public relations experience runs the gamut of business, technology and consumer focused products and services. She has consistently secured top-tier placements with The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek, Forbes, USA Today, Associated Press, CNN, AllThingsD, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, FOX News, CBS Evening News, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, NPR’s All Things Considered, TechCrunch, Mashable, Wired, Huffington Post, GigaOM and more. Her client experience includes Sunset Magazine, Ubisoft (through Dadascope Communications), The Monterey Jazz Festival, Mitsubishi, Match.com, Uncommon, augmented reality pioneer Total Immersion, Velodyne Acoustics, Kaneka, and San Francisco State’s DOC Film Institute, among others.
Stephanie Friedman
Senior Media Relations Specialist
Stephanie Friedman
Senior Media Relations Specialist
Stephanie has been a Public Relations practitioner for 20 years in the areas of technology, entertainment, personal health, and consumer marketing. She previously worked at WPIX TV in New York and as a publicist for Esquire Magazine. Her public relations experience has included support for clients such as Ecotrin, Nestle’s Crunch, Netjets (a Warren Buffett company) Pillsbury, Root Candles, Zuvo Water, Leela Hotels, Shopular and Greenteaspoon.com. In addition, she has worked as the publicist for the CEG Entertainment Group and the Red Entertainment Agency, in addition to being a freelance film publicist for the Miramax Company. Stephanie has extensive media contacts in every major U.S. city, and a history of placement success with prestigious outlets such as Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, NBC “Tonight Show,” CNN, AOL, and the key wire services. Based in the New York City metropolitan area, Stephanie also offers the agency valuable access to many of the most important media outlets, where she personally has professional relationships with many of the major journalists based in that region.
Amy Bernhard
Senior Writer/Strategist
Amy Bernhard
Senior Writer/Strategist
Amy brings more than 25 years’ experience in the public relations field to her focus on written communications and account management. Prior to BrandEcho, Amy was at Ruder Finn, where she serviced beverage/spirits accounts. She has also served in-house on the client side, and founded a media database company for the consumer and technology sectors called “The Gift List” that is well entrenched and renowned in the public relations industry. Her skills include special events planning, media relations and program development, in addition to her special interest in writing for the B2B and B2C marketplace.
Jon Haber
Issues Management
Jon Haber
Issues Management
An expert at helping businesses and organizations manage their reputation and respond to changing media and political environments, Jon Haber offers advice and assistance on branding, message development, strategic communications, online strategies/new media and public policy campaign management. As CEO of the American Association for Justice (AAJ, formerly, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America), Jon led the repositioning, revitalization and turnaround of one of the nation’s most powerful professional associations. Before joining AAJ, Jon was a senior partner at Fleishman-Hillard, where he developed and managed a highly successful public affairs and corporate communications consulting practice for companies, non-profits and foundations. During the Clinton Administration, Jon was special counsel to the president at the Overseas Private Investment Corp. Earlier he was chief of staff/general counsel for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and counsel/communications director for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. He worked in five presidential campaigns including Howard Dean, Bill Clinton, Richard Gephardt, Walter Mondale and Edward Kennedy. A native of Los Angeles, Jon has a BA from UCLA and a JD from the University of San Francisco School of Law, and he teaches public affairs for graduate students at Georgetown University.
Shari Nakakura
Senior Media Relations Specialist
Shari Nakakura has 25+ years of marketing communications and corporate experience, having served a broad range of blue-chip consumer and technology companies and startups. As a senior vice president with Fleishman-Hillard Los Angeles, Shari worked with a diverse roster of clients, including several Las Vegas mega resorts (Excalibur, Luxor Las Vegas, MGM Grand Hotel & Theme Park, New York/New York), Nestle Carnation (Baby Ruth brand and Very Best in Youth scholarship program), Netcom On-Line Communications, Charles Schwab and Kaiser Permanente. Additional projects included National Veterans Network, Nesquik, Cie Games, BlueCotton, Total Immersion and Aviation Heritage Park. During her professional career, Shari won Silver Anvil Awards for the Ralston-Purina’s small dog debut and the California Dept. of Food & Agriculture’s “Singing the Medfly Blues” campaign. She has also provided strategic internal communications consulting to companies experiencing great change.
Shari Nakakura
Senior Media Relations Specialist
David Garcia
Corporate Communications
David Garcia
Corporate Communications
During a more than three-decade-long career, David Garcia has developed, managed and executed a full range of innovative, integrated media and communications strategies and programming for top-tier institutions, among them Bank of America, City National Bank, First Interstate Bank, Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles Times and international oil-and-gas producer Unocal Corporation, now part of Chevron Corporation. His extensive corporate experience includes executive, crisis and acquisition/merger communications, media relations and publicity, and issues management. At Fleishman-Hillard, he conducted and supervised media relations programs for Anheuser-Busch, Blue Cross of California, Cacique, Inc. and the California Milk Advisory Board. A graduate of the University of Southern California, David serves on the board of directors of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Los Angeles chapter and on the executive committee of PRSA’s national Independent Practitioners Alliance.
Michelle Suzuki
Multicultural Marketing
Michelle Suzuki
Multicultural Marketing
Michelle has extensive experience in the Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander markets. An often untapped demographic, the Asian market has tremendous purchasing power and influence in the United States, particularly in California and the West Coast. For more than 15 years, Michelle has developed and led campaigns and programs nationally and in California, Oregon and Washington for clients reaching out to the Asian community including Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese, Japanese, Pilipino and South East Asian communities. Her experience encompasses media relations, community relations, sponsorships, crisis communication, corporate development, and special events. Select multicultural program clients include: The Nielsen Company, Union Bank, California Department of Public Health Tobacco Control Program (anti-smoke), Kirin Brewery of America, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Volvo and Lincoln Motors.
Eric Iverson
Creative Director
Eric Iverson
Creative Director
Eric, BrandEcho’s Creative Director, is an expert website and marketing collateral developer and IT Professional. Throughout his career, he has managed the IT needs of small to large businesses, from websites and hosting, to providing email and backup solutions, to managing Small Business Servers and networking. Eric has worked with companies from around the world to bring their websites to life and bring their businesses online (he was the IT Architect that made it possible for one business that was running out of the owner’s backroom to expand into a multi-million dollar international corporation). He directs the agency’s creative and digital design efforts, and is intimately involved in strategy, SEO/SEM, keyword research and optimization and more. BrandEcho clients have included Access Performance Materials, No More Solid Shock, Bullet Liner and more.
Priya Shah
Media Relations Specialist
Priya Shah
Media Relations Specialist
Priya Shah is a passionate public relations and social media professional with experience across multiple industries ranging from emerging technology, consumer products and healthcare to B2B products and services. She has a proven track record of securing coverage in leading publications, identifying newsworthy storylines and scouting new opportunities and platforms for clients to tell their stories. Client experience includes ChargePoint, HireVue, Starbucks, Reebok, Quaker Oats, California’s Central Coast, Catasys, Blackberry, Trip.com, Alignment Healthcare, USC’s Keck School of Medicine, Smart & Final and Yahoo Small Business, among many others. Priya started her career as a television journalist with one of India’s leading news networks. She has a Master’s degree in public relations and corporate communication from New York University.
Emanuela Cariolagian
Media Relations Specialist
Emanuela Cariolagian
Media Relations Specialist
Emanuela has worked with international agencies, organizations, start-ups, established businesses and high-profile Fortune 500 companies including Acura, CNN, the City of Claremont, Hilton hotel brand, Hollywood Bowl, Honda, LA Philharmonic, among others. She has also worked at some of the industry’s top international public relations agencies, including Golin and MSLGroup, as well as The Bohle Company a consumer technology PR agency. She has advised Amazon.com, Disney, Dole Foods, ESPN.com, General Mills, Mattel, Mitsubishi, Nestle, Nintendo, Oscars.com, and may other brands. Her passion for storytelling has earned her the prestigious Trevett Award from the Public Relations Society of America.
Jean Deitz Sexton
Editorial Strategy + Senior Content Writer
Jean has extensive technology, AI, IT and healthtech experience, as well a deep background in ecommerce and general digital marketing. Jean helped refresh the Yahoo Small Business brand and helped launch PlumSlice, an integrated e-commerce suite founded by executives from Restoration Hardware and Neiman Marcus. She also has been content lead for clients in the analytics, virtualization and cybersecurity software space. Jean has extensive business editorial writing experience including ebooks, customer briefs, blogs and high-level thought leadership content. Jean’s published credentials include working as a reporter for Associated Press, bureau chief for Bay City News Service, writer for Dow Jones Interactive and author of Silicon Valley: Inventing the Future.
Jean Deitz Sexton
Editorial Strategy + Senior Content Writer
We take time each week to discuss trends and happenings—and creatively explore ideas to expand our clients’ brand impact, or solve marketing challenges.
CREATE AN ECHO IN YOUR MARKET.
Why Our Crew Loves What They Do
This team is made up of unbelievably smart and effective marketers, way beyond traditional public relations. BrandEcho truly serves as a marketing partner to our clients.
Agency Team Member Amy Edelson Bernhard