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Mentoring
Alumni and friends share their experiences with students and serve as valuable mentors and role models. Our students tell us they value these interactions a great deal, and that they gain insights into career planning and into their education.
Please contact vsprang@uw.edu if you are interested in visiting the department and meeting students.
The Department of Communication 2011-12 Mentor Lunch Series
Carley Simpson ('05)
Producer, ABC's The Bachelor
November 29, 2011
Carley Simpson is one of the producers of ABC's The Bachelor. Before graduating from the University of Washington in 2005, Carley started her career in the television industry with an internship for USA Network in New York City working on the Westminster Dog Show and then the US Tennis Open. During her junior and senior years at UW, Carley made it a mission to meet as many people in the entertainment business as possible. After graduation, she landed a job from one of those contacts in NYC and took a position for one of the largest management and sports entertainment companies in the world, IMG. In a short five years, Carley has produced shows such as Hell's Kitchen, Big Brother, The New York City Marathon, Fox NFL Football, Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials and even has created her own show based in Seattle, which she is planning to sell to networks in the next year.
Derek Belt ('04; '11)
Sr. Account Executive, Banyan Branch
November 10, 2011
Derek Belt is a Sr. Account Executive for Seattle social media agency Banyan Branch, building digital strategies and leading online campaigns for some of the most respected brands in the world. Derek wrote for The Daily and started his career as a sports reporter, but as the industry changed he returned to school and earned a Master of Communication in Digital Media (MCDM). He worked at the University of Washington Alumni Association for three years, managing the day-to-day social media strategies, email campaigns, online alumni relations and development efforts for one of the nation's largest alumni groups. Derek freelances for the Seattle Times and Columns magazine.
Douglas Honig
Communications Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Washington
November 8, 2011
Douglas Honig has served as Communications Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington since 1990. He has spoken widely on civil liberties issues to students, educators, and community groups and is frequently quoted in our state's broadcast and print media. He is author of the book On Freedom's Frontier: A History of the ACLU in Washington and edited the ACLU's report on the WTO demonstrations of 1999. For several years, he hosted the ACLU’s monthly TV show “Speaking of Freedom” on the Seattle Community Access Network.
Prior to working with the ACLU he was an award-winning freelance journalist. He produced documentaries for public radio and television in Seattle and wrote for a wide range of publications, including the Seattle Weekly and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Neil Neroutsos, APR (’86)
Snohomish County Public Utility District
November 2, 2011
Neil Neroutsos, APR, is the past president of PRSA Puget Sound. He has served as a board member since 2005, leading several committees, fundraising for student programs, securing sponsorships and acting as a mentor. Neil has nearly 20 years’ experience in communications and marketing in the public and non-profit sectors. As the chief spokesperson for Snohomish County Public Utility District, he has handled a broad range of issues, from green energy and conservation to emergency response and corporate corruption by Enron. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in public relations from Northwestern University. His work has garnered multiple awards from PRSA, IABC and other industry associations. He also periodically guest lectures at the UW, where he serves as a member of the Department of Communication Alumni Board.
Neil Neroutsos provided insights and advice that were extremely valuable to us as young professionals entering the PR industry. Mr. Neroutsos was an engaging and personable speaker with numerous professional accomplishments. I learned a great deal and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to meet him!
— Sean Fraser
It was a great conversation with a formal president/ professional in PR field who were knowledgeable yet humble to share his experience and skills with students. Neil was insightful on PR process. I received very useful tips on PR internship and interview, and developed my long-term goal in marketing and promotion field.
— Lanhe "Starling" Shan
Priya Frank ('04; '11)
Individual Giving Coordinator, UW World Series
October 27, 2011
A recent graduate of the Master of Arts in Cultural Studies program at UW Bothell, Priya Frank works for the UW World Series, an international performing arts organization that presents World Music, Theater and Dance, and provides music education opportunities to Seattle area kids and adults. As Individual Giving Coordinator, she runs the donor giving program, organizes donor events, does volunteer management, and is a leader in UWWS’ social media efforts, including everything from photographing events, interviewing artists and donors, and creating stories for Facebook, blogs, e-newsletters, etc. She also plays on the UW World Series/Meany Hall Badminton team where they recently made it to the semi-finals and won for “Hardest Working” team among 31 peer arts organizations around Seattle. Priya Frank serves on the UW Communication Alumni Board.
Jon Stewart (’54)
Foreign Services
October 25, 2011
Jon Stewart majored in Journalism and ROTC at the UW. After graduation he served 2 years in the Air Force in Texas for his ROTC and while there he worked nights at a TV station. Then the GI Bill happened, and he started thinking about the Foreign Service. He moved to New York City, where he met his wife (a native New Yorker) and he worked on getting into graduate school — he chose the American University in Beirut and received his MA in 1960 in International Relations and moved to Beirut. He worked for 25 years in the Foreign Service as a Public Relations Officer. He and his family lived in Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt (Cairo). After the 1983 bombing in Beirut of the American Embassy he was called up to help staff the embassy and was there for a year and a half.
Thank you so much for organizing these lunch events. I really enjoyed meeting Mr. Stewart, mostly because it personalized the Foreign Service for me. I've been very excited but nervous about my interest in such a large department and listening to his story turned that into eagerness to get the process started. — Jessie Naluai
Terry Tazioli (’70)
Principal in Little Man Productions
October 21, 2011
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. He continues to conduct occasional writing workshops. Extensively involved in the past two years in mentoring Communication journalism students, Tazioli helped the Department revise and teach (as a volunteer) the advanced design course. One of his most important experiences in journalism came in 1999 when he was editor of the Seattle Time features section. Tazioli reprinted a long essay by Washington Post writer Lonnae O'Neal Parker. Parker is black. Her essay, entitled White Girl, described living with her mixed-race cousin, who identifies herself as white. The piece had run in the Post with limited response. Tazioli reprinted it with a call for readers to write back. Readers responded and the dialogue grew to such an extent that ABC’s Nightline did a story on it. Tazioli and Parker were invited to town-hall style meetings around the country to talk about the issues raised by the piece. He has served on the Communication Alumni Board since 2006. He holds an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was inducted into the Communication Alumni Hall of Fame in 2011.
Thank you for organizing this event. Terry was very inspiring. I look forward to attending many more brown bag lunches in the future.
— Rose Marie Gai
David von Beck (’90)
Partner at Levy-von Beck & Associates
October 20, 2011
David von Beck is a partner at Levy-von Beck & Associates. He represents homeowners, condominium associations, and commercial building owners on construction defect lawsuits. He also specializes in insurance coverage disputes, mortgage fraud, consumer protection, and general business litigation. His clients range from individuals to national corporations. Dave grew up in San Diego and graduated from UC Santa Barbara with BAs in Business Economics and Environmental Studies. He earned his Master’s degree from the UW. David was interested in political journalism and thought he might pursue his Ph.D. in journalism, but then became concerned that jobs in traditional journalism were going to begin disappearing. After completing his MA, he went to work for Children’s Hospital as a fundraiser and then worked for a think tank at UW where he got connected to the law school and pursued and earned his JD. Much of his free time is spent as a musician (singer-songwriter). He composes and records music for movies and TV and has released several CDs solo and with his band, Straw Dogs.
Virginia Pellegrino (’04)
Writer/Creative Consultant
www.virginiapellegrino.com
October 17, 2011
Writer/Creative Consultant, Virginia Pellegrino, comes from an extensive background in advertising and film/video production. Virginia has worked as Vice President/Broadcast Producer for Chiat/Day Advertising, Executive Producer, head of Live Action for Pinnacle Productions, Executive Producer/Creative Director for Huskinson Productions and as a marketing and communications consultant for a broad spectrum of clients in the Northwest. She has supervised and produced work in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and London.
Kyla Fairchild (’86)
Online magazine publisher
www.nodepression.com
October 11, 2011
Kyla Fairchild is the publisher of NoDepression.com, the online domain of the former No Depression magazine, the leading voice in American roots music since 1995. No Depression.com is a community of music bloggers, photographers, videographers, artists, and fans around the world. Fairchild also co-owns Hattie's Hat restaurant & lounge in Seattle, and is co-founder of the LadiesWhoLunch (a networking organization for women in Seattle's music community). She is past vice-president of the Americana Music Association board, and has served on the programming board for the Bumbershoot festival.
It was a great opportunity to hear Kyla share her experiences with her post-college stories and her current career with music journalism. I was so fortunate to be able to ask her personal questions such as what she thought about the future of CDs or the music business in general, and what things should be done for an independent artist to market him/herself in a time of people-powered media. She was so giving in advice, especially when it came to sharing her experiences. Regardless if we are to go into business, accounting, the arts or non-profit, she urged us to never be afraid of starting from the bottom up and that it's important to expose ourselves to different tasks and jobs so we never have the short end of the stick as we get older and more focused on a career.
— Fiona Dawn
Manuel Valdes (’07)
AP reporter
October 6, 2011
Manuel has been with the AP since 2008. He started as a temp during a legislative session in Olympia. Recently, he did two weeks in Mexico and led the Olympia statehouse this past session. He usually covers immigration issues and is on general assignment. He also does video and photo work. Before AP, Manuel interned at The Seattle Times, the Skagit Valley Herald. He is an alumnus of the Olympia Legislative Reporting Internship program.
Caitlin Murphy (’06)
Freelance television host, anchor and reporter
May 11, 2011
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 six millions 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.
Caitlin 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 New Radio.
Caitlin graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in philosophy. She attended a University of Washington Career Week in 2009 and through the Communications Networking Night landed her first internship in media working on the assignment desk at KIRO Radio. Caitlin has experience working in the changing world of media where you have to be able to shoot, write and edit your own stories and understand that all types of media are rapidly trending toward multimedia content.
The informational lunch is very effective for me. It expands my thoughts and creates new ideas that support my career growth. By listening their story and suggestions, i can have an idea how the market is and what innovations or improvement that will be needed in the future. Caitlin is very inspiring. She has a great personality that she works hard and has a passion to grow.
—Paulina Jaypurta
The lunch was a good opportunity to hear from someone who has very recently been in our position as students. She had a lot of enthusiasm about her field and sharing her story. She also clearly wanted to motivate us to achieve our goals.
—Kimberly Spaulding
Being able to hear Caitlin Murphy's story and her helpful tips and advice were beyond helpful! Her insight and enthusiasm has made me more knowledgeable about the broadcasting business and I am very appreciative that I was able to meet her and gain better insight into this industry."
—Karissa Fogel
Shannon Burke (’02)
Corporate Sponsorship Service Coordinator, The Seattle Storm
May 4, 2011
Shannon Burke graduated from the UW with a double major in editorial Journalism and History. Her first job was at her hometown paper — The Puyallup Herald — where she had also interned while in college. For almost five years, she worked her way from reporter to interim editor of the award-winning weekly paper. Then her career path took a major turn; she became a consultant for the ninth largest school district in the state. She wrote, took photos and really enjoyed working in a full-time job with benefits. After that job, she became the Manager of Publications for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, a fun and challenging job that lasted for three years. And then The Seattle Storm called and Shannon has been the Corporate Sponsorship Service Coordinator ever since.
I thought the mentor lunch with Shannon was really informative. She was very easy to talk to and had some really interesting comments as to what she wished she knew when she was just getting out of college. Hearing her career path definitely reinforced for me the importance of networking.
—Katie Saucier
Jeff Pinneo (’80)
Retired President and CEO of Horizon Air
April 14, 2011
Jeff Pinneo retired from Horizon Air in 2010. He was appointed president and CEO of the company in January 2002. As CEO, he led a team of approximately 3,800 employees and oversaw a fleet of 65 aircraft, serving more than 45 cities in the western United States, Canada and Mexico. Prior to joining Horizon, Pinneo served in Alaska Airlines’ marketing division as director of advertising and, before that, manager of business travel marketing. He also was responsible for the original implementation of Alaska’s frequent-flier program, then known as Gold Coast Travel and now called the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. He began with Alaska as a passenger service coordinator in 1981.
Pinneo is the past chairman of the board for the Regional Airline Association and serves on various nonprofit boards, including Puget Sound Leadership Board for Medical Teams International and Point Loma Nazarene University President’s Advisory. A graduate of the University of Washington, he holds a master’s degree through the Presidential/Key Executive MBA program at Pepperdine University.
Lunch with Jeff Pinneo was enjoyable and encouraging. He was friendly and gave us great advice and examples of success from his own life. I'm still amazed that he was genuinely interested in our concerns and our future careers as young undergraduate students. It was a valuable opportunity and I'm very glad I took it.
—Kai Amaral
Tara Brown ('06)
Recognition Program & Events Coordinator for UW Medicine - Organization Development & Training
April 4, 2011
Tara Brown is the Recognition Program & Events Coordinator for UW Medicine - Organization Development & Training. After graduation, she spent a few months working for the Green Lake Starbucks, and also landed a job as a marketing intern for 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 75%-time project appointment as the Recognition Program & Events Coordinator, which became full-time, permanent after 11 months. She has now been there for more than four years. 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 over 5,000 employees. She writes a newsletter and creates all of the marketing for her program. Outside of work, she is pursuing her own business in photography. She is a proud Husky and guarantees you will always hear her before you see her at any football or basketball game.
Learning about the best way to reach the audience was one of the most helpful things Tara spoke about. She brought event planning into perspective and broke it down in an easy way to understand the process of making it more manageable and how to delegate time and tasks for efficiency. She definitely was very helpful in describing the interview process, something I will learn lots from as I enter the professional world.
—Morgan Miller
The career lunch with Tara Brown was definitely helpful! I liked that she had/has a connection to UW. She seemed very upbeat and passionate in the field of Communications and I loved that. I learned some vital tips for succeeding in the work force after I graduate!
—Whitney Woods
It was great to have a conversation with a professional who was interested in helping us develop our long-term goals. Tara was insightful and seemed to have a genuine interest in us.
—Alyssa Harkins
I had a very nice time. I learned more about event planning, which is something that I had not kept in mind. She answered all of our questions thoroughly. I received some very good recommendations on internships, interview tips and characteristics to have when applying for a certain job in the PR field.
—Rachel Halfon
I thought the career lunch with Tara Brown was very useful and helpful in furthering my career in event planning. I and all the other students were able to ask all questions we had about her career in communication along with interview help and how she was able to get to where she is now. In all, I am very happy I attended the career lunch with Tara Brown and was able to take home a variety of new tools and useful information!
—Tessa Weber
Meeting Tara was a great opportunity for me to get an inside perspective on professional event planning and PR work. I am preparing to interview for new job opportunities and she shared extremely useful tips for public relations specifically, but also interviewing in general. These career lunches are a valuable resource and networking opportunity as an upcoming graduate. I'm looking forward to furthering our conversation and seeing what possible opportunities will come from it.
—Sam Burke
Colleen Fukui-Sketchley (’94)
Corporate Diversity Affairs Specialist, Nordstrom, Inc. and the current president of the UW Alumni Association
February 23, 2011
The opportunity to sit down and speak with Colleen Fukui-Sketchley packed a lot of insightful advice. She spoke very honestly and openly about tips for interviews, first impressions, what to do after graduation and the rewards of perseverance. I gained a lot from hearing about her personal experiences working for the prestigious company that Nordstrom is. In such a short amount of time, Colleen shared with us some of the best suggestions for entering the professional world that I have received at UW.
—Daron Anderson
Liz Mai
Vice President, Hynes Communications
February 21, 2011
Matt Highsmith (’82)
CEO and President, TailoredMail
February 16, 2011
He was such a great person. All the information from him was so valuable that I was able to figure out what exactly I should do for my career. Thank you.
—Katie Baek
Melinda Partin (’90, Comparative Lit.)
Marketing consultant
February 10, 2011
I truly enjoyed meeting Melinda and listening to her personal story. It was encouraging to hear how you can take the time to try out different career paths and through hard work, dedication, and passion, happiness and success will follow. Melinda's willingness to share advice and referrals about getting into the industry show how incredibly generous and kind-hearted of an alumnus UW is fortunate to have return to the community!
—Ashley Russell
Hillary Quinn (’85, English)
Lifestyle writer, hillarythebargainhunter.com
January 18, 2011
Hillary Quinn is amazing! I enjoyed everything about our lunch and what I admire most about her is the "go getter" personality she possesses in her career and everyday life.
—Traci Tate
