Coordinating Board
Christine is a freelance writer and Public Relations consultant, and the mother of two college-aged daughters at St. Edward's University. She is a contributing writer for austinwoman magazine, and also writes for www.lowfares.com, Texas Construction, Austin Magazine, and other varioius publications. Christine also writes website content, white papers, and bios, while setting her sites on PR clients in the enviro/green/sustainable building and materials business.
Dana Marruffo, principal of Austin-based Buzz Public Relations, LLC, launched her freelance practice in July of 2006. With almost 20 years in the PR-agency billings derby, she came to the conclusion that clients would be better served, and see a much greater return on their PR and marketing investment, if she could focus her talents on a select few. Dana was recognized by New Media Lab as one of the top 100 social media PR influencers for 2009; is a recipient of the Association for Women in Communications 2008 Outstanding Austin Communicator Award; is a 2006 Silver ADDY Award and 2007 ADDY President’s Impact Award for Public Service winner for the Art From The Streets campaign; is a founding member of the Association For Women In Technology Austin; is a former Board Member and current active member of the Austin Advertising Federation, the Association for Women in Communications (Austin chapter) and Young Business Execs organizations.
John has more than 20 years of media and public relations experience, including a total of seven years as editor and managing editor of the Austin Business Journal. Most recently, John was Austin market director for Examiner.com. A graduate of the University of Kansas, John moved to Austin in 1999.
Sheila is a writer, speaker and consultant specializing in travel, tourism and social media. She's freelanced since 2006, writes for three different blogs and is also a certified Navy Master Training Specialist, with many years of experience as an instructor. Sheila trains and speaks regularly about social media to a variety of audiences, including journalists, public relations and marketing professionals, tourism and economic development experts and Web developers.
She is also the co-founder Tourism Currents, an online learning community and membership site where tourism professionals learn how to use social media tools for their destination marketing.
Her blog for tourism and social media is
http://www.sheilasguide.com
Andrea puts her creativity to work as the principal of As Such Communications, a full service communications and event strategy, design and execution firm.
Active with the Austin Chapter of the Association of Women in Communications (AWC) since 1995, Andrea has served on the board twice and on countless number of committees. Her work as VP of Membership earned the chapter a national award. She is also the 2007 winner of the Anne Durrum Robinson Creative Initiative Award and co-chaired the logistics team for the 2010 Banner Brunch.
Andrea also dedicates time to Wonders & Worries, a non-profit organization that helps children cope when a parent or other loved one has a chronic or life-threatening illness. She co-chaired the 2009 and 2010 Wonder Ball Daddy/Daughter Dance, and has just signed on to co-chair the 2011 dance.
Terri wanted to be a writer since she first discovered Jo March, the heroine in Little Women. After spending 28 years in the ad business, Schexnayder left it to pursue an English Lit degree through St. Edward's New College program and start her own business. She now teaches creative writing, is a regular contributor with austinwoman and other magazines and helps her marketing clients make sense of the ever-changing world. Terri is also the owner of Communications for the Social Good, Inc.
Laura launched into the news business in 1985, going on to serve as a writer and editor on business-news desks, city desks and in lifestyles departments, earning and facilitating numerous awards along the way, including two New York Times Chairman’s Awards. Today, she freelances as a go-to writer and editor for corporations, magazines and associations around the nation and in Texas. Laura shares her Northwest Austin home with her UT professor-husband and their rather noisy 11-year-old and 9-year-old boys.
(c) Freelance Austin