Careers in Communication Speaker Panel

CAREERS IN COMMUNICATION SPEAKER PANEL

Monday, February 10th 2014 from 2:30-4pm in the Lundring Events Center

PANEL MEMBERS
Mari Escamilla: Hispanic Media Manager & Account Executive, Marketing Maven
As a bicultural and native Spanish speaking individual, Escamilla understands the Hispanic demographic and how to communicate a message accurately. Escamilla has walked clients down the red carpet at award shows and coordinated interviews with CNN India, and Televisa. Her achievements include a diverse list of placements on The Today Show, Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine, TheBump.com, Univision, Yahoo Voices, NY Daily News, LA Times and The Early Show. She recently positioned herself as a thought leader as a moderator of a panel about changing DRTV marketing tactics when reaching the Hispanic demographic at the Electronic Retailing Association’s Direct to Consumer trade show. She is a member of the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA), Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Women in Sports & Entertainment (WISE) and the ERA Hispanic Council. Escamilla received her B.A. in Multimedia and Communication from CLU in 2011.

Kevin Holt: Crisis Services Coordinator, The Trevor Project
Kevin Holt, Crisis Services Coordinator at The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24. In this position, he is responsible for the day-to-day management and operational coordination of Trevor's online suicide prevention programs for LGBTQ and allied youth--TrevorChat and TrevorText. He supports trained volunteers who are working with youth in crisis and assist in coordinating webinar and in-person trainings for new volunteers. He also helps facilitate educational in-services, support groups, and other meetings for volunteers. Trevor received his B.A. in Communication from CLU in 2010.

Dustin Luther: Director of Engagement, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp
Dustin Luther is a natural story-teller who is fortunate to work with executives and other leaders in helping them tell their stories. He’s worked with leaders from organizations as diverse as Whole Foods, Funk Ventures, National Association of Realtors, Realtor.com, and the Venture County Star in helping them understand how they can effectively extend their reach by telling great stories through new media tools. Currently, Dustin is the Director of Engagement at  Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. As a hybrid-startup that raised $200M to buy out a division of D&B, this executive team is in the unique position to share fascinating stories with small business owners around how they can not only build their business credit, but leverage it to get access to capital and meet thresholds to take part in the many supplier diversity programs offered by corporations the world over. In the process of telling great stories, Dustin has earned a few accolades (“Mr Social” from the San Fernando Business Journal, “Builder of the real estate blogosphere's infrastructure” from the LA Times, “10 people to watch in 2008” from Inman News, "Top 25 Digital Marketers" from the BtoB Magazine, etc.), but more interesting, he continues to iterate on understanding what it takes to tell a great business story that will not only resonate with people, but that the business community will find interesting enough to engage with and share with their friends.

Nadine Rajabi: Co-Executive Producer/Comedian/Writer/Blogger
Not only is Nadine America’s first professional Iranian female comedian, she is also a national champion black belt, a world-class soccer player, and a former semi-pro soccer player. Additionally, Nadine holds a B.A. in Biology and an M.B.A. Nadine’s fearless attitude and quick wit have captured audiences across the country as Bravo’s “In-House Persian” for The Shahs of Sunset and as a featured comic on Showtime’s comedy special, Hot Tamales, and TV Guide’s Stand-Up in Stilettos. She is also a regular commentator on VH1′s “100 Greatest …” franchise plus numerous clip shows and after shows for E!, Lifetime and Logo. For the past several years she has served as Co-Executive Producer on Bravo’s Eat Drink Love and Start-Ups: Silicon Valley and Supervising Producer on Miss Advised, Most Eligible: Dallas, and The Real Housewives of Miami. She recently lent her comedic talent to CW as a writer on the network’s musical chairs competition show, Oh Sit! Early in her career, Nadine wrote, produced and was an on-air personality for National Lampoon’s College Network. During that time, she also landed her own daily radio show – Nadine @ Nite on XM/Sirius – for which she conducted irreverent celebrity interviews.

Jeff Wald: Executive Director, Mobile Generated News
With a diversified professional history, Jeff has served as a television News Director, Executive Producer, News Consultant and Senior Educator.  He is now Executive Director of Mobile Generated News® (MoGN). Jeff remains the owner of RealNews Collective. Before RealNews, Jeff brought his skills and expertise to AFTRA-Los Angeles as Director of Broadcast.  Prior to joining AFTRA, he ran the KTLA news department twice in his career, each time successfully positioning the “KTLA Morning News” and “News at Ten” as #1 in Southern California.  As an Executive Producer he has won 13 Emmys and was named Journalist of the Year by the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).  He has been honored with 23 Golden Mike Awards, in addition to numerous other honors from his peers acknowledging his work and leadership. Jeff Wald worked with Frank N. Magid as a consultant and eventually opened his own consulting company where he advised all of the Clear Channel television stations nationwide.  He owned a news talent agency, Media People, and created an innovative new format and facility for news at KCOP-TV, Los Angeles. He has served as President (2-terms) of the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California and was a board member of both the RTDNA (Radio & Television Digital Association) and the Greater Los Angeles Press Club.  Jeff taught Journalism at UCLA and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Broadcast Journalism at USC, his alma mater.  He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Telecommunications.