Meet Emily and Matt:
Emily and Matt share the position of communications co-chair for the YP Board this year, working to move YP into the digital age while expanding and perfecting the group’s communications vehicles to add more interaction for all YP members. (If you have suggestions or want to be involved, please email us or DM us at @LAPR.)
Here’s a little more information about both of them:
Emily Schwartz
Emily is a Senior Account Executive on the corporate and healthcare team at GolinHarris. In her nearly four years at GolinHarris, Emily has worked on a variety of corporate, nonprofit, healthcare and technology clients. She now focuses mostly on health care clients writing and implementing media relations and social media strategies and tactics.
Emily moved to Los Angeles from Tucson, Ariz., to attend the University of Southern California and began her career at GolinHarris as an intern in the summer 2005. After spending the summer interning, Emily was hired by GolinHarris and has worked her way up to her current position as senior account executive. She spent her first two years in Los Angeles working and attending the Strategic Public Relations master’s degree program at the Annenberg School of Journalism at USC.
As part of her master’s degree work, she was able to spend nearly three months in GolinHarris’ London office, learning the similarities and differences between PR in the U.K. and U.S. (Let’s just say you can get away with a bit more across the pond!)
While in undergrad at USC, Emily gained experience in politics and journalism as an intern in the press office of LA Mayor James K. Hahn and at Teen Magazine. Emily also gained valuable media experience starting, launching and running a student-owned magazine – Saturday Night Magazine. Launched in 2003, the lifestyle and entertainment magazine for the youth market started at USC and now serves multiple campuses throughout California and Arizona.
In 2008, Emily joined the PRSA-LA Young Professionals Board as the collegiate outreach chair, helping to create a link between the campus PRSSA chapters and professional organization of PRSA-LA and YP. And, last year, Emily was awarded PRSA-LA Young Professionals Trevett Award, First Place.
When she’s not climbing the agency ladder, Emily enjoys going to USC Football Games to root on the Trojans, and trying new restaurants, bars and attractions while exploring the City of Angels!
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Matt Meeks
Matt is an Account Executive on the Entertainment Technology / Corporate team at Bender/Helper Impact. Since joining B/HI one year ago, Matt has worked on a number of accounts at the crossroads where social media, technology, and advertising meet. Amongst others, Matt oversaw the publicity for the TV of Tomorrow Show, an executive level conference focused on the developments driving the future of television, and the Streamy Awards, the first red carpet award show for Web television. Matt is passionate about multi-platform technologies, from social media to television interactivity, that are forever changing how we consume and interact with content.
While a student at the University of Colorado, Matt began his career in public relations as an intern at Carlson & Co. PR, a boutique agency specializing in cable technology start-up companies. Within six months, he rose to an account executive with a focus in global media relations, industry relations, and trade show planning and execution. At Carlson & Co. Matt worked directly under and alongside the principal / past VP of Corporate Communications for UnitedGlobalCom, the world’s leading cable operator.
Matt later graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in international business and minors in both economics and marketing. Upon graduation, Matt joined Denver based wealth management firm, GHP Investment Advisors. As the first and only marketing hire and one of six employees, he was influential in defining and building the company’s brand through the development of a strategic marketing and communications plan including public relations, internal and external communications strategies, client referrals program, event schedule, collateral creation and website launch. In addition, Matt earned his Series 65 and was responsible for keeping client relationship management and transfer of account systems current, establishing accounts, transferring funds, and rebalancing portfolios.
Desiring to focus solely on marketing, Matt saw a business opportunity in helping mid sized regional and local businesses get online. As a result, along with two of his friends, Matt started 10kthings, a digital agency with expertise in SEO, PPC, social media, web design, web development, and PR in December of 2007. As a result of the opportunity at Bender/Helper Impact, Matt moved to LA in April of 2008. 10kthings continues to help small to mid sized business owners in the Denver Area.
In March of 2009, Matt joined the PRSA-LA Young Professionals Board as the communications co-chair. When he is not coming up with new business ideas or stuck to his laptop, you can find Matt enjoying the LA social media and Web TV scene, hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains, trying new hole in the wall ethnic restaurants, cooking for friends and hanging out with international delegates as a member of the LA World Affairs Council.
Photo credit: Jeanette Liang (@thejwl)
Young Professionals of PRSA LA 