GUIDE MY BRAND - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Founder, Avanti Rx and Avanti Med Spa
Dr. Kalpana DePasquale came to Guide My Brand wanting to more clearly define and establish her personal brand. "Dr. D," as she's known, was already a successful surgeon with her own ENT practice, a medical spa and a skin care line, but she was still putting together the pieces of a personal brand that could fuel her business and establish her as a sought-after expert.
Heidi Olson has over two decades in speaking engagement placement success, along with marketing and customer relationship management. She started in 1997 with a boutique PR agency, placing executives from various industries at keynote events. After becoming Director of Communications for the agency, their speaker placement business doubled, and her team secured hundreds of speaking opportunities annually for their clients.
In 2005, Heidi decided to focus solely on finding speaking opportunities for clients and became an entrepreneur, working to help authors, speakers, and companies find targeted speaking opportunities and help build out their brands. She has secured keynotes at countless industry specific vertical and main business focused events including Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Forbes, Gartner, Fast Company and Inc. She has been actively involved in PR efforts with various children's foundations, relief organizations, and local charities.
Heidi is a first generation American whose parents immigrated to Oregon from Norway and has a BS in Marketing and Communications from Portland State University-a true Viking in every way.
Job Titles:
- Journalist and Public Relations Consultant
- TV Strategist and Senior Publicist
Julie Parise is an award-winning broadcast journalist and public relations consultant. She has produced and reported the news in several cities across the country, including New York City, Philadelphia and Milwaukee.
Julie brings her insider knowledge of newsrooms and production to Guide My Brand, where she lands television interviews for clients and provides comprehensive media training and coaching. Julie also works to earn coverage for clients on podcasts and in print and online publications. Previously, Julie ran the broadcast video and media training department at a national public relations firm based in Philadelphia.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Sports Business Analyst for Forbes
Kristi A. Dosh began her career as an attorney after graduating from the University of Florida Levin College of Law. She practiced for four years while blogging in her free time about the business of sports, which led to her founding BusinessofCollegeSports.com, a leading industry blog, and joining Forbes as a contributor to its SportsMoney section in 2009.
In 2011, Kristi left the practice of law to become ESPN's sports business reporter. Kristi also wrote a book on the business of college sports, Saturday Millionaires: How Winning Football Builds Winning Colleges, which was published by Wiley in 2013.
As a sports business analyst, Kristi has appeared on numerous national television and radio programs, and she's been quoted in such publications as The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. She's also a sought-after writer outside of sports, having been published by Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Glamour, POPSUGAR, Men's Health, Woman's Day, Parents, AARP and more.
In early 2014, Kristi left ESPN to pursue other opportunities. She joined a public relations and content marketing firm, where she served as Vice President of Public Relations and Director of Sports Marketing until August 2015. She founded Guide My Brand at that time to work more closely with authors and solopreneurs on publicity and personal branding.
Kristi currently serves as a sports business analyst for Forbes and writes about publicity and personal branding topics for Entrepreneur. She founded Guide My Brand in August 2015 to assist entrepreneurs and nonfiction authors in building their brands through public relations and content marketing activities.
Job Titles:
- Lead TV Strategist & Publicist
- Reporter and Public Relations Consultant
Michael Locklear is an Emmy-nominated reporter and public relations consultant. He's worked nearly all technical and on-air positions in newsrooms across the country - from NPR stations in Columbus, Ohio, to major network affiliates in San Antonio, Texas.
Michael leverages his decade of journalism experience to help clients position themselves and their businesses. He guides clients in coming up with newsworthy pitches, secures placements and coaches clients on what to expect during interviews.
He's recently earned coverage in some of the largest markets in the country, including San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Vicky has been working in public relations for the past 20 years. She started her career in the publishing industry and held in-house positions at Sourcebooks Inc. and Tyndale House Publishers. She has planned and executed countless book publicity campaigns across genres including several NY Times Best Sellers.
Vicky has secured top placements for her clients with outlets including Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Benzinga, Create & Cultivate, Success, CBS, Fox, Spirituality & Health, Authority Magazine, and many others. Vicky has also worked extensively booking radio and podcast interviews, coordinating blog tours and launch teams and setting up and promoting events and public appearances.