Speakers

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  Rakia Reynolds

  Rakia Reynolds is the founder of Skai Blue Media, a multimedia public relations agency with an all-star roster of lifestyle, technology, non-profit and fashion clients. As a leader in the industry, she is highly sought after by companies to provide expertise in creative development, branding, marketing and business communications. Her path to entrepreneurship started with numerous creative ventures, including producing shows for MTV, TLC and Discovery Health Channel. She was a business major turned TV producer turned PR pro, and the twists and turns have made her into the media mogul and unstoppable trailblazer that she is today. She launched Skai Blue Media in 2008 with one employee, one client and the driving desire to form a PR agency that would break the mold and represent the future of public relations in the digital age. That firm has since grown tremendously to fourteen employees and more than thirty prominent clients. In addition to building her business and those of others, she actively participates in speaking engagements nationwide and has been able to share her knowledge of business and brand development on numerous stages, including those of TED, Tech808 DC, and Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network. She's worked as a guest editor for Marie Claire magazine, has been featured in publications including Essence, Lucky, and Uptown, and regularly contributes her expertise on entrepreneurship and leadership to outlets such as Elle, Forbes, Inc.com, Huffington Post, and Fortune. As an on-air brand expert for Serena Williams' line for HSN, Rakia works closely with Williams and her design team on messaging and social media integration for launches, special product roll-outs, and consumer engagement.

  In addition to her full-time work in multimedia communications, she is a wife to her best friend and husband, Bram Reynolds, and mother of three amazing children.

  @rakiareynolds
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  Jed Paulson

  Jed Paulson is the Director of eCommerce and Marketing for Free People, a retailer within the Urban Outfitters Inc. family of brands. The brand has grown exponentially over the years and currently has 72 free standing boutiques, a thriving direct channel, and global distribution to thousands of the world's top retailers. He has extensive experience leading marketing, CRM and eCommerce programs at top companies across Silicon Valley, including eBay, NexTag, Electronic Arts, HP, and AT&T.

  @jedpaulson
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  Kevin Alansky

  Kevin Alansky is the Chief Marketing Officer and a co-founder of SocialRadar. He is responsible for consumer marketing and messaging, client engagement, and user acquisition. Prior to joining SocialRadar, Kevin spent 12 years at Blackboard where he played a key role in integrating social media into the corporate marketing strategy. He formed and led the Blackboard Social Marketing Team, which leveraged these new technologies to increase brand awareness, customer engagement, and lead generation. Kevin has also held executive marketing positions at Discovery Communications, Washington Wizards & Capitals, and Arnold Worldwide, where he managed accounts including SAP and McDonald’s. Kevin received his bachelors in marketing from Muhlenberg College. He is married with two children.

  @socialradarapp
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  Erica Ogg

  Erica is currently a writer and reporter at the Wirecutter, a list of the best technology to buy as determined by dozens of hours of research and testing. Erica previously worked at GigaOM and as a reporter for CNET, covering Apple as well as the broader consumer electronics and PC industries.

  @EricaOgg
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  Jon Gosier

  Jon Gosier is a respected data scientist, designer, and writer working in areas of predictive analytics and data visualization. He is the founder of D8A Group (a.k.a ‘the data group’) which builds dashboards that make it easy to surface trends and predictive patterns in public safety, municipal services, and finance to help officials make better decisions. D8A uses maps, social media streams, news feeds, and demography data to tell the story of cities.

  @jongos