Tag: 2024

Kalea Perez

KALEA PEREZ

Consultant, Guidehouse

Kalea Perez is a healthcare consultant at Guidehouse, a Virginia-based firm for businesses and government entities, where she has spent the last three years supporting high-profile federal clients including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Specializing in strategic communications and project management, Kalea helps agencies drive mission-aligned initiatives and communicate complex goals with impact across our nation’s most prestigious healthcare offices.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Communication with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from the College of Charleston in 2022 and currently resides just minutes from campus with her dogs Winni and Goose.

A proud alum of the Washington Journalism and Media Conference (WJMC), Kalea attended in 2016, served on the Youth Advisory Board in 2017, and returned as an Advance Team member in 2019. Her journey from student to speaker reflects her passion for mentorship, public service, and the power of storytelling in shaping meaningful change

Tyler Byrum

Tyler Byrum

Digital Content Specialist, Monumental Sports Network

Tyler Byrum covers the Washington Mystics, D.C.’s women’s basketball team, for Monumental Sports Network. He also provides daily written, digital, audio, video and on-air content to be used across Monumental’s various platforms. Tyler is a two-time graduate of George Mason University (B.A. 2016, M.A. 2019) and helped develop the sports broadcasting program. He is also a freelance play-by-play commentator for Mid-Atlantic area colleges and semi-professional teams.

Joseph Choi

JOSEPH CHOI

Staff Writer, The Hill

Joseph Choi reports on health care policy, covering issues encompassing outbreaks, developments in the pharmaceutical industry, health legislation and the countless ensuing lawsuits.

A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he joined The Hill in 2020. Prior to this, he had the opportunity to build his reporting skills at outlets like The Tennessean, WKRN and Nashville Public Radio.

Arthur Jones

ARTHUR JONES

Producer, ABCNews

A native Washingtonian, hailing from Southwest D.C., Arthur Jones II attended college at Indiance University.

The Media School at IU, was the perfect proving grounds for Arthur as he became passionate about all forms of journalism, and decided to pursue the field as a career. He interned for the Athletics Compliance Office, was an analyst for the Big Ten Network’s BTN Student U program, co-hosted a weekly, online sports talk show, and produced many reports about the Bloomington community for radio, TV and the web. In December, 2016, he graduated from IU with a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and an outside concentration in Spanish.

Arthur is currently based in DC as a producer/reporter at ABC News. He was one of seven IU alums honored with a 2023 Exemplar Award by the Neal-Marshall Alumni Club. Prior to ABC, he was a producer, reporter and podcaster at CBS News. In 2022, he won a News Emmy for his contributions to CBS Mornings, the network’s daily morning show, which won Outstanding Live News Program. Additionally, Arthur’s stories have been featured on CBSNews.com, ESPN’s Andscape (formerly The Undefeated), AFRO and more.

Joanna Zelman

Joanna Zelman

Executive Producer, The Dodo

Joanna Zelman has been Executive Producer at The Dodo, the world’s #1 animal brand, for 10 years. She previously worked at The Huffington Post as a front page editor and running the Green page. She’s been an Executive Producer for My Pack Life” on Discovery+, Consulting Producer for “Rescued by Roman” on Disney+, and producer for “Dodo Heroes” on Animal Planet. Favorite projects include working with First Lady Jill Biden and First Cat Willow Biden, and rescuing a skunk (without getting sprayed!)

Abigail McDonald

ABIGAIL MACDONALD

Junior Faculty Advisor

Abigail is a rising Sophomore at the University of Arkansas, majoring in Journalism with a focus in multimedia production. She is so excited to be back at WJMC after attending during the summer of 2022. She is heavily involved in my school’s Film Society, and will be their social media director this upcoming school year. She can’t wait to help make this summer really special for the students, and to open their eyes to all of the possibilities the journalism industry can offer!

Christian Devine

CHRISTIAN DEVINE

Director, Defense Press & Media Operations, Office of the Secretary of Defense

Colonel Devine currently serves as the Director for Defense Press Operations for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), serving as a senior military communication strategist and spokesperson for the Department of Defense. He directs the daily coordination and release of all external communication for Department of Defense and support to national security press assigned to the Pentagon.

A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Colonel Devine joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1989 and later graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1996, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in International Politics.

Since 1997, Chris has served the Marine Corps as a Public Affairs Officer—spanning a wide gambit of national security and defense-related professional public relations, crisis communication, and strategic engagement assignments in the U.S. and overseas. Over the course of over three decades of military service, he has held a variety of key organizational leadership roles directing and coaching diverse groups of professional communicators, military strategists, marketing/advertising creatives, journalists, and visual storytellers—all driving towards connecting national and international publics to the men and women of the U.S. Marine Corps and the Department of Defense.

Colonel Devine holds Master’s Degrees in Public Administration & Organizational Management from the Pennsylvania State University, the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the Marine Corps War College in National Security Strategy. Additionally, Chris completed an Executive Certification in Strategic Marketing Management from Harvard Business School (Boston, MA

Gillian Brassil

GILLIAN ROSE BRASSIL

National Political Correspondent, McClatchy Newspapers

Gillian Brassil is the congressional reporter for McClatchy’s California publications. She covers federal policies, people and issues that impact the Golden State from Capitol Hill. She graduated from Stanford University. She is excited to speak at the Washington Journalism and Media Conference!

Sami Gibbs

SAMI GIBBS

Newsroom Administrator, The Hill

Sami works in operations and PR as The Hill’s Newsroom Administrator, where she plays a role in bolstering their non-partisan journalism and the people who make it happen. In working both behind-the-scenes and as a brand ambassador for the outlet, her responsibilities encompass strategic communications, streamlining newsroom workflows, and managing external outreach, including coordinating media bookings on local and national scales. She also contributes to fulfilling circulation requests for the weekly print editions, primarily centered in Washington, D.C., and collaborates with The Hill’s events team to facilitate discussions on diverse policy topics with influential figures in the political arena.

Sami is from California and received her BA from George Mason University, where she served as the student-led paper’s Co-Editor-In-Chief before graduating. She credits her passion for all-things news and emerging media trends to WJMC, where she attended as a correspondent in 2017, an intern in 2018 and a JFA in 2019.

Eli Wohlenhaus

ELI WOHLENHAUS

Executive Editor of Digital Content, APG Media of Chesapeake

Eli Wohlenhaus has been with APG Media of Chesapeake since 2018, serving in several different roles managing award-winning magazines, eight websites and more than two dozen social media channels. Eli has also been working for the Washington Capitals since 2016, and also worked several years for the Washington Wizards, Commanders and Nationals. He graduated from Missouri State University in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism.