Navigating the Narrative: Lessons Learned from the Morning News

Andy Choi is a communications professional with over 20 years of experience in broadcast media, corporate communications, marketing, and public relations. Currently serving as Head Of Communications for Verizon’s Great Lakes Market, Andy travels the country to craft stories featuring employees across the business and collaborate with local and national media to spread awareness about Verizon's products, services, and culture. Andy’s notable achievements include serving as primary host of Verizon's company-wide live events, engaging audiences of over 120,000 employees across multiple countries, leading external media campaigns as a trusted spokesperson for Verizon, and creating on-demand video content for Verizon's daily employee communications channel. Before joining Verizon, Andy spent 15 years as a television news anchor and reporter. He anchored hours of daily newscasts for multiple ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates around the country and covered breaking news from locations worldwide. His work has garnered three Emmy Awards and a National Edward R. Murrow Award for news writing. Andy is a proud graduate of the University Of Missouri School of Journalism. Andy is currently based in Chicago. In addition to rooting for Windy City sports teams, Andy enjoys weekly pickup basketball games, the occasional round of golf (weather-permitting), and hopes to get back into long-distance running.

Jess Zafarris is an author, content director, editor, journalist, social media engagement strategist and creator. Her 13 years of experience in this space have included such roles as the Director of Content at Ragan Communications, Audience Engagement Director at Adweek, and Content Strategist and Digital Content Director for Writer’s Digest and Script Mag. She moderated and emceed at events including Social Media Week and Brandweek, and presented at the Writer’s Digest Conference and State of Social. She is also the author of the etymology books WORDS FROM HELL (Hachette 2023) and ONCE UPON A WORD (Rockridge Press 2020) and an educational social media creator who speaks and creates entertaining content about word origins.