The Future of Media Relations: Getting Your Organization in Headlines

Emily (Hartwig) Mekstan is Senior Manager of Retail and Owned Brand Communications for Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens. It's one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, included in the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. Mekstan joined Walgreens in April 2013 as a media relations specialist and serving as a company spokesperson fielding a variety of media opportunities. Throughout her seven years with the company, she held positions of increasing responsibility and led to proactive and reactive communications, including public relations campaign development and coordination for the enterprise brand and retail division. Examples of campaign development work includes Walgreens brand relaunch, Feel More Like You; the company’s strategic partnership with Birchbox, Beauty Differentiation; and cause marketing programs like Red Nose Day and WE. Prior to joining Walgreens, Mekstan held several positions for Fishman Public Relations, an aggressive publicity firm that specializes in customized public relations and marketing programs for franchise organizations across a variety of sectors. Mekstan directed public relations campaigns and generated high-level publicity on behalf of more than 100 leading national brands throughout the United States, Middle East and Canada, including Gold’s Gym International, Haagen-Dazs Shops, NAPA AUTO PARTS, and Schlotzsky’s from 2009 to 2013. Mekstan generated proactive and positive publicity and secured press coverage in various high-profile media outlets including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, "The Rachael Ray Show,"  "Good Morning America," Fox Business News and CNBC, as well as hundreds of local outlets around the country.

Cheryl Smith is the Publisher of I Messenger Media, which includes the publications: Texas Metro News, Garland Journal and I Messenger. She also hosts a radio talk show, Cheryl’s World, on Blog Talk Radio and is the current Secretary of the National Association of Black Journalists and Regional President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Smith has more than 40 years in the industry, and before founding I Messenger Media in 2011, she worked as a show host of PAX-TV’s “The Ester Davis Show.” Prior to that, Smith was a producer and talk show host at KKDA-AM, and before that worked at Capital Outlook News, The Dallas Weekly,  Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and more. Smith was an associate professor at Paul Quinn College and an adjunct professor at the University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University, and has previously served as the president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists and the Dallas-Fort Worth Florida A&M University National Alumni Association. She was a two-term National Association of Black Journalists regional director, and has served as president of the Dallas-Metroplex Council of Black Alumni Associations. Smith has won numerous awards, including the Messenger Award from National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Journalism Excellence Award from The Dallas Examiner, the Outstanding Journalist Award from Elite News, the Barry Bingham Sr. Award from the National Conference of Editorial Writers, multiple awards from the Texas Publishers Association, the NNPA, the NAACP, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators, and more. In 2017 she was named Woman of the Year for the South Dallas Business and Professional Women’s Club.

Gregg Castano is Founder and CEO of News Direct Corp.  News Direct is the first content and news distribution platform purpose-built for modern media outreach. A 32-year industry veteran, Castano spent much of his career at Business Wire where he served as President for his last 8 years. After his departure, he applied his deep experience, combined with innovative thinking and leading-edge technology, to reimagine the news distribution industry for the 21^st century.