Helping Businesses Grow, Scale & Thrive Since 2012

Adrienne Wilkerson

CEO, Co-Founder
Nevada

When Adrienne was in her early 20s, she realized she was going to make a much better boss than an employee. She founded Beacon Publishing + Design in 2001, and with a lot of hard work (and a far degree of scrappiness), she turned it into an award-winning digital marketing agency. She oversees the company’s day-to-day operations and is responsible for strategic planning and management.

Adrienne loves a challenge, which means she’s the go-to person for finding solutions. This attitude has earned her numerous awards, including Woman of the Year (National Association of Professional Women), Marketing Visionary of the Year (American Marketing Association of Alaska) and a listing in the Top 40 Under 40 (Alaska Journal of Commerce). She’s also served as a founding board member for a number of non-profit organizations including the Alaska Business Women’s Summit, Alaska Women’s Leadership Forum, the Alaska chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Artists. She also co-founded the Women in Digital Cleveland Chapter when she spent a few years living in Ohio.

She’s also a passionate coach and mentor – not just for members of her own team, but for emerging leaders across multiple industries. She frequently speaks on topics such as personal branding, word-of-mouth marketing, social media marketing, building your professional network and more.

Adrienne grew up in Alaska and moved to Nevada with her family in 2018. When she’s not talking about marketing, she’s busy working on a 40-acre ranch north of Reno with her husband, son and dog, with occasional visits from a herd of wild horses and her neighbor’s free-range cows. They hope to add chickens, goats, elephants and some cows of their own. (We’re kidding about the elephants.)

Jennifer Christensen

CMO, Co-Founder
Alaska

For over 15 years, Jennifer has established herself as a digital marketing expert in Alaska and nationwide. Her award-winning sales and marketing expertise has presented opportunities for local and national speaking engagements. As Beacon’s chief marketing brain, she assists companies and non-profits in developing, creating, and implementing their online marketing strategies.

In 2013, Jennifer joined forces with Adrienne Wilkerson of Beacon Publishing and Design to form Beacon Media + Marketing. Her comprehensive knowledge includes all aspects of social media, web, email, online advertising, and media buying plans. Jennifer is passionate about exceptional service and staying ahead of the ever-changing trends in Inbound Marketing. Her contagious positive energy permeates through our offices every single day.

Jennifer has a Certificate in Online Marketing and Social Media from the University of San Francisco. She is also the first Alaskan to be Inbound Marketing Certified. Alongside Adrienne, she was jointly recognized as the Marketing Visionary of the Year by the American Marketing Association of Alaska. In addition, recently she was named Marketer of the Year by AMA Alaska. She currently attends Harvard University, Extension Program and is finishing her Master’s Degree.

Jennifer is fulfilled by serving her family and her community at large and uplifting others. She currently serves on the Board of the Downtown Soup Kitchen, Hope Center, and the American Marketing Association. 

Ken Okonek

CRO
Alaska

Ken’s biggest strength is building relationships. He loves to chat and he’s genuinely interested in what our clients have to say! He was recruited to join Beacon Media + Marketing from the fitness industry, where he’s spent the last 16 years. He started as a personal trainer worked his way up to being a regional manager, looking after a team of up to 270 employees (with 16 direct reports).

He joined #TeamBeacon in 2020. He’s been working in the world of sales and marketing since 2010, and he’s excited to provide leadership and direction to our team. In fact, he set a record for bringing an exciting new client on board in his first week! Ken engages with people on a human-to-human level, which means he’s quick to identify exactly what our customers need.

Ken was born and raised in Alaska. When he’s not meeting with clients, he’s a blur of activity. He enjoys structured exercise, hiking, biking, volleyball, and snowboarding. He’s also an entrepreneur in his own right, with a personal training studio in Anchorage and an online exercise program. In his downtime, he enjoys hanging out with his wife and their two fur babies, Rvca and Dekker.

Danny O’Neill

Digital Marketing Consultant
Alaska

Danny was raised on a farm in Hanock, Iowa, a small city nestled along the Nishnabotna River with a population of only 200 people. He studied Business Administration at the University of Minnesota on a football scholarship, where he played as a four-year letterman and a three-year starter. After college, he played minor league professional football for three years.

After retiring from athletics, Danny worked in the fitness industry for 11 years and moved to Wasilla, Alaska where he currently lives with his girlfriend Nikki, his three daughters (Kaylee, Jenna, and Des), and three chihuahuas.

When Danny’s not busy meeting with clients and organizing accounts like a pro, you’ll likely find him coaching football at Wasilla High School, running his small window cleaning business “The Glass Frontier,” or lounging on his deck with some meat on the grill. Unless it’s winter, of course, when he spends most of his time hiding from the elements indoors with his family.

Denali Emmons

Account Manager
Alaska

Denali strives to be honest and authentic in everything she does – even when it’s tough. From having difficult but necessary conversations with clients to ensuring the Beacon team is delivering the best service possible, Denali never shies away from a difficult task. She’s a strong believer that the key to being a successful account manager, marketer, and overall human being is having the courage to admit when your plan is not working, and then having the grit and perseverance to adapt and make a new plan. 

Denali is also a dedicated lifelong learner: a trait that many on the Beacon team share. Learning about her clients and their different industries is one of her favorite parts of being in marketing. Having worked with many start-ups and small business owners, Denali has seen firsthand the amount of work and passion it takes to start a company and to stick with it. She loves being a part of that process and helping business owners grow the dreams they’ve worked so hard to achieve. 

Denali’s favorite quote by John Muir is too good not to share: “The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.” And exploring the world is exactly what you can find Denali doing when she’s not at work, whether that’s exploring the human psyche with the most recent episode of Hidden Brain, going on a run or Nordic skiing in Anchorage or her Oregon hometown, or showcasing her amazing painting and cooking skills.  

Giovanna Casazza

Account Coordinator
Nevada

Giovanna is a true people person with a natural knack for keeping things nice and organized. She went to college at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa in Honolulu, Hawaii where she studied Economics.  

Giovanna was born and raised in Reno, NV and loves every second of it. She spends much of her time at the gym or catching up on her favorite true crime podcast. And while she’s miles away from the nearest ocean, you can find her soaking up hours of sun at Lake Tahoe or taking strolls by the Truckee River. 

Giovanna’s favorite part about working with Beacon is taking what she learned in the hospitality setting and providing our client with the best customer service possible. She prides herself on being hardworking, honest, and persistent – the perfect combination for ensuring our clients’ accounts are running as smoothly as possible. 

Lynne Harkin

Account Manager
Illinois

Lynne is a proven marketing expert with a knack for strategy, data, and connection. She comes from a marketing agency background with experience in managing many aspects of marketing for small businesses. She is a strong believer that a well-developed strategy supported by data and in-depth knowledge of what makes each individual business tick is the key to success. 

While the constant flux in marketing trends and the fast pace of agency work might be a deterrent for many, Lynne thrives in the ever-changing, bustling world of digital marketing. She’s always up for a challenge and strives to connect and truly understand her clients’ businesses so she can identify the best path to successfully reaching their marketing goals. 

Lynne’s words of wisdom from Jana Kingsford are ones everyone should hear at least once in their life (and be reminded of frequently): “Balance is not something you find, it’s something you create.” When not at work, you can catch Lynne catching up on the most recent podcast of SmartLess or Crime Junkie. Or, more likely, you’ll find her outside hiking, boating, skiing, enjoying Pilates, or cheering on her three sons as they play the sports they love. Fun fact about Lynne: She has been to 31/63 US National Parks and took a mule trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Kande Hein

Account Manager
Texas

Kande is passionate, ambitious, incredibly kind, and —if we’re honest — a major BA! Kande has extensive industry expertise, with 20 years of marketing experience and 10 years of ad agency account management. She has worked on everything from micro campaigns for fishing charters to pitching a $40 million dollar campaign to the National Guard at the Pentagon (and winning). And she’s also the owner of a successful virtual franchise. 

As a marketing account manager, Kande lives by the words of Albert Einstein: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” As someone who has worked with countless business owners on their marketing, she has found that a huge pain point for business owners is that they just don’t have the capacity or understanding to deal with all aspects of their digital marketing. Kande loves to take this complicated information of data, strategy, and business goals and to break it down in a way that makes sense. 

When not putting her determination and problem-solving skills to use at work, Kande is an avid traveler (she has visited 15 countries and counting!), lover of coffee and red wine, and mother of three. After years of being a military family and living in different parts of the country (and world), Kande and her family are settling down in Texas where they are designing and building their forever dream home. 

Maggie Tredwell

Account Coordinator
Nevada

Maggie was born in Wisconsin and grew up in the Chicago area. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2017 with a degree in Communications and Public Relations. In 2018, she accepted her first entry level job at a sales and marketing company in Chicago where she learned about all the nuances of digital inside sales and search engine optimization. After a year of working and living in Chicago, she decided to take a leap of faith and uproot her entire life to live out her dream of living in the mountains. Within a matter of three months, she had quit her job, left behind everything and everyone she ever knew, and drove 2,500 miles across the country with just her dog and a U-Haul truck. 

She landed in Reno in 2019, and at Beacon Media in 2021, lucky enough to have started working as an account coordinator—she couldn’t be more honored and excited to be a part of the Beacon team! In her free time, she hangs out with her 3 roommates and their 4 crazy dogs. Summers are for trips to the beach, camping, hiking, and attending concerts/music festivals. She also found that rock-climbing and yoga are some of her favorite weekday, after work activities. In the winter, every waking moment that is not spent working, she is strapped to her snowboard and enjoys the scenic views of Lake Tahoe at Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. 

Sara Murr

Financial Manager
Alaska

Sara has always been good with money. She joined #TeamBeacon on a part-time basis in 2019 and she quickly became indispensable. In fact, while the rest of the team is exercising the right sides of their brains and coming up with creative solutions for our clients, she’s holding down the fort on the left. She’s got a knack for streamlining processes, especially when it comes to onboarding new clients, and she keeps our accounts running smoothly so our clients can get back to business.

She was born and raised in Anchorage, and always knew that’s where she wanted to raise her family, but she’s also seen a lot of the world. Pre-kids, she worked on a farm in New Zealand, stopped by Australia for a few weeks, taught English in Bangladesh and visited Swaziland (one of those tiny countries located entirely inside South Africa) multiple times to help build orphanages.

Sara and her husband have a nine-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter, who keep them busy. They’re currently teaching the kids to snowboard, and they like to make the most of Alaska’s short-but-magnificent summers by going camping and fishing every weekend.

Michelle Williams

Production Manager
North Carolina

Michelle has a passion for making creativity shine! She keeps us organized and looking sharp with project management genius, and a little creative support on the side.

Michelle recently moved back to North Carolina from Alaska with her husband Jon. She started her marketing journey in North Carolina working for a national mental health hospital system as a professional relations liaison over the Southeast U.S. Having received a B.S. in Recreational Therapy, Michelle knew the mental health world well and developed a passion for marketing from her knowledge. She went on to work for a print, design, and promotional product company in her home state, doing sales and social media. After working on the front line in sales, executing marketing plans, Michelle was excited to have found a passion for the action on the planning end, behind-the-scenes! She loved doing social media, which is why she wanted to work at Beacon, to learn more about digital marketing!

Michelle is very active and loves the great outdoors. She is a life-long soccer player and she enjoys watching football with family and friends. One of her favorite outdoor activities is running with her dog Chief, a giant, adorable Goldendoodle.

Lydia Haigh

Process Manager
Alaska

Lydia is the perfect combination of sunshine and pure grit, with her favorite hobbies ranging from berry picking with her family to challenging herself with CrossFit training at the end of a busy workday. Speaking of challenges, Lydia’s favorite quote is “You can do hard things.” A saying she lives by and finds herself telling others whenever the chance slips by. 

An Alaska transplant, Lydia unexpectedly made her way to the Last Frontier due to work. But after 10 years of hiking, skiing, and camping her way through the state, she can officially say she and her husband have settled in AK for good — keeping busy with their four kids. She’s also a big fan of memoirs (her book recommendation: Educated by Tara Westover). 

Lydia fits in perfectly with the Beacon staff, as she strives to value people as a whole and loves to help others in business succeed. She also gets major props with a B.S. in Business with a concentration in Marketing. Like the rest of us, she’s a big fan of the biggest perk of the job: Bringing your dog to work. 

Sabrina Martinez

Content Manager
Nevada

Sabrina is an organizational whirlwind with a talent for nudging the right people, at the right time, to ensure our projects stay on track. She joined #TeamBeacon in 2020 and maintains a big-picture perspective of our entire workflow to make sure no deadlines are missed. This is a key role in helping our business scale, as we take on more amazing clients and more incredible campaigns.

She’s also our production team’s secret weapon (shhh!). Sabina has a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Nevada, Reno, and has spent the last couple of years working as a freelance writer. When she’s not coordinating our accounts, she helps our clients optimize their websites to smash their SEO goals, and occasionally flexes her creative muscles to pen a blog or two.

Sabrina is one of those people who reads three books at once – ranging from the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, to Amy Tan, and everything in between. She lives in Reno with her husband and their two gorgeous kids, Christina and Isaiah, and enjoys hiking, biking, and spending time at Lake Tahoe.

Jeremiah Blanchard

Digital Marketing Copywriter
Oklahoma

Once a lone wolf prowling the freelance world, Jeremiah brings to Beacon 15 years of content creation and copywriting experience. As an artist and lifelong creative, Jeremiah also brings an artful mindset to the Beacon team and strives to create personal, memorable work that will be valuable long after publication.

Forever the traveler, Jeremiah has lived in places like Tulsa, New Orleans, Biloxi, Houston, San Diego, Denver, Manitou Springs, and Brasher Falls, NY. According to him, his undying want to travel has allowed him to better understand life’s many nuances up close. And as one who enjoys adventure and searching for deeper meaning in life, his favorite book is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. 

Jeremiah is a big fan of science fiction, fantasy, skateboarding, and anything Marvel-related. And when not creating blogs or web content for Beacon, he spends his time chasing around his son, trimming his beard, or writing other great things that nobody will probably ever read.

Brandon Dixon

Lead Paid Social Ads Strategist
Arizona

Brandon is a strategic and effective paid ads strategist who is passionate about genuinely helping his clients win. He enjoys collaborating with a team of fellow strategists and creatives who all have the same end goals in mind: to always do what’s best for the client and develop winning strategies. 

As an effective team leader and ad specialist, Brandon understands that the key to a successful ad campaign is to test, optimize, and test again. It’s all summed in his favorite quote: “We all fall down so we can learn how to get back up again.” Brandon believes that being willing to put in hard work leads to success down the road, and that integrity and understanding are cornerstones of a job well done. 

Brandon is as competitive as they come, and he is always seeking new opportunities for self-improvement and growth. His favorite books include David and Goliath and Energy Bus, and he’s a frequent listener of The Diary of a CEO podcast. When not strategizing or winning for our clients, Brandon is likely playing basketball (he played collegiate basketball and yes he’s tall!) or spending time with his family and adorable baby Ace. 

George Brest

Google Marketing Specialist
Alaska

George is a wizard when it comes to Google Ads. He has all of the Google Skillshop certifications (which include Search, Display, Shopping, Video and Measurement), and he says one of the things he likes most about it is that there is always more to learn. He joined the team in early 2020.

He traveled after finishing high school, working at the Breeze Inn in Seward, AK, and the Lava Lava Beach Club in Waikoloa, HI, before coming home to Alaska. That’s when he developed an interest in digital marketing – Google is constantly rolling out updates and changes, and keeping on top of the latest strategies makes the job fun. There’s much more to Google Ads than you might think!

George says creativity is his best quality. Outside work, he spends most of his time reading and writing fantasy novels (see? We told you he was a wizard!). His favorite sub-genre is medieval fantasy, so he’s well-versed in worlds of knights and magical twists. He also loves being outside during summer, so if he’s not reading, he’s usually fishing on his dad’s boat in Southeast Alaska.

Emily Miles 

Paid Ads Specialist
Nevada

Emily is a skilled marketing strategist, lifelong learner, and an active team player. She has a diverse marketing background, with experience in copywriting, social media posts, paid advertising, and website design. She has worked on marketing campaigns for car dealerships, Las Vegas casinos and shows, and a wide range of other businesses. 

Emily believes that anything worth doing is worth doing right. She works hard to deliver what is promised, and if she doesn’t have an answer, she takes the time to educate herself until she’s confident she has the right one. Emily enjoys paid ads because she can see the difference it makes for her clients and find opportunities to continuously improve and support their marketing efforts. 

She is also a strong believer that great marketing is built on a solid team of industry experts that are willing to communicate across industries, learn and lean on each other’s strengths to overcome weaknesses, and quickly pivot when the market changes or the desired results aren’t being achieved. 

When not at work, Emily loves spending time with her one-year-old son Samuel. She loves taking her “super cute handful” out on adventures and seeing the world through his eyes. Emily is also an avid reader! Her favorite books include Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. 

Ashley Witucki

Lead Social Media Strategist
Nevada

Ashley’s skillset is the perfect blend of creative thinking and business acumen. Originally from Las Vegas, she’s a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, where she studied journalism with a minor in business administration. She joined #TeamBeacon from OCG Creative in Reno, where she jumped straight in the deep end with pay-per-click ads, social media, and account management.

Ashley loves interacting with clients, whether that’s setting up meetings, going over reports, or finding creative solutions for mid-campaign challenges. She’s highly organized and always uber professional, which means our clients can rest easy knowing they’re in very safe hands.

During the summer months, you’re likely to find her soaking up the sunshine at either Truckee or Tahoe. Otherwise, Ashley enjoys artistic pursuits such as painting plant pots. She also just got a disposable camera (remember those?) and enjoys taking photographs on film.

Amanda Heath

Social Media Strategist
Illinois

Amanda’s values and driving force in her work, hobbies, and personal life can be summed up in one word: discipline. A phrase she lives by and says often is “Demand Greatness,” and is a strong believer that the way to achieve your goals and get through even the hardest days is to remain disciplined and to show up no matter what. And that is goal is never perfection – it’s effort. 

Amanda’s favorite parts about being a social media strategist at #TeamBeacon is flexibility and working alongside a creative, talented team of individuals who are all passionate about helping clients achieve their business goals. Creativity doesn’t always strike between 9am and 5pm, and a flexible schedule gives Amanda the space and energy she needs to do her best work.  

Amanda earned her B.S. in Strategic Communication with a focus on branding and design from the University of Colorado Boulder. She is a competitive powerlifter and won the USAPL Junior Nationals in the 60k weight class (which is SUPER impressive in case you didn’t know!) When not at work or training for her next competition, Amanda spends every spare minute with her puppy and loves to bake giant specialty cookies for her family, friends, and herself of course! (Her personal specialties are s’mores and pumpkin pie cookies – if you’re nice, she just might give you the recipe 😉) 

Kym Van Arsdale

Senior Website Developer
Alaska

Kym’s superpower is problem solving. She started her career in real estate and first developed an interest in computers when she took on a graphic design project for her boss. She loved it so much she went on to get a degree in Management Information Systems at the University of Alaska Anchorage. To this day, she thrives on finding creative solutions to complex website puzzles.

Kym joined Beacon Media + Marketing after more than 12 years as Lead Developer at Sundog Media. She specializes in WordPress websites, including custom themes and plugins, and she makes sure everything she builds is efficient… and very user-friendly. If you don’t know your PHP from your CSS or HTML, she’s the person to ask. Best of all, she loves building webpages that drive sales.

When she’s not at work, Kym is usually spending time outdoors with her husband and their two teenage sons, Brock and Simon. As a family, they love fishing, hiking, and camping at their favorite yurt somewhere near Kachemak Bay (to this day, the exact location remains a family secret).

Summer VanPay

UX Designer
Wisconsin

Summer is as every bit as bright and sunny as her name. Her creativity, passion, and love for what she does is contagious, and she has a knack for making things beautiful (and effective!!), whether she’s hammering out an awesome, UX-friendly website design or working on her next drawing.

Summer graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a BS in graphic design and a minor in sustainability. She has two years of experience in UX design – which she strives to inform people is less about “what looks cool” and relies heavily on how layout and content convert the average user into a reoccurring customer. In other words – if you’re looking for someone who can design you a website that actually gets leads, Summer is your gal!  

Summer’s favorite thing about being a part of #TeamBeacon is that everyone is genuinely passionate about their roles and are given the autonomy and trust to rock at what they do. She loves having the space to problem solve, see her products become a success, and help her clients win. When not at work (although work and fun are basically the same thing for Summer), you can find her watching Netflix with her two fur babies, playing video games with friends, cosplaying, or playing board games. 

Kevin Kruitbosch

Junior Graphic Designer
Nevada

 Kevin is a graphic designer, blog publishing guru, and infographic whiz. He is a graphic design student at TMCC in Reno, NV and loves flexing his design skills while working on brochures, print materials, digital infographics, video editing, and more. Kevin’s favorite part about being a part of #TeamBeacon is being able to create and collaborate with a team to bring our clients’ visions to life. His core values include dependability, growth, and something we all could use more of: patience.  

If Kevin could solve one problem in his industry, it would be making a magical printer that never has color or sizing issues (do we have any investors out there?!) And this pairs well with Kevin’s go-to quote by Shigeru Miyamoto: “A good idea is something that does not solve just one single problem, but rather can solve multiple problems at once.”

When not putting his creative skills to work at Beacon, Kevin spends his free time playing guitar, writing music, and performing music on stage with a band. His three dogs Cosmo, Cassie, and Lucy love to make Zoom appearances. And if you’re looking for a new podcast recommendation here are Kevin’s picks: the Lex Friedman Podcast, The Official Podcast, and the Huberman Lab Podcast. 

Sara Jokela

Marketing Assistant to CMO
Alaska

Sara is a born and raised Alaska chic — and embodies what everyone imagines all that entails. Whether camping in the woods and cutting firewood or being fiercely independent and resourceful, Sara is a true Alaskan through and through. She has enjoyed many of Alaska’s unique opportunities, including being very active in the homeschooling community with years of experience schooling her two kids, which is where her gift of administration began to grow into one of her superpowers. 

As the marketing assistant to Beacon’s creative and passionate CMO, Jennifer Christensen, Sara assists in schedule and task management, project execution and follow-up, information and research, interview reach-outs, and much more! Since joining the Beacon team, she has been very impressed with a culture that embodies respect, responsibility, and excellence. 

When she’s not working, Sara can be found in the bowling alley with her family, or volunteering in her local church. Her deepest desire for her life is to make an impact for good on the people around her, building them up and helping them uncover who they were created to be. Sara is also an avid writer and blogger – and is currently working on her first book!