Meet The Team
Here’s a sampling of the talents we’re proud to call colleagues in our grand adventure:
Laura Bergheim
Michael Gaylord
David Bergheim
Alex Kenin
Chuck Mancini
Marlene Tam
Diana Charkalis
Stephen Kent
Katina Johnson
Alyssa May
Hasan Ali
Emily Lutzker
Scott Loganbill
Khaleelah Jones
Wil Masisak
Heidi J. LaFleche
Fritz Holznagel
Meghan Goder
Jason Rogers
Jennie Cohen
Karen Sulkis
Bianca Connolly
Claire Orr
Eve Connell
Jaime Santillán
Beth Silver
Ryan Bahrke
Alice LaPlante
Liz Tracy
Nafeesa Saboor
Zöe Desroches
Ben St. George
Marissa Berenson Yaar
Cynthia Badiey
Sherry Jones
Nichole Bernier
Abby Sinnott
Marie Dolcini
Mariah Bailey
Becca Pratt
Lindsay Dilworth
Stacey McLeod
Jeff Hunt
Art Anthony
Nick Hartley
Ryan Blystone
Sonia Acosta
Jason Morrow
Adam Franklin
Laura Bergheim
Founder & CEO
Laura is both a writer and an agency head, building and managing award-winning editorial and content teams for 25+ years. She has written for global technology, retail, healthcare, travel, and financial industry brands, among others, and is the author/co-author of eight non-fiction books and author of two novels. Prior to founding Wordsmithie in 2010, Laura was Senior Program Manager for Content Strategy at Google, where she created and managed site and customer support content for Google Ads and other monetized products. She also founded two other agencies, served as Creative Director at Resource Interactive (now part of IBM), and managed the 20+ person feature-writing team at Lycos, back when dinosaurs roamed the internet in the late ‘90s. In 2017, Laura moved to her “happy place,” Rockport, Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband and cat a few blocks from the beach.
Michael Gaylord
Chief Creative Officer
Prior to moving to Madrid in 2011 (from where he also manages Wordsmithie’s European team), Michael served as Vice President, Digital for MTV Networks’ cable brands Nick at Nite and TV Land. He began his career in the digital shops of downtown Manhattan, and has extensive experience in creative direction, user experience, convergent programming, integrated marketing, and web analytics. Michael accepted an Emmy Award for enhanced television on behalf of his former TV Land team, and has had the fortune of interviewing many of his childhood idols, including all six Brady Bunch kids. An “avgeek” since childhood, his happy place is above the clouds in the latest commercial jetliner.
David Bergheim
Chief Strategy Officer
David joined Wordsmithie in 2014 following a 17-year stint working in marketing and career services at the Yale School of Management, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, and the University of San Diego. In addition to his work as Wordsmithie’s Chief Strategy Officer, David is a political satirist with more than 50,000 followers on Twitter. His 2015 novel, Greenbeaux, was named one of the best books of the year by Kirkus Review. David has an MBA from Yale and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Arizona. He lives and works in his happy place of Tucson, Arizona.
Alex Kinn
Studio Chief
Alex has worked with Wordsmithie for over 10 years. An avid hiker, she has written two hiking guidebooks - Urban Trails: San Francisco and Urban Trails: East Bay.
Chuck Mancini
Chief Operations Officer
Chuck joined the Wordsmithie team in 2021 as an Operations Lead and is now serving as Chief Operations Officer. Originally from Boston and currently based in New York City, he brings over 30 years of experience working in various management roles in the telecommunications industry, with a focus on customer program management, client services and sales, and operations support. Chuck loves to travel throughout Europe and beyond (Spain is a particular favorite) and enjoys sharing his homemade desserts and creative cocktails with family and friends.
Marlene Tam
Design Director
Marlene brings vast experience in visual communications and creative direction that allows Wordsmithie to provide turnkey print and web deliverables to its clients. As Lead Graphic Designer for Google’s Global B2B division, she managed a team of designers and writers, and also led branding efforts for the full range of visual assets including Google Atmosphere, Google’s large-scale CIO summit. Prior to that, Marlene held Senior Art Director positions with Postini and AAA Northern California, Nevada, and Utah. She enjoys the healing practices of kung fu, qigong, tai chi and acupressure. Marlene’s happy place is time spent horseback riding on the beach.
Diana Charkalis
Talent Chief
Diana started her career in journalism in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., writing obituaries and making friends with morticians. From there she went on to write and edit lifestyle and entertainment content for USA Today and lead the features section for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
Since moving to Los Angeles, she has held editorial leadership roles at Disney Interactive, Demand Media, and Warner Bros., specializing in content development and strategy, branding, and editorial management. As a consultant, her clients include Fandango, Edmunds, Hearst Corp., and FTD Companies. When she’s not managing content projects for Wordsmithie, Diana teaches meditation and is continuing her studies as an ayurvedic health counselor. She loves to travel and hopes to one day revisit the Beatles’ ashram in Rishikesh, India.
Stephen Kent
Managing Editor
After traveling the world in his 20s, Stephen moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to jump into the 90s dot-com frenzy, working with five startups in 10 years. He subsequently made the sensible decision to join a non-profit that had a business plan, and later set up his own eponymous shop of editorial tricks and treats. Through more than 20 years of editing for publishers, magazines, search engines, angel investors, educational research agencies, magazines—and now Wordsmithie—Stephen has learned one very important lesson: Commas Save Lives! Outside of Wordsmithie, you’ll find him working on his book, tentatively titled Amateur Dad (Why? Because everyone else at Wordsmithie has written a book!), or chasing his two young sons down the snowy peaks in his happy place of the Sierra Nevada.
Katina Johnson
Studio Director
Katina started her career as a journalist, moving to the San Francisco Bay Area and taking a position with the San Jose Mercury News during the late 90s dot-com boom. From there she landed in tech as a writer, project manager, social media manager, and jack-of-all-trades at Yahoo!, Google, and Stripe. Like almost everyone at Wordsmithie, Katina is working on a novel and looking forward to the day when she can join the ranks of the novelists on the team. Her happy place is watching waves and waterfowl while smelling the salt breezes on the cliffs above Stinson Beach.
Alyssa May
Studio Director
Alyssa joined the Wordsmithie team in 2019 as a Project Manager. She has extensive experience in higher education, having served in a variety of marketing and communication roles, at the University of San Diego and MIT. Alyssa earned an MBA from the University of San Diego and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Merrimack College. She resides in Acton, Massachusetts with her husband, two beautiful daughters and two pups. She enjoys spending time entertaining friends, renovating her home, and heading to the beach. Her happy place is in San Diego, California, which will always hold a special place in her heart!
Hasan Ali
Studio Director
Hasan honed his skills in technology marketing over the past decade with stints at J2 Global, Feedzai, and Google. Now as a Studio Director at Wordsmithie, he continues to work with tech clients on marketing communications projects ranging from case studies and white papers to blogs, press releases, and more. Hasan has a master’s degree in communications from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Bentley University. Hasan’s happy place is exploring cities near and far, from Hong Kong and London to Dublin and Istanbul.
Emily Lutzker
Studio Director
With a passion for reaching audiences through messaging and visuals, Emily began her career as a designer, working with well-known brands like HBO, several of the MTV Networks cable nets, A&E, Deutsche Bank, Novo Nordisk, Stüssy, and ESPN Magazine. After academic endeavors in media and visual communication, she launched a tech startup that eventually pivoted to an innovation consultancy, where she became known for revitalizing brands, creative strategy and leadership, social impact, leadership communications, and building digital products. You’ll see Emily at various art events around New York City just about any night of the week.
Scott Loganbill
Studio Director
Scott has been called a writer, content manager, journalist, photographer, musician, outdoorsman, and program manager—in addition to several colorful names over his lifetime. These days he’s a proud Wordsmithie Studio Director and content writer. Scott started out at Google in the early 2000s, supporting its early advertising endeavors before moving on as a technical writer for Analytics and AdWords products. After a stint at WIRED, he wrote the earliest versions of the help center and API documentation for Dropbox. Another tour of duty at Google had him writing and managing end-user learning experience curriculums for its experimental projects. Now he spends time where he’s needed most as a dad to two daughters. His happy place is off on a travel adventure, soaking in the local atmosphere over a beverage, and maybe getting a little lost on purpose.
Khaleelah Jones
SEO and Social Media Lead
Khaleelah is a 2x exited founder and growth marketer. She started, scaled and sold her digital marketing agency, Careful Feet Digital, and was co-CEO of Ada’s List, Europe’s largest community for women in tech. Prior to her entrepreneurial endeavors, she led marketing departments for well-funded femtech and health tech startups in Europe and the United States. She now acts as a non-executive director for several SMEs and is a marketing mentor and teacher for Series A startups and founders. Khaleelah is in the final stages of publishing her first book, a history of women in the workplace. Her happy place is Primrose Hill in London, where you can find her on sunny days on a bench enjoying the view of central London.