Advisory Board
Marti Barletta helps organizations get smart about marketing to women. She is the author of the groundbreaking book, Marketing to Women, which is now available in 15 languages, and co-author with Tom Peters of Trends (July 2005), who named her MVP/BizGuru of 2005. Her new book, PrimeTime WomenTM: How to Win the Hearts, Minds, and Business of Boomer Big Spenders, breaks the story on the unprecedented buying power of women in their prime (ages 50-70) and details why this "silver bullet" segment is the prime source of business growth in almost every category for the next two decades.
A Wharton MBA, Barletta founded her consulting think tank, The TrendSight Group (www.TrendSight.com), to help companies pull ahead of the competition by boosting their marketing, sales, recruiting and retention effectiveness with women. The TrendSight Group consultants are senior-level marketers with strong backgrounds in advertising, branding, consumer research, affinity marketing and sales training who help Marti develop and deliver client solutions. Using her proprietary GenderTrendsTM model, they generate ideas that connect with women consumers, corporate executives and business owners. The firm's clients have included Wachovia, Neuberger Berman, Deloitte Consulting, Volvo, Mercury, Ford, Trade Secret, Toys R Us and Logitech. Marti currently serves on the advisory boards of WBENC, Embrace Pet Insurance and Boomer!TV and is a member of the distinguished Women Gurus Network.
As the recognized international authority on marketing to women, Barletta is frequently quoted on CBS Evening News, ABC Money Matters, MSNBC's Squawk Box and NPR's Talk of the Nation, as well as in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fast Company, Business Week, Entrepreneur and many other publications worldwide. Her dynamic style, command of her subject and passion for her topic make her a popular speaker at corporations and conferences. Combining gender expertise, marketing experience and a lively sense of humor, she delivers eye-opening insights that audiences find enlightening, entertaining and actionable.
Liz Strauss has worked over 20 years in print, software, and online publishing. As VP and Publisher for an American company, Liz developed products and strategic plans with publishers in Europe, Australia, the UK, and Ireland. She conceived and executed the strategy that turned around a $9Million that sold 3 years later for $35Million. She has worked small companies making acquisitions, companies in crisis, and with past CEOs of International Reed Elsevier and Wolters Kluwer.
Online Liz is known as a community builder. Her own, Successful-Blog, has loyal and active readership, and the blog currently carries over 28,000 comments. Her writing is known for its clarity, originality, and a voice that develops a warm relationship with readers. Liz's inspirational writing is known for the way it touches readers, who find themselves joining her as she writes heart wide-open about being a person who knows that stars and people are made of the same stuff. She writes because she is curious and cares deeply about the human experience. She sees writing as intimately personal and intrinsically social - she knows that words have the power to change the world.
Liz also writes for her own, Letting me be, LizStrauss.com, and for The Blog Herald, and Performancing.
Sharon Whiteleyis president and CEO of ThirdAge Inc., an online content, marketing, and research company focused exclusively on serving the needs of Baby Boomers and midlife adults. A seasoned entrepreneur, she has built several successful companies, including Peacock Papers Inc. and Contempo Colors Inc.
Sharon has received the Women’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2000), is Chair of the National Center on Women & Aging, and is on the Board of Directors of The Committee of 200 and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. She is the coauthor of The Old Girls’ Network: Insider Advice for Women Building Businesses in a Man’s World.
Tara ‘miss rogue’ Hunt defines herself as a customer first, marketer second. She doesn’t believe in PR, only in the power of building relationships with a community. She co-founded Citizen Agency in 2006 with the mission of teaching her clients how to work more effectively with the communities they serve. Tara has over seven years experience in non-traditional marketing planning. She maintains a successful blog over at HorsePigCow.
Tara holds a degree in Communications & Culture from the University of Calgary (Alberta), where she studied Women’s Studies, and has been a long time and proud supporter of women in business. She has spent most of her life working on educating people on examining what they value most and redefining success for themselves. She believes this is the key to a truly diverse business world.
Kirsten Osolind is Founding CEO of RE:INVENTION Marketing (www.reinventioninc.com), a nationally-noted marketing and PR firm that helps companies market their products and services to working women. Under Kirsten’s leadership, RE:INVENTION has served Fortune 500 corporations and high growth businesses. An “agent for working women,” Kirsten has been noted or quoted in over 500+ women’s and business publications including BusinessWeek, Inc., and Redbook. Her 16-year career includes roles as Whole Foods Market’s National Marketing Director, WebMD’s Director of Advertising & Media, General Mills’ ethnic marketing manager, and brand manager at Coke and P&G.
A 2005 Entrepreneur Magazine monthly marketing columnist, Kirsten now edits the #1 women entrepreneurs’ blog. She chairs the NAWBO National Public Policy Forum, chaired the first YWCA Chicago Future Leaders Board, served on the Springboard Enterprises Venture Forum Midwest 2005 Steering Committee, was appointed to the 2004 Illinois State of Women in Politics Planning Committee, and was recently elected to the prestigious Economic Club of Chicago. She has been a featured speaker or panelist at conferences held by WorldWIT, NYU, Northwestern, Duke, Chicago Women in Publishing, and more. A 2004 Stevie Awards for Women in Business finalist and member of the 2006 Stevie Awards for Women in Business National Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors, Kirsten received her M.B.A. from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.
M. Isabel Valdés is a leader in cultural marketing, published author and public speaker.
She is recognized as the founder of the In-culture marketing approach. For more than 20 years, she has consulted with corporations in the U.S. and abroad. Presently she heads Isabel Valdés Consulting, IVC (www.isabelvaldes.com ) a boutique marketing consulting firm, that advises corporations on a broad range of cultural and business-related issues.
Ms. Valdés is presently a member of PepsiCo/Frito-Lay’s Latino Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board of Scholastic, Lee y Serás. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for Consumer Trends Forum International. In addition, Ms. Valdés is an active member in the Hispanic community as a Trustee of NCLR, (National Council of la Raza) Washington D.C., and the Latino Community Foundation, San Francisco.
She has received numerous honors and awards, including being selected by Fortune Small Business in 2001, as a “Woman Entrepreneur Star,” and Business Woman of the Year by the New York Hispanic Chambers of Commerce in 1995. In March 2000, she was named by American Demographics magazine as the “21st Century Star of Multicultural Research” and recently, she was been honored three years in a row with the “Visionary Award” by the San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, The San Francisco Business Tines and the University of San Francisco.
Ms. Valdés is a frequent speaker at trade organizations and board-rooms in America and abroad. Her extensive client list includes Fortune 100 and well as 1000, in every business category, including packaged goods, financial services, entertainment and media, internet, B to B, communications, automotive, retail, fast foods restaurants, airlines, travel and tourism, health-care, non-profits and government.
She’s the author of three books, The Hispanic Market Handbook, (1995) Gale Research Publishers, Marketing to American Latinos, The In-culture Approach, (Part 1, 2000 and Part 2, 2002, Paramount Market Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.; Her fourth book, “Hispanic Consumers for Life” ((Paramount Market Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.) will be released in October 2007.
She earned an M.A. in Communications Research and an M.A. in Education from Stanford University. She also holds professional degrees Communications Arts and Advertising from two leading universities in South America.
Ms. Valdés is the proud mother of Gabriel and Clara Aranovich-Valdés .
