KATIE KLEINSASSER
Co-Founder and President
Katie co-founded Your Message Media in 2009 with her partner, writer and communications strategist Jeff Gillenkirk (1949-2016). Prior to that she worked for twenty-three years at Public Media Center in San Francisco, where she served as Senior Vice President and managed many of the agency’s major national accounts for public health and women’s health and advocacy. Her extensive work has included management, creative development and implementation of campaigns for Planned Parenthood, the San Francisco Public Health Department, Catholics for Choice, The California Wellness Foundation’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, The California Endowment’s Healthy Eating, Active Communities Initiative, the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program, Community Action to Fight Asthma, and many others. As Senior V.P. for PMC she co-created the nationally recognized “Planning is Power” campaign for Planned Parenthood of New York City, focusing on the positive elements of sex education and family planning in the empowerment of women and youth. Before joining PMC in 1985, she was an account executive at Grey Advertising in San Francisco. In addition to her responsibilities at YMM, from 2014 through mid-2017 she was part-time Communications Director at CalNonprofits, the California Association of Nonprofits.
PHOTO: Alexa Treviño
Your Message Media's team:
Birgit Wick received her master’s degree in visual communication and graphic design in Germany where, in 1990, she co-founded one of the first ecological design studios, ZACK Agency. In 1998 she moved to the Bay Area and opened Wick Design Studio, which specializes in the design of quality print materials and corporate identities for companies and organizations in the fields of health and ecology.
Arno Ghelfi is an award winning Swiss-American Art Director and Graphic Designer. He masterminds information graphics found in Time, Fortune, Business Week, Wired, Inc., Fast Company, Scientific American, and Men’s Health. His diagrams have been published in many design books, including Understanding the World. The Atlas of Infographics by Taschen, DataFlow 2, Visual language for designers, and User-Friendly Diagrams. His studio l’atelier starno works with clients located throughout the world, creating quality print and digital graphic design for companies of all sizes, clients of all backgrounds, for and non-for profit.
Christine Cuccia is creative director and partner at Studio NaCl, a bi-coastal graphic design studio in business for nearly 20 years. Prior to starting the partnership, Christine honed her craft on a wide range of projects at a variety of firms, from brand architecture and style guides in the button-down world of corporate communications to wine labels and handmade books in bring-your-dog-to-work boutique design studios. Since then she’s become a creative problem solver experienced in identity design, publication design, marketing communications, packaging, environmental graphics, and web design. Christine received a B.A. in Visual Communication/Graphic Design from CSU, Chico.
Hazel Rose Kleingrove, Co-CEO of the creative agency Peanut Butter Friends, provides ongoing consultation services on social media marketing for our nonprofit clients.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
Your Message Media is committed to a diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment where all who work for us, and with us, feel respected and valued regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation or identity, disability, education, or any other bias. We’re committed to being nondiscriminatory and providing equal opportunities for employment and advancement in all areas of our work. This promise is reflected in the vision and mission of the nonprofit clients with whom we choose to partner and our commitment to cultural competency in the work we produce on their behalf.