Since 2001, Inkandesent Public Relations’ award-winning team has helped dozens of entrepreneurs get more visibility.
In addition to developing beautiful and effective websites that are elegant, well organized, and packed with information, we also write and design high-end marketing materials, ads, articles, blogs, and white papers. And, of course, we get our clients featured regularly in some of the nation’s top newspapers, magazines, TV and radio shows, and social media sites. Click here to see where we’ve gotten our clients In the News.
Journalist, publicist, author, and entrepreneur Hope Katz Gibbs started her career as a newspaper and magazine reporter after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986. Then, after studying for her master’s degree in educational leadership at The George Washington University, she launched her freelance writing business in 1993.
Gibbs has won several awards for feature and column writing for her articles, which have appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, The Miami Herald, Costco Connection, and dozens of business, education, and general interest magazines, newspapers, newsletters, blogs, and websites.
Gibbs got into the PR business in 2001, when she founded Great Handmade Gifts, an online art and craft website that represented artists, artisans, and authors from around the world. In 2002, she began a decade-long stint working as the director of communications for the City of Fairfax Schools, and in 2006 added another client to her list, the international futurist think tank, Social Technologies.
In 2008, she incorporated as The Inkandescent Group, LLC, and since then has helped increase the visibility and credibility of more than 100 entrepreneurs, educators, authors, and small-business owners through the services she offers.
Gibbs’ mission: To promote, educate, and inspire entrepreneurs.
The Inkandescent Group’s services include:
Inkandescent Public Relations: A PR, media relations, marketing, website development, graphic design, and publishing company, www.InkandescentPR.com.
Be Inkandescent magazine: A monthly business publication for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, gets more than 500,000 hits/month, www.BeInkandescent.com.
InkandescentNetworking.com: A go-to website that lists great networking events from NYC to Miami, and profiles the professionals, artists, and authors in each city, www.InkandescentNetworking.com.
Inkandescent Speakers Bureau: This agency is comprised of the most knowledgeable business experts, been-there-done-that entrepreneurs, corporate and government leaders, veteran educators, and visionary futurists. With wit and a sense of humor, they offer best practices and insights into the hottest trends in business, and organizational, professional, and personal development through corporate keynotes, workshops, seminars, webinars, lunch-and-learns, and networking events, www.InkandescentSpeakers.com.
The Inkandescent Radio Show: “What’s your story?” is the question host Hope Gibbs asks of the high-level entrepreneurs, business leaders, government execs, and business specialists that she interviews on this weekly podcast show on the Entrepreneur Podcast Network, www.inkandescentradio.com.
Truly Amazing Women, LLC: With nearly 200 women profiled since 2008, this organization honors, connects, and promotes the women who are making strides and changing lives. How are you amazing? www.trulyamazingwomen.com.
For more information, send Gibbs an email at hope@inkandescentpr.com
Michael Gibbs has been a freelance illustrator and designer since attending Pratt Institute as a photography and illustration major in the mid-70s. His award-winning artwork has appeared in Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Worth Magazine, Consumer Reports, Harvard Business Review, and publications for United Airlines, Verizon, IBM, Sears, American Airlines, CitiGroup and Oracle. He has also illustrated the covers and features of dozens of alumni magazines including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, the University of Chicago and American University.
His illustrations have been recognized by prestigious art publications such as Communication Arts, 3×3 Magazine, Print, and Spectrum. His work has also been exhibited at a variety of museums and galleries including the Society of Illustrator’s Museum of American Illustration in New York City, the Billy Shire Fine Arts Gallery in Los Angeles, and in Washington area at the Corcoran Museum of Art, the Sumner School Museum, Montgomery College Gallery and the University of Maryland Gallery.
Max Kukoy has been a Washington DC based freelance web developer/designer since 2000. Max earned his master’s degree in environmental science from the University of Oklahoma in 1993, then started working in public health and environmental policy at Washington DC based non-profits. After a few years of policy work, he started working on his organizations web site, eventually deciding to start working as a freelancer under the name maxwebworks.
Sites range from simple database-driven sites, to ones with e-commerce capability. Max uses widely used and supported open source software applications to build web sites. He believes the site should be easy for the client to use and maintain and emphasizes building accessible web sites.
A freelance editor and writer in the mental health field for more than two decades, Kathleen enjoys riding the publication arc—the beginning of every issue is a fresh start, and the end of every issue brings a completed publication.
With Be Inkandescent magazine publisher Hope Katz Gibbs, she organizes and plans each issue of the online business publications, edits each issue, and is co-author of the company’s first Inkandescent Rulebook — “PR Rules: The Playbook.”
Kathleen also handles the editing, design, and layout for the monthly online newsletter of the American Mental Health Counselors Association. Before becoming a freelance editor, Kathleen worked for several nonprofit associations, including the American Psychological Association, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, and the American Association for Engineering Education.
A deadline fanatic, she is zealous about the virtues of the serial comma and admires writers who can translate dense topics into artful prose.
To pitch a story, become an Inkandescent client, or learn more about the company’s offerings, contact Kathleen via email at kathleen@inkandescentpr.com.
A radio, TV, movie and Internet professional who resides at the intersection of technology and entertainment, the Philadelphia native has lived in Los Angeles for 20 years.
He has spent time behind the scenes building and supporting post production facilities, designing and managing satellite and terrestrial network infrastructures spanning over 140 countries on five continents, and, most recently, overseeing the technical operations in of an R&D company focusing on solutions for file-based workflows that allow movies to be mastered and distributed digitally to the theater.
Michael is sought after as a consultant for his ability to explain technology to laymen. The Inkandescent team thoroughly appreciates this skill.
Francesca Raimond has served as a producer and digital audio field engineer for Soundprint, a weekly documentary radio series broadcast nationwide on public radio. She has also been an on-line journalist and web producer at Discovery Channel and VH1.
In 1999 she began working at Comedy Central as the web producer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In 2006 she became the Senior Director of Production, Digital Media at Comedy Central and then in 2008 she turned her attention to Comedy Central’s Jokes.com.
She currently runs her own business, FIR Productions, focusing on digital marketing, PR, communications, artist representation and green event planning. In 2014, she began working with Inkandescent PR as the company’s digital marketing expert.
Sonya Gavankar is an award winning television personality who can be seen hosting programs on PBS, BGTV, and MHz Networks. Her career has spanned diverse programs from international food shows to hard news.
She serves as the face of the Newseum by hosting live interview programs, appearing in video installations, video blogs and game shows. She brings a cohesive voice to the Newseum’s 250,000 square feet of exhibit and interactive programming.
In her free time Ms Gavankar goes behind the camera. Her photography has been shown in several Washington area galleries and she is a casting director for independent films.
In 2013, she joined the Inkandescent team as the supervising producer for the growing TV series, www.InkandescentTV.com.
Samantha Dannick was appointed assistant editor at Inkandescent Public Relations in the fall of 2014.
A 2012 graduate of Alfred University, with a BA in philosophy and conflict studies, Samantha says she is interested in publishing and appreciates Inkandescent PR’s focus on entrepreneurs and other creative individuals.
Angie Leon is a senior at Washington Lee high school. She started with Inkandescent Public Relations as an intern in January 2014, and was promoted to the position of Editorial Assistant the following fall.
“I have a passion for animals and I’m interested in becoming a veterinarian when I’m older,” she says. “I also love learning sign language and new ways to communicate.”
InkandescentRadio.com producer Brandi Merritt is digital design professional with more than two decades of marketing and graphic design experience.
“I enjoy being at the epicenter of color, creativity, the written word, and helping radio shows spring to life,” says Brandi, an artist at heart, who has written about art and paper crafting for the Philadelphia Examiner, and designed and implemented a popular art program for a summer camp in Pennsylvania that worked with more than 300 children.
Tired of shoveling snow, this Philadelphia native now resides in Phoenix, Arizona.
InkandescentTV videographer and video editor, Nelson Benavides was born and raised in Springfield, VA. A graduate of VCU’s video program, he has been on the InkandescentPR.com team since 2014. Nelson films videos at the company’s headquarters in downtown Richmond, VA, and travels nationally with the company’s founder Hope Katz Gibbs to tell the stories of corporations, entrepreneurs, and TrulyAmazingWomenTV.com.
Jess is a videographer specializing in cinematography and project management. She completed a BFA in Kinetic Imaging at the VCU School of the Arts in 2015. She previously directed a documentary on Mitochondrial Disease, which was on display at the Science Museum of Virginia.
In May 2015, Jessica Howe became the director of media outreach for the Inkandescent Group, LLC. Here’s her philosophy of business, and life …
People helping people is one of my personal mantras. Three simple words that I try to live by, day in and day out.
While my professional path hasn’t necessarily been a straight one, it has never gone off course from this philosophy. With people as my focus and building relationships as my mission, each and every day I have been able to help someone.
From running point on targeted public relations campaigns to pounding the pavement with a four-legged student in tow to building and effectively managing a variety of relationships with equally varied folks, the one constant throughout is helping.
Christina Erazo is the founder and owner of Salt Social Media, a Southern California firm she founded in 2012 that has partnered with Inkandescent PR to take client’s social media strategy to new levels.
“Social media and mobile technology has become as necessary as a business card,” Christina knows. “It should be included in your marketing strategy and it should align with your mission, vision and goals of your company. We create a comprehensive strategy, teach our clients how to use it to increase ROI and increase their visibility on mobile devices without breaking the bank.”
With a degree in business administration and management from Fullerton College, Christina is a licensed and certified in HIPAA Awareness for Business Associates (since 2014) and HIPAA Security Training (since 2018). She is also a board member of the CHATr Institute, an organization dedicated to creating technology that protects patients and keeps people healthy.
Salt Social Media adds flavor to your marketing—and makes clients aware of five top social media myths to look out for:
Myth 1: You need to hire a social media expert. There is no such thing. Social Media is too broad a subject for one person to be an expert in all of it. Look for a consultant with a specialty in what you need. My specialty is analyzing analytics, Facebook and Twitter. I am proficient in many other platforms as well, but I do my best in those.
Myth 2: Social media is free. Social media platforms are first and foremost businesses. Most will cater to users, provide analytics to businesses and then offer to bridge the gap for a few bucks. If you are a business and want to get your platforms to really take off, expect to spend a little money on your marketing. If you wish to do it the long way, expect to invest some time into it. It’s not as easy as it looks.
Myth 3: Social Media ROI is not measurable. Figure out what your vision, mission and goals are – then align it to your social media strategy. Measuring your ROI is possible – but you need to know what your goals are first.
Myth 4: Social Media is the new all-in-one marketing strategy. Don’t put all of your eggs in the social media basket, old marketing techniques still work! Social is just a very popular new tool that focuses on building communities rather than pushing the hard sell. There is no such thing as one size fits all when it comes to marketing on different online platforms, so be sure you take that into consideration when targeting your market.
Myth 5: You need to be everywhere for it to work. You just need to be where your audience is. Sometimes that isn’t Facebook. Do your research, know your target market and spend your money wisely. Stop wasting your time trying to do everything.
Born with a crayon in one hand and a camera in the other, Cindy Seip has never ventured far from her creative instincts. Through the years, her creative side took hairpin turns but always finished with a checkered flag.
As an “A+” student in art, it was her 12th-grade art teacher, Mr. Popovitch, that set her on a professional course in design, introducing her to the Ft. Lauderdale Art Institute. There, she would earn her degree in Advertising Design.
She began her career at the Miami Herald Tropic Magazine and later started her own design + underwater portrait photography business. Over the years, Seip has amassed an impressive client list with some high-profile names like Sony, Nasdaq, Ericsson, Blue Cross Blue Shield, AvMed, Miami International Book Fair, Breakthrough Miami, and many more. Her accolades reflect her keen eye for design.
Seip resides in sunny Miami with her husband, Miami Herald Photojournalist, Al Diaz, two great kids, and a cute Wheaten Terrier named Amanda Bubbles.
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