Lisa Cruz has more than 18 years of experience in public relations. This includes working for a variety of industries such as health care, construction, manufacturing and more – from both the corporate and the agency side. Her strengths are in media relations, social media engagement, message development, crisis communications, planning, relationship building, creativity and enthusiasm. She is able to figure out how to take a national story and turn it into a resonating pitch or intriguing content. A little insight to what makes Lisa tick? It should be noted that maintaining the status quo is never good enough for her.

Maria Nelson has extensive experience in media relations, crisis communication and internal communication. An employee of Red Shoes PR since 2009 and a public relations practitioner for more than a decade, Maria specializes in strategic health care communication. Maria graduated from Marquette University and is on the board of directors for Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley and Fox Cities Community Health Center, and is on the board of trustees for Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Green Bay. She also volunteers for St. Therese Church.

With more than nine years of full-service agency PR experience, Karen Schlieve has worked with clients in a variety of industries including construction, health care, financial, education, non-profit, government, professional services and more. With a passion for a fast-paced work environment, she has successfully led numerous crisis communications projects including company embezzlements, environmental issues, labor disputes. Karen is a well rounded PR professional who excels in campaign research and planning, media relations and thinking strategically about a client's social media and online presence. Her attention to detail and determination are crucial in exceeding the goals of a PR program. Karen also has an uncanny ability to read a situation for what it is and make sound recommendations. As a graduate from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Karen is on the board of directors for the Fox Valley Sibling Support Network. She also serves as the publicity chair of the Public Relations Society of America - Northeast Wisconsin Chapter and is involved with the Pulse Young Professionals Network marketing committee.

Rachel Bessert is an assistant account executive with Red Shoes PR, a graduate of St. Norbert College and took a leap of faith with us when we were just getting started. Rachel brings her PR smarts to leading the efforts for clients in areas such as media relations, crisis communications, blogs and social media. While she has a talent with words, she’s also quite the whiz with numbers. If you visit our office don’t be surprised to see her slamming laptops shut, hiding computers and all around creating havoc.

Sara Montonati is an assistant account executive and assists the team with ongoing client needs. With nearly three years of experience in public relations, Sara has worked in a variety of industries, including financial, construction, health care, restaurant, non-profit and public affairs. Her passion for PR and all that comes with it – writing, social media, crisis communications, brainstorming, media relations, creative thinking and deadlines – is her motivation to excel daily and exceed client expectations. It’s great that Sara has a sunny disposition because, unfortunately, she often takes the brunt of Rachel’s bullying (see Rachel’s bio above).

Michelle Yandre joined Red Shoes PR in January 2012. She specializes in media relations and social media content generation. Michelle has spent the last year-and-a-half building working relationships with members of the local media and has secured multiple interviews for various clients, resulting in TV, radio, newspaper and magazine coverage throughout Wisconsin. Michelle is passionate about diving into her work head first and embracing challenges as they come.

Dian is like the office conductor at the center of chaos. Without her we are nothing. She helps support overall agency and client activities in a variety of ways to make sure we are putting our best shoe forward. Dian will tell you firsthand how much she enjoys working with phone systems (sarcasm) and keeping us in line. Prior to joining Red Shoes PR, Dian worked for Gannett.

Deniz Cakmak joined Red Shoes PR in June 2013. As an account coordinator, she supports client teams in social media, online content development, media relations and more. As a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Deniz brings a background in social media, photography and graphic design. She previously worked as a social media and graphic design intern for UW Oshkosh Admissions, and was co-student director for CARE (Campus for Awareness and Relationship Education) at the university.