Meet the Team

< About the Company

Sarah Best

Sarah Best (CEO/Chief Strategist), along with her team, has won over a dozen awards for her work including best use of a social media platform from Travel + Leisure. ​Her work has been featured in Mashable, TechCrunch, Crain's Chicago Business, National Geographic Traveler, Chicago Tribune, ​and other publications. 

She was tapped to speak at Social Media Week for the MacArthur Foundation, and has been selected twice for SXSW. She is an alumna of New York University, and received a certificate in entrepreneurship from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program at Babson College. She's on the board of several nonprofits.

An avid traveler and multi-faceted creative, Sarah is also a poet who has been published in The Yale Review and Painted Bride Quarterly. As a visual artist and film curator, she has curated programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), Hyde Park Arts Center (Chicago), Mana Contemporary (Chicago / Miami / NJ), Links Hall (Chicago), Chicago Cultural Center, and Echo Park Film Center (Los Angeles). (she/her) 
(LinkedIn)

Jackie Burhans

Jackie Burhans (Senior Strategist) has 15 years of digital strategy experience and focuses on providing thoughtful analysis to formulate KPI-focused, mindful strategies for digital marketing efforts. Jackie’s experience spans leading a team at a Milwaukee-based agency and leading search engine optimization efforts for a Fortune 500 company. Jackie has her Associate in Applied Arts in Graphic Design from Milwaukee Area Technical College and her Bachelor of Science in Advertising from The Art Institute. While design is still a passion of hers, she quickly found a talent for holistic digital strategy and finds great fulfillment in helping elevate positive voices.

Jackie grew up in southeastern Wisconsin, but is now settled in the hills and rivers of the driftless region with her husband and pup. She practices mindful living by teaching yoga and meditation, appreciating the beauty of the world through her camera lens, and co-hosting a mindfulness podcast. An environmentalist at heart, you can usually find her wandering among nature. (she/her)

Collin Quinn Rice

​Collin Quinn Rice (Account Manager) is a performer, photographer, and multimedia artist living in Chicago. Originally from the Milwaukee area, Collin graduated from Northwestern University and they haven’t left since! With a B.A. in Theatre, an (almost) minor in Gender & Sexuality Studies, and a YouTube education in Photoshop, Collin worked with a number of arts organizations and small businesses in Chicago, finding a niche in content creation and social media marketing. They have been acting professionally and taking portraits of artists around town for the last 5 years, and they are the Digital Content Manager of Queer Kid Stuff, an edutainment company spreading radical joy through queer and intersectional all-ages media.

When not scrolling through Instagram or pretending to be other people, Collin can be found knitting sweaters, drinking way too much coffee, or roller skating along their favorite body of water, Lake Michigan. Collin lives with their partner, Wilson the cat, and Winona the dog. (they/them) (LinkedIn)

Emily Marso

Emily Marso (Account Manager) built her career working in arts administration and education. With a formal background in marketing, development, and copywriting, and an informal background in funny internet jokes, she’s passionate about connecting the right words to the right audience.

Emily received her B.A. degree in Theatre, Political Science, and Chinese Language and Culture from Northwestern University. Alongside her work with SBS, Emily is also an actor, voiceover artist, and motion capture performer; catch her practicing surgery as Nurse Susie on Chicago Med, protecting the realms as Kitana in Mortal Kombat 11, or soothingly reading you your favorite audiobook. 
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She likes lifting weights, loves chili cheese fries, and can tell you one obscure fact about each U.S. President. (she/her)

Genevra Gallo-Bayiates 

Genevra Gallo-Bayiates (Senior Writer and Content Strategist) has a passion for history and personal narratives. As an unabashed word-nerd, Genevra loves to carefully craft language to tell powerful stories. She has a B.F.A. in Theatre Studies and an M.S.Ed in Educational Psychology, which has led to a work history spanning multiple industries, including for-profit corporations, nonprofit organizations, higher education, and the arts.

​With over 20 years experience, Genevra’s expertise as a writer and editor includes social media copywriting, B2B/B2C marketing and advertising, blog and website content development, fundraising messaging, e-learning storytelling, personal branding, and curriculum design. Their journalism and essays have appeared in CMA Today, Time Out Chicago, the Chicago Red Streak, and Haymarket Books. Her playwriting work has been published by Playscripts, Hope & Nonthings, and Commonplace Books. In their free time, Genevra works on racial and social justice initiatives in her hometown of Evanston, IL. She also enjoys exploring Wisconsin, visiting historical sites, and hiking in state and national parks! (she/they) (LinkedIn)

Lisa Applegate

Lisa Applegate (Writer) is a story sleuth. For more than two decades, she has helped media outlets, non-profit organizations, and businesses uncover their most compelling narratives and provide distinctive content that consistently engages and inspires audiences. 

Lisa cut her teeth on high-quality journalism, reporting for The Roanoke Times for a dozen years before turning to freelancing. Media contributions include Parents Magazine, Oprah.com, Teaching Tolerance, and NewCity Magazine. Clients include Northwestern University, YMCA, and Witt/Kieffer. A graduate of DePaul University’s Master of Writing and Publishing program, she served as co-editor for  "How Long Will I Cry," a first-person narrative collection about youth violence.

She has lived, worked, or travelled in every continent but Australia, and welcomes any invitations down under! (But she will skip Antartica, thanks very much: It’s cold enough in her adopted home of Chicago.) (she/her)

Kirstin Roble

Kirstin Roble (Writer) brings a lifelong passion of writing to the Sarah Best Strategy team. An avid writer from a young age, Kirstin has been published in a number of magazines and newspapers, most notably in the Wisconsin Gazette, Modern Singer, Inspired Magazine, and Town News Today. She is proud to bring a wide range of content writing experience to the position, having worked as a social media account manager and content editor for clients around the U.S. She loves to tell the story of each client that she works with. 

​Kirstin's formal training includes degrees in Music Performance with minors in Classical Latin and significant creative writing coursework. Outside of her work as a content writer, Kirstin is a trained classical singer who enjoys a busy performing career in opera, recital, and as a church musician.

​She lives in the Madison area with her fiance, three small dogs, and two cats. Kirstin enjoys reading, perusing consignment shops, playing piano, attending dance classes, traveling, and regular brunch dates with friends. One of Kirstin's bucket-list goals is to live abroad at some point, and she is working on becoming bilingual in German currently. Kirstin welcomes conversations with anyone who wants to help her in that endeavor! (she/her)

Heather Bokon

Heather Bokon (Executive Support) is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and spent 15 years as an administrative and executive assistant before striking out on her own as a virtual assistant. A member of the Rescue Desk team in Madison, Heather lives in the Midwest with her husband and 2 rescue dogs, where she spends her limited free time reading, blogging about books, and bingeing on Netflix with a glass of red wine. (she/her)

Elise Schimke

Elise Schimke (Strategist) is a graduate of UW-Madison and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Her dual knowledge of social media strategy and long-form journalism helps her tell impactful stories.

When she’s not writing, Elise is exploring Chicago with a camera and drinking more coffee than is advisable. (she/her)

Daniel Prohuska

Daniel Prohuska (Strategist) began his career as Sarah Best Strategy's persistent, perpetual intern while he worked on his B.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Semesters rolled by, seasons came and went, and an intern he remained. After graduating with degrees in Strategic Communications and History, he jumped at the chance to join the SBS team full time. While he enjoys all sorts of communications tasks, Daniel is most driven by his passion for helping untold stories find their intended audience. 

When he's not on Zoom, Daniel loves hunting for vinyl records, scrolling through obscure Wikipedia articles, and reassuring himself that THIS is the year the Packers win the Super Bowl. (he/him)

Rachel Maeng

Rachel Maeng (Spring Intern) is a college student majoring in advertising at the University of Illinois, and she likes to discover creative ways to solve any problems or challenges. Rachel enjoys watching new features and trends get made throughout different social media platforms.

In her free time, Rachel spends the majority of her time doing some kind of photography work, journaling, or playing board games. Recently she got into collecting various board games, and she's always on a look out for people to play with her. (she/her)

Strategic Partners

In addition to the team members listed above, we work with a network of strategic partners who extend our team's capacity. These are relationships we've nurtured over many years, and we're happy to share our trusted network with you.

Featured Partners Include:
  • Andy Best, Special Projects Coordinator
  • JinJa Birkenbeuel, Brand Strategy
  • Emmanuel Garcia, Communications Consultant
  • Jennifer Graville Barker, Google Ads and Google Ad Grant Management
  • Emily James, Graphic Design
  • Josh Klemmons, Advertising and Training