Meet the Team

< About the Company

Sarah Best

Sarah Best (CEO/Chief Strategist) has won 10 awards for her work including best use of a social media platform from Travel + Leisure Magazine. ​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, was a SXSW Interactive Meetup host, and a US Travel Association conference speaker. She is an alumna of New York University and the University of Chicago, a Madison Downtown Rotarian, and is Secretary of the Board of New Harvest Foundation. 

An avid traveler, foodie, and multi-faceted creative, Sarah is also a poet who has been published in The Yale Review. She is a visual artist and film curator who has shown work 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).  
(LinkedIn)

Kyle Freund

Kyle Freund (Senior Strategist) is a communications professional with over 15 years of experience in strategic communications and marketing for non-profits, NGOs, and sustainability-minded organizations and companies.

Freund began his career in university public relations before serving two years in the Peace Corps helping a cooperative of small farmers market lamb sausage. From there he launched a career helping international non-profits navigate the digital sphere developing and implementing social media and content strategies to find and engage their audiences. 

Kyle is English/Spanish bilingual and has extensive experience in the fields of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. He has provided media relations, communications guidance, crisis communications strategy, and messaging for a wide variety of clients, from Fortune 500 companies to small-scale coffee farmers seeking to diversify their income. He is an award-winning writer and photographer born and raised on a small family-run dairy farm in rural Wisconsin.
(LinkedIn)

Collin 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 also been acting professionally and taking portraits of artists around town for the last 5 years, and they are the Marketing Director 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 and Wilson, the wimpiest cat. (they/them)

Genevra Gallo-Bayiates 

Genevra Gallo-Bayiates ​(Senior Writer/Account 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. Her 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 her 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!

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.)

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. 

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.

Andy Best

Andy Best (Special Projects Coordinator) is a key team member on special projects, including social media audits, reporting and analytics, and SEO optimization. He also provides bookkeeping support for our company's growing team.

​A graduate of Dickinson College, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, when Andy's not working he's playing rugby for the Madison Minotaurs.

Allison Olson

Allison Olson (Fall Intern) is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying Marketing with a certificate in Digital Studies. Allison is passionate about the power of leveraging digital spaces to connect and uplift communities. 

She is originally from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In her free time, Allison enjoys road biking, cooking, and spending time with her roommates and friends. She is also a member of the UW Marching Band Drumline and Collegiate 4-H.

Kristen Foley

Kristen Foley (Fall 2020 Intern) is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she is studying Journalism (Strategic Communication track) and Political Science. Kristen is passionate about public relations and digital marketing and is eager to learn more this semester.
Kristen is originally from Waterford, Wisconsin. In her free time, Kristen enjoys taking walks around Madison, watching television and movies and spending time with friends. She is also involved on UW-Madison's campus in roles with Mind. Body. Badger. and The Dish Publications.

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.