I have worked with a lot of PR professionals and none have impressed me more than Melissa Gillespie and Amy Chilla. They know how to get tangible results which is what matters most. They also seek out creative opportunities to cross promote and brand my businesses in ways that result in incredible exposure.

Stacy Small

President, Elite Travel International & Chief "Barketing" Officer, Doggie Mansions

 

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Are you looking for a winning public relations and marketing team?  Read more about how two Southern California gals honed their skills, met each other and formed the enthusiastic, fast-paced duo that is Team Innova!  We give our all to each client and our results speak for themselves.

 

 

Amy Chilla -  Partner – Ms. Chilla brings a strong background in Strategic Marketing, Public Relations and Investor Relations to the Innova Communications team.  She offers significant experience in public relations and event planning, media relations, project management as well as marketing activities such as business plans, ad copy, white papers, etc. Her industry specialties include telecommunications, high technology, outsourcing, finance, education, non-profit and consumer goods. 

Since 1999, Ms. Chilla has held many consulting positions for companies in many industries. Her public relations efforts have helped land clients in prominent publications like Crain's New York, BusinessWeek, Los Angeles Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Japan Vogue, The Los Angeles Daily News, PC Magazine, Institutional Investor, Forbes to name just a few. 

While her roots began in the financial world, during the growth of her consulting business the scope of clients has grown to include public relations and marketing clients in many different industries.  Ms. Chilla also became an affiliate of the corecubed network, a strategic marketing and communications firm, in 2001.  Through this relationship, she has worked on many public relations and marketing projects and that is where she met her current partner, Melissa Gillespie.

Starting her career at boutique Financial Public Relations firm in Newport Beach, CA, she honed her skills and assisted in the packaging of client companies, wrote corporate materials such as drafts of press releases, business plans and various other marketing materials. In 1996, she was recruited by a Financial Public Relations firm and became the Manager of Corporate Relations for The Michelson Group, Inc.  While at this firm, Ms. Chilla was solely responsible for the packaging and promotion of all client companies to the financial community, working one on one with the client to develop a unique public relations program geared specifically for each company. Under her successful PR and IR programs, many of her clients saw significant stock price increases and gains in customer awareness.

Ms. Chilla moved on to hold the Director of Marketing position with a thirty-year old venture capital firm, Ventana Capital Management.  With a need for extensive rebranding and positioning in order to begin U.S. fundraising campaign, Ms. Chilla embarked on a public relations and marketing campaign to reposition the company within the venture capital industry.  She was able to secure numerous speaking positions, board appointments and advisory positions for the managing partners and formulated strategic plan to launch new fund to potential investors as well as established effective communication plan to existing limited partners/investors.

Ms. Chilla holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Business Management from the University of California, Irvine.

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Melissa Gillespie – Partner – is a public relations and marketing communications specialist with extensive experience in media relations and strategic planning.  Her experience includes developing targeted campaigns designed to garner media exposure via radio, television, print and online outlets.  Ms. Gillespie has significant experience in event planning, project management and marketing. Her industry specialties include telecommunications, high technology, outsourcing, sports business, education, medical and government.

Ms. Gillespie’s current campaigns include serving as the lead public relations contact for a national print magazine targeted to professional athletes, an international research and consulting firm focused on globalization and localization, and an Internet retailer specializing in customized handbags. She has secured positive media exposure for these clients in multiple major outlets, including: Internet Retailer, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, SportsBusiness Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Fox Sports Radio, InfoWorld, ComputerWorld, Upscale, CIO magazine, Teen magazine, and many more.  

From 1999 to 2001, Ms. Gillespie was the Senior Communications Specialist, CRTV for Cox Communications in Phoenix, Arizona.  While at Cox, she developed training programs and presentations for field employees on company messages, programs and pricing and sales information. Ms. Gillespie had extensive public speaking duties to groups of 10-600 field technicians on a daily basis.  She also created all of the key internal and external messages via Internet, Intranet, employee newsletter, customer newsletter, customer notifications, Tombstone ads, channel crawls, email, internal TV network and employee job aids.

Prior to Cox Communications, Ms. Gillespie held several positions with OTS, Inc. (Formerly TDI, Inc.).  Receiving many accolades for her accomplishments from 1997 to 1999, Ms. Gillespie achieved great success as OTS’ Project Manager for Building Entrance Services. She was responsible for developing and managing the Building Entrance Services division, which involved representing large commercial property owners in the negotiation, implementation, and management of telecommunication networks. Ms. Gillespie developed process controls, interfaced with telecommunication service providers, evaluated proposals and technical solutions from the service providers and provided on-going communications with Client.

Among her achievements includes Ms. Gillespie’s tenure as an intern for the United States Mission to the UN in 1995 where she researched and evaluated visa accreditation issues; conducted research, preparation and drafting of cables; press conference and debriefing assistance as well as the preparation and attendance of USUN events and sessions.

Ms. Gillespie attended United States International University for their International Relations – Int’l Communications Focus Masters program.  Additionally, she holds a Bachelor of Arts, Communications Studies (Minors in Spanish and English) from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces.

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