Networking from Home

Several School of Communications alumni will be available at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, via Zoom to meet and connect with students. This casual networking event will allow students to engage in conversations with alumni about their experiences at Elon, internships and careers. Students, faculty and staff who wish to attend should RSVP via the form below. Under the form are the names and bios of the alumni participants. Registration for this event has closed.

Neima Abdulahi ’13
Neima Abdulahi is a four-time Emmy-nominated and award-winning journalist in Atlanta who has carved out a niche style of culture storytelling that pinpoints the intersection of social justice, race and hip-hop. She currently serves as a correspondent on the nationally-syndicated show CENTRAL AVE and is also a guest correspondent for VIBE Magazine. She has also served as a journalist at Atlanta’s NBC-affiliate ‘11Alive News’ and Charlotte’s FOX station. Neima’s in-depth report titled “The intersection of the Civil Rights Movement and Hip-hop” was nominated for an Emmy last year, and her coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests won an NABJ (National Association of Black Journalist) Award for outstanding live reporting.

Katherine Blunt ’15
Katherine Blunt covers renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal. This year, she was part of a team that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Prior to joining the Journal, she worked at the Houston Chronicle, where she spent two years on the business desk covering energy and other sectors. Before joining the Chronicle, she covered transportation for the San Antonio Express-News. She grew up in Maryland and majored in journalism and history at Elon.

Sam Coury ’13
Sam Coury is the manager for advertising strategy and planning at the PGA TOUR. Sam started her post-Elon career with roles in public relations and event management. For three years, she was with an experiential marketing agency in Chicago. There she managed Pernod Ricard brand ambassador programs in the spirits industry. She then relocated to Barcelona to obtain her MBA from ESADE Business School. Sam launched a Barcelona-based startup in the role of marketing manager. After two years abroad, she moved to Jacksonville, Florida. She now works for the PGA TOUR, leading a team and overseeing digital advertising strategy for endemic clients.

Stephanie Hays ’18
Stephanie Hays is a designer at The Seattle Times, where she works on the weekly features and opinion sections, along with the daily local section. Her work includes illustrating stories, designing GIFs for social media and creating themes for special sections. She also serves on the committee for the Society for News Design’s Best of Digital Design competition, where she leads the outreach and promotion subcommittee. Previously, she was the lead designer at The Sacramento Business Journal.

Tarah Holland G’16
Tarah Holland is a digital content strategist for Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) at Elon University, where she develops content for various forms of digital and print media and works with departments and programs across campus to create informative, user-intuitive and accessible websites. She also integrates content and user experience (UX) design strategies into new applications, instructional modules, digital signs, videos and other projects. Tarah’s experience includes stints as a newspaper journalist, public relations and social media manager and tourism marketing manager before joining Elon’s staff in 2016. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Mass Communication from North Carolina A&T State University.

Haley Longbottom ’16
Haley Longbottom is the lead visual designer at Bbot. Since graduating from Elon, Haley has worked as a designer within agencies, marketing departments and product teams at rapid-growing tech startups, all while managing her freelance business. With her strong foundation in Communication Design, she went on to expand her skill set to enter a more technical role, specializing in the UI/UX sector of design. After moving back to the Bay Area from Boston, she accepted a role with Bbot.

Nick Margherita ’14 G’15
Nick Margherita leads video production at Private Division, an independent game publishing label within the Take-Two Interactive family. Headquartered in New York City, Nick provides various game development studios with industry leading marketing support; from producing high quality game trailers to managing the label’s visual press assets, Nick strives to make Take-Two Interactive’s games successful on a global scale. Nick is currently working on multiple games in development including The Outer Worlds and Kerbal Space Program 2.

Shelby McKay ’13
Shelby McKay was named assistant director of athletics for student-athlete development at Washington State University in January of 2020. McKay joined WSU after spending six years at George Washington University as the senior student-athlete development associate. After leaving Elon, McKay completed her masters in higher education administration at GW in 2015. She is currently pursuing her doctorate of education, higher education administration from George Washington University, as well. Additionally, McKay was an adjunct professor in the Milken School of Public Health at GW, teaching a first-year transition course she created.

Patrick Rees ’05
Patrick Rees is the vice president of communications for the Philadelphia 76ers. Having worked with five NBA franchises in his 15-year career, Patrick is an accomplished communications professional with expertise in media and public relations, crisis management, brand development, generating and executing strategic communications plans and developing media exposure. In his current role, Patrick runs the day-to-day operations of the basketball communications department. Serving as team spokesman and the primary contact for all local, national and international media, Patrick develops and implements strategic communications plans for the team and organization.

Jane Seidel ’17
Jane Seidel is a platform producer at the Wall Street Journal, where she uses analytics to help curate digital front pages and send push alerts to readers. Previously, she worked as an audience analyst, analyzing and tracking sitewide data to help editors make coverage decisions. She’s from Raleigh and graduated from Elon in 2017.

Rachel Sun ’15
Rachel Sun is a manager of digital analytics in Golin’s New York office, where she specializes in digital strategy, analytics and social intelligence for consumer brands L’Oréal, Ferrero, Pepsi and Southern Comfort, as well as for tech clients Twitter and Logitech, and for financial services client Capital Group. Previously, Rachel came from the Kiehl’s global team in the L’Oréal Luxe Division where she launched the global social intelligence and analytics program. In her role at Kiehl’s, she was the project lead for “Kiehl’s Loves [x] City” social campaign directive, regarded as a best practice brand campaign globally.

Ben Stringfellow ’15
Ben Stringfellow is an assistant editor on feature films and currently working on the James Cameron directed “Avatar” sequels. Previously, he was the post-production assistant on “Rampage” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jenny, who is also a 2015 Elon graduate.

Gabriela Walding ’13
Gabby Walding is the senior director of Small Girls PR. She graduated from Elon with a degree in journalism, and after graduating, she learned the ropes of PR at a B2B agency in New York City called G&S Business Communications, where she worked for clients like Panasonic and The Dow Chemical Company. After two years at G&S, she moved on to boutique agency Small Girls PR. She’s been there for more than five years. She started out working on the GE account and has been leading PR strategy for Olay for the past two years. She currently lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their French bulldog puppy named Pepper.

Asha Michelle Wilson ’13
Asha Michelle Wilson is a television and feature writer currently living in Los Angeles. Originally from southern Florida, a place where dreams and old people go to die, Asha knew she wanted to write from a young age and moved to L.A. just after her graduation. She currently has two shows in development at FX and Peacock, and has written on shows for FX, Fox and Netflix, including “American Horror Story.”