Marian Salzman

Co-Leader

Marian Salzman, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR’s president, North America, knows teenage girls. She has worked with them and helped marketers reach them for more than 20 years. In the 1990s she worked with BKG Youth, which created a viewer feedback system for the in-school TV network Channel One, and she cast the real kids in Esprit’s “What Would You Do to Change the World?” campaign. She organized focus groups at tweenager slumber parties for Levi’s and online for AOL. She created the National Teen Summit for Clearasil, co-authored the Greetings from High School and Kids Online book series, and was a creative consultant on Pepsi’s “It’s Like This” campaign, which ran on MTV. In the early 2000s, as executive vice president and chief strategy officer of Euro RSCG Worldwide, she led the Euro RSCG Project Fishing Experience, which used real people for innovations creation and launched the Xplorer panels that gave the agency access to global youth.

Matt Donovan

Co-Leader

Matt Donovan has worked in strategy for Euro RSCG for eight years in local, regional and global roles in Australia, the U.S., and across Asia Pacific (while living in Shanghai). He first worked with Marian while based in Australia, helping trendspot the “metrosexual” phenomenon. He has worked in almost every category, helping brands such as French’s, Clearasil, Coppertone, Nike, Gatorade, Hershey’s Kisses, Volvo, Jaguar, Dell, IBM, HSN, Sony, Panasonic, Orange, Monster and AOL, better connect to the consumer and the world they serve.

A passionate believer in youth, Matt has spoken out against bad marketing practices targeting teens and encouraged brands to work smarter with them; championed the voice of the under-30s in advertising as the chairman of Australia’s Youngbloods Council; and has been a proud WorldVision Sponsor of an impoverished young girl in Haiti for the past 10 years (she is now 12 years old). As an agency strategist he has spent thousands of hours moderating discussions, running problem-solving and creative ideation workshops, and listening to and learning from all types of people in all sorts of countries, from teens in Sydney to moms in Shanghai and lads in London.

He studied business (marketing) at the University of Technology (UTS), Sydney, and now lives in New York with his partner and 6-month-old son.

Karina Meckel

Co-Leader

Karina Meckel has worked as a brand strategist at Euro RSCG for five years on key clients such as Nestlé, Charles Schwab and Reckitt Benckiser. She was recently named director of strategic planning for Euro RSCG Worldwide PR. Karina conducted research with teens and teen experts that facilitated Euro RSCG’s Clearasil win in 2007. She also collaborated with Marian on the Project Fishing innovation workshop in the early 2000s and accompanied Marian and 20 teens to Amsterdam for the first Xplorer panel, which uncovered important insights about the changing social dynamic among teens in the new millennium.

In addition, Karina drove significant strategic change for Nestle’s Lean Cuisine, in 2007, by moving it from a diet brand to a key player in the wellness space. This shift resulted in Lean Cuisine reaching its goal: becoming a billion dollar brand.

A graduate of Brown University, Karina is one of the fastest-rising strategic planners in Euro RSCG Worldwide history.

Ashley Rindsberg

Ashley Rindsberg is a writer and researcher who writes for magazines and blogs such as the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast and YNet. He has been a guest on G. Gordon Liddy’s radio show and has been featured on such blogs as Foreign Policy’s Passport and InstaPundit for his research and reporting. Ashley has also contributed to a number of books, most recently Claire Shipman and Katty Kay’s New York Times best seller Womenomics.

Ellen Wein

Ellen Wein is a vice president in Euro PR’s Pittsburgh office. She manages the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society account and works on the IPEMA, Wexford Health Sources and Bayer MaterialScience account teams. She has more than 20 years of experience in strategic planning, program development, account management, tactical execution and program evaluation. A generalist and a quick study, she has the proven track record and deep insights of a specialist in media relations, writing, special events and integrated marketing communications. Her accomplishments have been recognized nationally by her peers, including awards from PRWeek and the PRSA Silver Anvils. She has two teenage daughters who keep her on the cutting edge of just about everything.

Alison G.

Alison is a 17 year-old junior at a public high school in Westchester County, N.Y. She is really interested in theater and spends a lot of her time singing, dancing, and acting. In addition to being an active member of her school’s theater company, Alison is a member of the anti-global warming club and she volunteers weekly at a local elementary school. The rest of the time, Alison loves to hang out with her friends and go shopping, watch movies, or just talk. She also spends excessive amounts of time going on Facebook and watching Grey’s Anatomy reruns.

Amy W.

Amy is a 15-year-old sophomore at Fox Chapel Area High School in suburban Pittsburgh. She has a wide range of interests, including fashion, politics and dance. Amy has attended Emma Kaufmann Camp in West Virginia for several years, and cherishes the strong friendships she has made and kept there. She has a close relationship with her older sister, Robin, who is a senior and heading to college next fall. Among Amy’s friends, anybody’s closet is everybody’s closet in this recession!

Christine V.

Christine is a 14-year-old freshman at a public high school in Nassau County, N.Y., with a special emphasis on music and the arts. She has been dancing since age 2 and is currently involved in drama, show choir, tap, jazz and ballet. She performs in several dance and theater productions a year and is rarely seen without her iPod.

Evelyn D.

Evelyn is a 17-year-old at a private high school in Westchester County, N.Y. She will be working on The Sisterhood in the Euro PR offices this spring for her senior-year project. She and her 16-year-old sister, Isabelle, consider themselves best friends, share many friends (and clothes) and are very style-conscious yet also serious about the environment and the suffering in Darfur and the Sudan.

Hania N.

Hania is a 17-year-old, born and bred in London. She will attend college next year, where she plans to study fashion, with an eye toward becoming a fashion buyer/merchandiser for a major design firm. Hania is the charity rep at her school in London and as such, hosts many events. She is friendly, confident and loves meeting new people.

Isabelle D.

Isabelle is a 16-year-old who goes to a private high school in Westchester County, N.Y. She plays varsity volleyball and is very interested in graphic design. She loves cuddling up on her couch watching scary movies or reading romantic love stories, and she spends most of her time with her sister Evelyn D., who also blogs for the Sisterhood website.

Jessica G.

Jessica is a 16-year-old who attends a private school in Fairfield County, Conn. She plays varsity basketball and lacrosse. In her free time she enjoys spending time with friends as well as pursuing her interest in creative writing. She is an involved leader in school as the president of her junior class and outside of school with her position as regional secretary of Jack and Jill of America. Her BlackBerry might as well be attached to her hip; she never leaves the house without it.

Kelsey J.

Kelsey is a 18-year-old who attends a private school in Westchester County, N.Y. She’s a competitive fencer who has been fencing since she was in the eighth grade. She likes to work in Photoshop and has an appreciation for all kinds of music.

Lauren T.

Lauren is an 18-year-old senior at Huntington Beach High School. She’s been a member of her school’s cheer team for three years and could not love her squad anymore than she already does. Rarely seen without her trusty phone (she’s a social butterfly, after all), she loves reading, going to the movies, playing her Wii and shopping with friends. Her four years of French will hopefully lead her to a career in international affairs.

Morgan M.

Morgan is a 15-year-old from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., who enjoys dancing, cheerleading, listening to the newest pop music, watching The Secret Life and keeping up with the shows on E!, and writing, reading and romance novels (with aspirations to become an author or screenwriter). She also loves hanging out with friends and spending quality time with her parents, brother and two sisters. She spends a lot of time surfing the Web. Favorite sites include Facebook, OceanUp.com, Twitter and Forever21.

Remy G.

Remy is a 16-year-old from New Rochelle, N.Y. When she isn’t busy dancing (both jazz and tap) or running track, she can be found lying in the sun or hanging out with friends. As she puts it, “Anything is fun as long as you’re with a friend.”

Skylar D.

Skylar is a 15-year-old junior from Palo Alto, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley. She’s a competitive water polo player who loves working with little kids. In the summers, she runs water polo clinics for children from the Boys & Girls Club. She loves spending time with friends and family, and likes writing for her high school sports magazine, the Viking.

Taryn M.

Taryn is a 16-year-old junior from Fairfield County, Conn., who goes to boarding school in Rhode Island. She’s an avid ice hockey player, texter and video chatter—and she also loves to write. Since she is constantly on the road for school or sports, her BlackBerry is virtually never out of her sight. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t send a text…okay, several texts.

Tegan H.

Tegan is a 16-year-old senior at a private school in London, England. She is a member of both varsity soccer and dance team at her school. She spends most of her time dancing and recently performed in a show in the West End. She is an active member of the National Honor Society at her school as well as co-president of Invisible Children, a movement seeking to end conflict in Northern Uganda. Tegan also volunteers for a private therapy practice where she works with students with learning disabilities. In her free time Tegan loves to go shopping, bbming, and taking advantage of what London has to offer.

Tori S.

Tori is an 18-year-old senior at a coed Catholic high school in California who’s in the top 10 percent of her class. She’s a social butterfly, serving as a head commissioner of spirit for her school’s student government, and she also manages the nationally ranked varsity boys’ basketball team. She enjoys reading, playing Wii, eating In-N-Out and sushi, going to the beach, traveling, relaxing with friends and texting constantly.