We've got our quirks, but that's what makes us special. OK, different.

Susan Woods In 1998, Susan joined with Peter Berk and JP Lincoln to co-found Crier Communications, initially from the second bedroom of her LA apartment. Now that Crier is thriving in its 12th year and has offices in both LA and NY, it's clear Susan's love of a good party for a great cause has indeed paid off.

Before Crier, Susan earned her degree in Art History and Journalism at NYU then worked in marketing for New York's Whitney and MoMA. But her event chops came from the now defunct event production firm, Houghton and Associates, where she organized many high level fund raisers.

Susan's passion for culture is transcended only by her love of people and knack for event planning and marketing. As a result, Susan devotes time to pro-bono and philanthropic projects, frequently connecting clients to people and organizations that benefit each other and the common good.

A board member of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Susan is currently devoted to Children's Action Network, a non-profit that harnesses the power of the entertainment biz to promote adoption.

J.P. Lincoln Partner and creative director, J.P. is a devotee of the communications arts and is as responsible for the look of Crier's work as the content. His 20+ year career in communications began at Yamaha, where in 1987 he demonstrated the company's electronic musical instruments around the world. He later served as Yamaha's director of advertising and public relations. In 1993, J.P. left Yamaha to launch an advertising firm in Lusaka, Zambia, which introduced the first smart card-based banking product in the continent (Yes, Africa. Long story).

In '95, he joined the LA-based ad agency, The Phelps Group, as an account supervisor and headed account teams for Roland and Steinberg Software. Just prior to launching Crier, J.P. was vice president and technology practice leader at Murphy O'Brien, a Santa Monica-based PR agency.

An intrepid foodie, J.P. knows the best place to eat in L.A., wherever you are going, and whatever you're craving. Go ahead - test him!

Peter Berk is a 25-year public relations veteran - quite an accomplishment since he is only 27.

Over the years, Peter has amassed extensive experience executing successful media campaigns for clients in the food, corporate, travel, sports, and entertainment industries. Prior to co-founding Crier Communications, Peter was Vice President at Murphy O'Brien, where he led the Pebble Beach and Xerox account teams. Before that, he was Vice President at The Lippin Group, focusing on corporate and entertainment public relations for The Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios Hollywood, Ernst & Young and Post Ranch Inn, a unique resort in Big Sur, California, for which he generated a cover story with Travel & Leisure magazine. Peter is also a published author (with actor Dick Van Patten) of a non-fiction entertainment industry book.

Shaina Zalma, Vice President at Crier, sees the positive in everything. Discovering what makes something truly special is her most prized activity and so a career in public relations just always made sense.

Shaina finds joy in discovering what makes each brand unique in its category and spreading the word on why the products she represents are a cut above the rest. She hates empty promises with a passion and believes strongly in following through on what you say. She has made it her mission at Crier to practice what we preach.

She feels like each one of her clients is her baby - she wants to protect them, tell the world how wonderful they are, and make sure all their dreams come true. She may be cheesy, but she works hard and delivers.

Coming to Crier with a background in travel PR and internal communications, she has been with the team over seven years servicing a range of food and health clients. Her primary roles include client management, media relations, development of client marketing materials, and ad placements.

Katie Cycan A VP at Crier, Katie has been with the agency since 2006. Working primarily with food, restaurant and health clients, Katie is involved in all aspects of the PR campaign including client service and media relations. She provides her clients with a broad variety of services from the development of press releases, marketing materials, and ads to strategic campaign planning and crisis communications. In addition to her publicist duties at Crier, she serves as Head Tea Maker and Chief Microsoft Word Wiz.

Before joining Crier, Katie was part of the communications and public affairs team at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland and also worked as an editorial assistant for Aspatore Books, in Boston, Massachusetts. Katie received her BA in English and Philosophy from Boston College. For the past few years, she has been working diligently on eating her way through Los Angeles - leaving no sushi joint or taco truck unturned.

Sarah Long Account Executive Sarah Long, was raised in Eugene, Oregon. The daughter of two authors, Sarah has always had a keen eye for writing and creativity. Despite Sarah’s love for her cold and rainy hometown (and her eternal dedication to her Oregon Ducks), she made the big move to Los Angeles in 2006 to attend Occidental College, a private liberal arts college. Sarah graduated in 2010 with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Urban Environmental Policy.

In addition to her studies, Sarah danced her way through college as a self proclaimed connoisseur of the Los Angeles dance community, a member of the Occidental dance team and as a dedicated participant in the annual student run dance production performance.

Sarah spent her senior year of college working diligently to complete her thesis on the impact of digital communications technologies on youth relationships and sociability (for which she received honors!) while working at an internet-based marketing firm as a marketing associate. Upon graduation, Sarah completed an internship at Bungalow PR and then worked as an assistant account coordinator at O’Rorke, Inc.

Sarah loves the passion and visionary aspects of the PR industry.

Danielle Caldwell After earning bachelor’s degrees in Communications and Visual Arts from Fordham University, Danielle worked for Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, a non-profit farm and education center located north of Manhattan. As Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Danielle was responsible for developing the organization’s marketing collateral and PR efforts to increase awareness of healthy, seasonal and sustainable food.

After marrying her college sweetheart and relocating to Los Angeles two days later, Danielle served as the executive assistant to an award-winning actor / New York Times bestselling author, working closely with his PR team, publishers, and agents to generate speaking opportunities and interviews.

In her former life, Danielle studied classical ballet at the prestigious School of American Ballet in Lincoln Center and performed with the New York City Ballet. Her passion for dance lives on – though she’s traded in her pointe shoes for salsa shoes.

If things go as planned, she’ll eventually spend her days cooking and baking and canning and eating and entertaining in the kitchen of her farmhouse on a nice stretch of land. But for now, Danielle serves as an account coordinator at Crier and lives happily in North Hollywood with her two best friends - husband Josh and rescue pup Hadley.

Alison Straub Originally from Toledo, Ohio, Ali was inspired by the classic and very cheesy soap opera “All My Children,” a show which she started watching as a child with her grandma. From "AMC," Ali first developed her love for writing, filling notebooks with her own dramatic soap opera scripts.

Her passion for writing continued through the years, studying journalism and public relations at Bowling Green State University. It was while she was a student there that she spent her summers living abroad in Italy, Germany, and Japan volunteering at summer camps for the children of the United States Military. With a new love for big cities and culture, she decided that after graduation she would leave the buckeye state and make the move to one of her favorite cities, Los Angeles.

In 2007, Ali relocated in Los Angeles working with Medtronic's in house PR team. During her four and a half years with Medtronic, Ali developed a passion for diabetes care and still keeps up with the latest and greatest in diabetes research and technology today.

When not in the office, you will most likely find her at a comedy show or at Gelson’s trying to figure out what to eat for dinner.

Kimberly Caballero Kimberly was born and raised in Southern California and always wanted to make a life for herself in Los Angeles. She made her first step in that direction by attending Loyola Marymount University. During her time as a student she had multiple internships in public relations and marketing including work with a non-profit organization, a viral marketing firm and a PR agency. She also studied abroad in Germany for four months where she was given the opportunity to travel across Europe and serve as a Strategic Marketing Consultant for Western Europe’s leading frozen-food delivery service.

After graduating with a degree in Sociology, Kimberly remained near LMU and completed a Communications internship with a Fortune 500 corporation. Now that she is with Crier serving as Account Coordinator, she is happily living in Los Angeles near her friends and spends her free time enjoying the city she always wanted to be a part of.

David Abed is Crier's director of social media services. David and his merry band of bloggers, tweeters and Facebookers develop and implement creative social media strategies for many of Crier's clients.

A regular at the many - and seemingly endless - self congratulatory social media industry seminars, David has a genuine passion for the transparent use of social media - and a genuine disdain for agencies that ham-fistedly try to be something - or someone they are not.

Originally from a small Michigan town, David decided to go big time and move to Los Angeles in 2006 after graduating from the University of Michigan where he received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance.

Prior to Crier he was an account manager at another Los Angeles PR firm where his clients included Disney on Ice, Disney Playhouse Live, High School Musical on Ice, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and ESPN Zone.

Outside the office David can be found on stage and the web performing with his comedy team. And if you look real close, you may see him on the television every now and again.

Bren Gomez Bren Lee Gomez, social media specialist, was born and raised in Los Angeles in a household full of strict beauty rules: no nail polish or hair dye until age 12, at which point she was only able to wear "natural colors," and no makeup until she was 16. This obviously set the scene for a lifelong obsession with beauty products.

After graduating from Cal-State Northridge with a BA in Public Relations, where she spent the bulk of her time giving makeovers to her friends in sororities, she enrolled in the esthetician program at Cerritos College and became a licensed skin therapist. Throughout all of this, she worked as a social media consultant & PR coordinator for brands such as China Glaze, Ardell Lashes, Stila Cosmetics, and Sugar Brand.

Bren is currently pursuing a second BA in Creative Writing and working on her makeup artistry certification at the Ruby Makeup Academy. She spends her free time surfing, volunteering with young cancer patients, and beauty blogging.

Bill Hoversten Reared in Pennsylvania and Ohio, Bill froze each winter. He found LA ideal for thawing, running marathons, surfing, and roller-blading.

Before spearheading Crier's corporate outreach and new business strategies starting in 2004, Bill was both a writer and reporter.

The safest job? Bill may have held it. Surrounded by cops at LAPD headquarters, he was a "police beat" reporter for regional wire service City News.

Telling wild LA drivers "where to go?" He did for eight years - as a traffic reporter for AM 530.

Bill's writing has appeared in The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Business Journal, Beverly Press and numerous consumer and trade publications. His screenplay "Mamigon's War" was a finalist (with Oscar© nominee Jose Rivera's) in the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance competition whose judges included Oscar© winner Steven Zaillian ("Schindler's List").

To prepare for his Crier role, Bill first gained PR experience at Murphy O'Brien Communications and Ogilvy PR.

Bill studied business administration at Capital University and writing at Oxford.

David Lopera David Lopera, Corporate Outreach for Crier, was born and raised in New York City. With degrees in both Economics and Film Studies from Bucknell University, David made the move to Los Angeles to work as a freelance entertainment professional where he gained invaluable experience working on location on various productions and in the story department at Bunim-Murray Productions (The Real World, Project Runway).

His keen ear for trend-setting music later landed him roles as the Music Consultant for the Palihouse Hotel, Copa D’oro, An Catering, and French Tuesdays. A growing interest in event production and charity work allowed David the opportunity to collaborate with nonprofits such as the Cambodian Children’s Fund, TJ Martell Foundation, The Harvey Milk Foundation, and Eve Branson/Virgin Unite’s Rock the Casbah Foundation.

Outside of the office, David can be found attending concerts put on by his favorite musical acts or dusting off old records he excavates from records stores around Los Angeles.

Sheila Hulsey Sheila Hulsey, Corporate Outreach for Crier’s New York based beauty practice, was born and raised in Southern California with a passion for team sports. During college, she traveled to Paris and London, where she developed a love of socializing which ultimately led to her first job—hosting and promoting events with the LA-based Pure Evolution Productions.

During her junior year, Sheila interned with Louis Vuitton’s PR team, where she decided PR would be her career path. Soon after, she took on an internship with Bohle Company (Tech PR) and House of Hype (entertainment PR), where her first assignment was to coordinate Esquire magazine's Hot 100 dinner and after party for the MTV VMA Awards. Sheila went on to earn her B.A. in communication studies from California State University, Long Beach.

When she’s not playing around with her favorite cosmetics or tracking down the newest cruelty-free beauty trend, you can find Sheila at the dog park with her miniature Australian Shepherd, Diesel, or hanging out with her twin sister.

Frank Lopera Guerrilla marketer and event planner Frank "Speedy" Lopera got his start at age 17 when he rose to the top of NYC's competitive club scene as a renowned promoter for A-list nightclubs including Limelight, Tunnel and Club Expo.

During a successful run modeling, he developed lasting friendships with some of the world's leading photographers including David LaChapelle, Greg Gorman and Ellen Von Unwerth. These iconic mentors helped guide him when he opted out of his Calvins at age 22 and began working in marketing and events organizing parties for many noteworthy brands and celebs including Lady Gaga, Paris Hilton, Nylon Magazine, Neuro Beverages, Motley Bird Energy Drink, Mercedes Benz and Nike.

In 2009, Speedy launched Scenester Marketing, a national guerrilla projection and event company noteworthy for spearheading cross promotional projects for Katherine McPhee, The Avalon, Nike and, most recently, The Austrian Trade Commission.

Frank also works with many LA/NY based art non-profits and is helping to organize this year's Rock the Kasbah party, a huge benefit for Richard Branson's Virgin Unite.

Victoria Nevinny's background reflects her dual passions for both film and food. She has worked on all aspects of film making - from development to production, from post-production to marketing. As a producer, Victoria's films have ranged from thrillers ("Phoenix" with Ray Liotta and Angelica Houston), to teen comedies ("The Hottie and the Nottie" with Paris Hilton) to everything in between.

As a passionate cook and foodie with an Austrian background, her experience has included catering affairs large and small in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Nantucket.

A graduate of the University of Southern California, she holds a certificate in wine appreciation from WSET, and considers the first glass of Grüner Veltliner she drank with her parents in Vienna as her first communion.

Kyle R. Thompson Kyle is Crier's senior art director and sees the world in a visual way. He honed his design skills working with top advertising agencies including Deutsch LA, World-Wide-Mind, 30sixty, and RPA.

You'll find his work in campaigns for 7up, Vibram, Sony Playstation and Volkswagen as well as for a host of Crier clients including Zerona and the Austrian Trade Commission.

An old school illustrator whose first design implements of choice are pencil and paper, Kyle is also quite adept at the electronic tools of the design trade. From Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign to Dreamweaver, SketchUp and Flash Catalyst, his ads, brochures, Websites, navigation design, animation, logo/icon designs are top notch.

Kyle's favorite city is Berlin where he studied abroad while attending Rutgers University. He speaks German fluently, though is a bit rusty, and is madly in love with their design aesthetic.

CRIER NEW YORK

Samantha Dark's initial PR spark was lit when she worked in the communications department for a leading satellite television company in her home city of London. With an aspiration to live in the US, Samantha took a position as publicist for Latin mega-star Julio Iglesias and sharpened her skills in the music and US entertainment industry.

With her skills honed, Samantha took an executive position at Behrman Communications, an agency specializing in beauty/lifestyle PR in New York, where she managed brands including Clairol, Matrix, Lorac, A Pea-in-the- Pod, Khiels, Banana Boat, Sothys and Ellen Lange, to name a few.

In 2004, Samantha branched off to start her own boutique PR agency specializing in beauty and has held long-term accounts with Dashing Diva, Therapy Systems, Kiss Products, Amansala Bikini Bootcamp, Escape to Shape, and many more.

With more than 15 years of experience with publicizing product launches, conducting media tours, sponsorships, events and celebrity and influencer seeding programs, Samantha is an accomplished hands on public relations practitioner with a specialty in lifestyle, fashion/beauty and entertainment industries.

Emily Oliff, account executive, began her public relations career at a northern New Jersey based boutique marketing and public relations agency where she provided clients with a variety of services, including strategic relationship development, special event coordination, media relations and guerrilla marketing.

Emily studied Public Relations and Journalism at Monmouth University, from which she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and a minor in Political Science. Emily also studied Communications and Art at Regent's Business School London. She is a member of Lambda Pi Eta, national communications honors society.

Amanda Comunale was raised in the small town of Bangor, Pennsylvania. Starting at a young age, Amanda was determined to follow her dreams of leaving the simple life and moving to the big city to pursue a career in the beauty & fashion industry.

In June 2011 Amanda graduated Magna Cum Laude from Drexel University and Pennoni Honors College with a BA in Design & Merchandising and a minor in Marketing. During her time there she honed her writing skills as she researched and published an academic paper on fashion branding concepts (and presented her work with industry professionals at the Popular Culture Association conference in 2009!).

Amanda also chased her dream to visit Italy. She moved to Milan for 3 months to experience the culture, indulge in the food and, most importantly, intern at one of the largest fashion showrooms in Italy, Studio Zeta. Un’esperienza incredibile! After returning from Milan she moved to NYC to intern for a beauty & lifestyle PR firm. From this point on Amanda knew that she wanted to work in this exciting, creative industry.