Mickie Kennedy, Founder with a Mission

eReleases' founder Mickie Kennedy started the company 14 years ago after working in a PR environment that was not meeting the needs of small- and medium-sized businesses and firms. He struck out on his own to build a company that would give smaller firms access to the newswire - with a personal touch. eReleases has grown exponentially since then and even works with big names now, but the spirit of Mickie's original intent has not changed. eReleases delivers personal service and exceptional value to every customer, every time a release is submitted, at every price point.

Mickie lives in Baltimore County with his wife, son, daughter, and two feuding cats. He enjoys British science fiction and acknowledges an unhealthy addiction to diet soda. Mickie holds an MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Poetry from George Mason University. He still writes poetry most Wednesday nights with a group of fellow misfits in Brunswick, Maryland.

Amanda Guagliardo, Editor

Amanda began her writing career in high school as a result of her musical theatre class being cancelled. Friends convinced her to take newspaper instead, and she quickly became the Editor-in-Chief of her high school paper, The Cougar Express.

Amanda graduated from Towson University with a concentration in Public Relations and a minor in Business Administration. As an undergraduate, she completed three internships; one in non-profit PR, another in publishing, and the final in conference planning. Upon graduation, she tried her hand at event planning, but decided she liked having free time. She joined the eReleases team to combine her interest in journalism with her aspirations in PR.

In her spare time, Amanda enjoys running, reading contemporary fiction, repinning DIY projects on Pinterest and never making them, and playing Call of Duty: Black Ops. She currently resides in Baltimore City with three roommates and her Xbox.

Andrew Crisp, Editor

Andrew caught the word bug early, from a strange concoction of Brothers Grimm fairy tales, EC Comics, and Truly Tasteless joke books, before proceeding to more established fare, such as pro wrestling magazines, unauthorized rock n'roll biographies and tawdry paperbacks from the corner grocery store.

Upon graduating with the fateful English Literature degree from the University of Baltimore, he served time in the post-secondary education administration field and had a brief stint peddling quality sounds at an independent record store (one of the last standing - anywhere), before pledging allegiance to the eReleases empire.

When not dutifully concentrating on rendering clients' news releases spit-shine clean, he can be found kicking around his hometown of Baltimore, along with his awesome wife.

Chrissy Hoffmaster, Editor

Chrissy is excited to contribute two more X chromosomes to the eReleases editorial team. She has always been an avid reader and writer, even starting her own family newspaper, The Hoffmaster Happenings, at the age of eight. Newly armed with an English Lit degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), she is eager to spring her editing expertise on some unsuspecting press releases.

When Chrissy is not rearranging words and punctuation marks, she enjoys visiting thrift stores and record shops in the Baltimore area. A true Pisces, Chrissy loves swimming and scuba diving and is convinced she will be a mermaid in her next life. She is glad to engage anyone in conversation about Jimi Hendrix, Art Nouveau, or Shakespeare's sonnets.

Chrissy resides in her hometown of Catonsville with her human family, three crazy cats, and two pet cacti.

Allison McAlister, Editor

Allison has always loved to read and knew from an early age she wanted to be a writer. It should've been clear that editing was also in her future when, at age 11, she would take a red pen to her cousin's letters, mark all the spelling and grammatical errors, and then mail them back. (Sorry, Patti.)

Allison began her career writing for various websites before landing a gig as a reporter for a weekly newspaper. She quickly moved up the ranks and spent several years as the newspaper's editor before making the move to join the team of editors at eReleases, where she looks forward to being on the other side of the press release.

When not wielding her trusty red pen, Allison enjoys hanging out with her amazing husband and daughter and indulging her sense of wanderlust, especially if the travel destination involves sun, sand and sea.

Ha Kim, Customer Service Assistant/ Office Assistant

Ha Kim is a customer service/office assistant at eReleases and a New Jersey transplant who grew up on the other side of the Hudson River from Manhattan until she moved to the Baltimore area in June 2012. She always had the gift of gab and used to employ her eloquence to charm gatekeepers of key resources and disarm natural predators. She discovered the vast world of literature at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, where she graduated with highest honors as an English major and history minor in 2009. Since her graduation, Ha has used her communication skills in teaching and still corresponds with some of her former students. Once in a while, she gets to put on her teacher's hat and edits their papers over the weekend.

When not assisting the office or servicing customers, Ha moonlights as a pseudo-intellectual-bloviating about topics about which she knows very little. She enjoys reading the New Yorker, listening to public radio and pretending to enjoy classical Baroque compositions. Currently, she lives with her pet dog of mysterious origins (Jindo/Shiba-Inu/Dingo?) and her handsome beau, a real-life Dilbert of North Atlantic origins. Her lifelong dream is to be a historian of something that happened to someone in the past.

Randolph Barnes, Office Assistant

Randolph is a self-proclaimed tech nerd. He enjoys toying with and exploring technology, especially cell phones. Randolph is a budding graphic designer and likes doodling, Photoshop, Illustrator, painting, and drawing. He prides himself on his eccentric art. He believes fashion is art and yet another way to express yourself.

Randolph has many varied interests, including museums. "They always teach you new things no matter how many times you visit." He also likes the intersection of commerce and urban planning. "There's something to be said about the ways in which builders and cities come together to create interesting places to shop, connect, and explore. I'm really fond of the post-mall movement towards open air shopping markets."

In his spare time, Randolph enjoys music, working out and comedy. Randolph also has a great appreciation for Italian food. Buon appetito!

Heather Fuller, Personal Publicist Director

The first assignment Heather Fuller received in her first job out of college was to write a press release. For the next three years at the homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. where she was working, she burned the midnight oil faxing releases and making press calls as the point person for shelter press conferences, demonstrations and even the candidacy of the first homeless person elected to public office in the U.S.

By the time she joined eReleases in 2004, Heather had worked at three nonprofits, primarily writing grants; earned a master's in creative writing; taught college English; served as Literary Editor of The Washington Review; consulted for WritersCorps; and published three creative works, the most recent of which The New York Times called "jagged and terrific" and named Editor's Choice. Heather is proud of its CauseWire arm for nonprofits and its customers who are pioneers in the small business community. As Editorial Director at eReleases, she has written hundreds of releases, edited thousands more and managed release campaigns for customers around the globe.

In her free time, Heather enjoys exploring Charm City a.k.a. Baltimore, working on her fixer-upper and hanging out with her rescue dog and cats.