About Us
Your Network for Winning Communications
YOUR NETWORK FOR WINNING COMMUNICATIONS
Stories are powerful. They can convince. They can unite. And they will create the emotional connections needed to raise funds for your nonprofit, move your intended audiences to actions and sell your product, idea or company.
At Mecoy Communications, we are expert storytellers with decades of experience in researching and creating compelling narratives about companies, products, people, causes and more. We are a Los Angeles-based network of public affairs, public relations and communications specialists who develop and implement winning communications strategies.
We’re large enough to handle complex assignments and small enough to ensure you get the personalized service you need from experienced professionals. We are nimble, cost-efficient and strategic. We consistently and efficiently deliver top-quality work on time and on budget, ensuring the maximum benefit for every dollar invested in our services.
Serving a wide range of clients
We have been privileged to represent a wide range of clients, including businesses, nonprofits, cities, government agencies, trade associations, advocacy groups, healthcare organizations and scientific research institutions. We have worked with them to enhance their existing programs, to launch new ones and to solve their communications challenges on projects ranging from brand development to crisis management.
We will work closely with you to understand your unique needs, define your intended audiences, develop the right messages, capitalize on social media and ensure your story gets told. We create the materials you need – from a basic media kit to a multi-faceted, multi-media campaign – and ensure they are delivered to the intended audiences.
Let our network become part of your network for success.
Laura Mecoy
managing partner
Laura Mecoy is a premier media and public affairs consultant who will provide you with the strategic counsel, communications tools, social networking and media training you need to succeed in challenging situations, explaining complex subjects and outreach to the media, customers, the community, donors and others.
With more than two decades of experience in writing and research, she’s an expert at working with clients to craft and perfect the right messages at the right time for the right audiences.
A former award-winning journalist, she also brings a unique insight into media relations strategies and provides hands-on media “coaching” that prepares clients for their most challenging encounters. Laura has worked with public- and private-sector clients engaged in healthcare, education, conservation, legislative advocacy, public policy, the law, scientific research, business, energy, transportation and more.
She’s landed stories and op-eds about clients in publications throughout the state of California and in major newspapers around the country, including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Time magazine and many more. She’s also secured segments featuring her clients on the NBC Nightly News, PBS NewsHour, CNN, Discovery and History channel specials, and California radio and television newscasts.
In every engagement, Laura brings the same finely honed instincts for understanding and communicating complex topics that she developed during more than two decades as a journalist in Washington, D.C., Sacramento and Los Angeles for The Sacramento Bee and McClatchy Newspapers, one of the nation’s largest newspaper chains.
Laura’s reputation led to her being sought as an expert commentator for the Today show, CNN, Court TV, NPR and other broadcast outlets. The Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs and the Center for Campaign Leadership also sought her expert commentary, while several publications, including the AARP Bulletin, Los Angeles Magazine and Money Magazine, have hired her to write on healthcare and other topics.
Laura is active in the community, serving on the JDRF-Los Angeles Board of Directors, its Government Relations Committee and biking team. She is also a member of several professional organizations.
Ryan Walker
partner
Ryan Walker is an expert public relations and marketing strategist. In addition to providing clients with strategic counsel and services including exceptional content and account management, he has expertise in positioning, branding and developing go-to-market strategies, having previously worked for one of Silicon Valley’s premier branding and positioning firms and having served as an account manager for a Los Angeles-based public affairs firm specializing in development and transportation.
In addition to his experience leading companies’ marketing and repositioning efforts, Ryan has also participated in numerous political and public information campaigns and is an outstanding writer and content creator who excels in helping clients effectively communicate their messages. He provides clients with the same strategic guidance that helped his team win PRWeek’s 2016 “Best in Corporate Branding” Award for repositioning Blackberry in the marketplace. His ability to articulate complex topics for clients is evident in the Artificial Intelligence Thought Leadership Platform he previously created for an $11 billion international technology company.
He’s also skilled in media relations and has successfully placed stories and op-eds in major national publications including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Tech Crunch, along with local publications, including The Los Angeles Times and Orange County Business Journal.
Ryan is a Santa Clara University Political Science graduate who is involved in the nonprofit sector and works with JDRF, the leading charitable organization funding Type 1 Diabetes research. In his spare time, Ryan is an avid cyclist, a mediocre guitarist and a die-hard basketball fan.
Cary Walker
Partner
Cary Walker is a skilled communications strategist specializing in change management and corporate communications. For more than three decades, he has been advising CEOs, business leaders and government officials, helping them to articulate growth strategies, define their social impact, solve problems and achieve success.
In the United States and abroad, Cary has helped major organizations through significant changes caused by rapid growth, landmark mergers, executive transitions, technological change and corporate restructurings. He has extensive crisis communications experience, and has worked with companies facing pandemics, workplace violence, cyber-attacks, regulatory action, closure and liquidation.
Cary combines public and private sector experience and has written hundreds of high-profile speeches for CEOs, governors and U.S. Cabinet officials.
For 20 years, Cary was senior vice president and director of corporate communications and investor relations at City National Bank, where he provided senior management with strategic counsel and directed the company’s media relations, executive speech writing, employee communications, market research and government affairs.
Cary helped to advance the company’s strong reputation, even during the 2008 financial crisis that hobbled hundreds of financial institutions across the United States. He oversaw the bank’s internal and external communications, including its quarterly earnings presentations and annual reports, the announcements of more than a dozen corporate acquisitions, an $11 billion community lending and investment initiative and the company’s 2015 merger with the Royal Bank of Canada. Cary also managed City National’s communications during the COVID-19 pandemic and during his time at the bank helped to secure consistently favorable news coverage from virtually all of America’s leading news organizations, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CNBC, Bloomberg, and more.
Robert Nelson
ASSOCIATE
Robert Nelson is a talented strategic communications consultant who provides client services from the early stages of media planning through campaign execution, delivery and reporting. He is a diligent researcher and content creator who has been integral to the development of comprehensive public relations and marketing strategies for our clients.
Robert is detail-oriented and excels in high-stakes settings, having worked in fields ranging from technology to political communications and as a member of teams working for high-profile companies, including Meta (formerly Facebook) and Grubhub. Robert also has a strong history in video production and has been a producer, editor, and production coordinator on all manner of projects, including music videos, video advertisements, short films, and an Emmy-nominated new media series.
Robert is an Eagle Scout and graduating senior of DePaul University’s Public Relations program with a history of involvement in nonprofit organizations, including Easterseals Northern California, The Peter Pan Foundation, and The Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation.
Pilar Marrero
Media Relations Director
Pilar Marrero is an award-winning journalist, author and expert on Latino issues and media. With extensive experience in reporting on social and political issues in the Latino community, she leads our outreach to Spanish-language media and works often with English-language media. Among her many honors, the Latino Journalists of California named her Latina Journalist of the Year in 2018.
She is the author of the book, “Killing the American Dream,” which chronicles 25 years of immigration policy mishaps in the United States and their consequences for the country’s economic future.
Marrero has appeared numerous times in English and Spanish media outlets as a news and political analyst and immigration expert. The outlets include CNN, CNN en español, MSNBC, Univision, NPR, KPCC, Telemundo, Estrella TV, Radio Nacional de España, Radio Mitre (Argentina), TV Venezuela and France 24 TV.
In addition, she co-hosts a groundbreaking independent political podcast, “The Pundettes,” with KNBC-TV political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe. The podcast provides bi-weekly analysis of national political issues and their impact in California.
Robin Weisz
Graphic Design & Art Direction
Robin has more than three decades of experience creating visually exciting and understandable materials for a wide range of clients, including Los Angeles Philharmonic, UCLA, Cedars Sinai Medical Center and City of Hope. She has partnered with us in serving numerous clients by creating distinctive logos, graphically appealing magazines and newsletters, eye-catching street and pole banners, elegant invitations and much more.
Robin prides herself on combining creativity with an easy-to-work-with style to create a superior product. She views the design process as a partnership between the client and the designer working together toward a common goal. To see portfolios of her work, please visit www.robinweiszdesign.com
Gerilynn Berg
Communications Training
Gerilynn is a gifted instructor who specializes in engaging and entertaining interpersonal communications training. With more than two decades of experience, she brings transformational learning experiences to organizations of all types, creating behavioral changes and improving business results.
Gerilynn has provided her skilled training to Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. and globally, including clients such as Motorola, Cisco, Raytheon, Nokia, Washington Mutual, NBC, Disney, Toyota, Pardee Homes and Stanford University.
She will work with you to create a customized training program to improve communications among your staff and strengthen your organization. She is proficient in Spanish, as well.
Jon Crowe
Photographer & Videographer
Jon is an amazingly talented and visionary force who has been creating compelling visual images for more than two decades. His uncanny ability to capture the essence of person through portraiture is unrivaled. His gift for storytelling through videography educates, entertains and engages audiences for a wide range of clients and creative endeavors.
He loves the outdoors, and he has traveled the world taking photographs and filming. He has even created art that is hanging in the Smithsonian. To see a gallery of his work, please visit: www.joncrowephotography.com
Ellie Shaw
Website Development
Ellie Shaw ensures our clients can effectively tell their stories online. As a former newspaper editor and corporate communications director, she has the skills to develop websites that will reach your target audiences and effectively convey the information you need. It takes creativity, skill and time to create or upgrade a website – and most of our clients lack at least one of these. That’s when we turn to Ellie to supervise our clients’ entire website projects.
She helps clients decide what their online goals are and then works closely with them to assure they get exactly the website they want. She oversees planning, production, programming and posting. To learn more, please visit: www.shawmediaconsulting.com
Donna Foote
Research & Writing
Donna is an award-winning former journalist and author who can develop the compelling content you need to convey your messages to the right audience at the right time. From grant writing to the authorship of her widely praised book, Donna is a dedicated researcher who can capture the information required to make your case to potential supporters, funders, customers and the public.
Her storytelling skills are widely recognized in the Los Angeles area. Donna teaches writing at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, and she’s prepared grant applications for the University of California, Los Angeles.
With Donna, our clients get the same research and writing experience that made her one of Newsweek magazine’s most respected journalists and earned her the Washington Post’s praise for authoring one of the best books of the year, “Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America.”
Barbara Morrison
Advertising & Creative Communications
Barbara is a seasoned advertising and creative communications professional who provides our clients with top-quality and affordable marketing materials, ranging from TV ads, video content and jingles to detailed marketing plans. With more than 25 years of experience, she has worked at all levels of the business, from major retailers to well-known ad agencies. Among her previous experiences, she directed in-house ad agencies at The Wherehouse Music Stores and Sasson Jeans, and she served as VP Creative Services & Licensing for MEG Toys, an international toy company.
Adam Pertman
Research, Writing, Editing & Strategic Communications
Adam is an acclaimed author and Pulitzer-nominated writer whose work appears frequently in the Huffington Post and other media outlets. A former Boston Globe senior writer and editor, he brings his extensive understanding of the media to every client’s project – whether it be drafting commentaries or pitching stories to reporters.
Adam also has a rare understanding of the challenges of managing, communicating and fundraising for nonprofits because he served as the leader of an extremely successful national nonprofit organization for a decade. He’s provided his high-level services to numerous high-profile clients, including the Walt Disney Company, Stewards for Change, Medical Marijuana of Massachusetts and Harmony Family Center in Tennessee.
