When your team consists of a 3-time bestselling author, magazine Sr. Editor, retail product developer, social community brand and leader (in the alterna-bridal pop cultural space and international destination wedding space) and Word Press, PHP and Social Media guru, you don’t need a large, expensive agency. You need 2 ninjas who can get you where you need to go, quickly, efficiently and profitably. Getting to market more quickly than your competition is the name of the game.

Graham Goodall

Developer • Designer •  Social Media Guru • UI Advocate • Forever a Soldier

Graham Goodall knows how to give and follow precise orders, and implement simple yet powerful technical strategies across complex organizational systems (the British Army) with an eye towards efficiency and innovation. Following 22 years of service in the British Army, his service culminating as Senior Developer and Designer for the Army Web Team, he decided that what the Army had successfully achieved (creating an Internet portal), but couldn’t aggregate, (over 1000 individual unit webmasters with little training) needed reeling in and a massive reorganization. Graham created a method to unify all the disparate web sites into a single and powerful hub – a communication nexus that unified the British Armed Forces and their families. Servicepals.com, the first Army-inspired Internet portal, changed the way the Army communicated. So impressed was the Army with Grahams work, that even the Queen took notice and he was honored for his contribution to the Armed forces community at Buckingham Palace.

What do you do for a second act? Tackle education, of course! What worked for the military can easily be transposed to education, the model is similar: thousands of individual units that tie back to a central hub with a unified goal. The economic upside? Reduction of overhead costs for stationary, telephone messaging, administrative time, purely by displaying easy-to-upload information in an organized, aesthetically pleasing, accessible, multilingual environment such as the school website. Tangential advantages are: building a tighter community through shared information; better attendance at social, school themed gatherings, and more ebb and flow in parent/teacher relations.

Carolyn Gerin

Writer • Author • Producer • Creative Director • Lifestyle Culture Vulture

Carolyn Gerin is the creator and co-author of the bestselling 3-book Anti-Bride series for Chronicle Books, a reality-driven bridal series that celebrates the rich diversity of brides, budgets and styles with an eye on the alternative. Living by the motto, “don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness,” she revels in kicking the tulle-covered derrière of the “Wedding Industrial Complex” on a regular basis. What sets her apart from other writers, producers and creative directors is an ability to observe a need and a niche in the marketplace for a creative endeavor, and then build out innovative 360+-degree marketing strategies with media affiliates to implement the idea. Trained as a professional creative director, her practice includes expertise in corporate, media, and public outreach communications campaigns, web and brand identity, and product design for retail.

Key clients and strategic partners include: Skout.com, Williams Sonoma, Target, Wal-Mart, Sony, Quiksilver, Growbusy International, Kedaung International, W-Hotels San Francisco, W-Hotels New Orleans, the Future of Music Coalition and Bad Habit Wines. Publications include: Elle Décor, Elle, Metropolitan Home, TransWorld SURF, Here Comes the Guide, Destination I Do magazine and Women’s Radio. CAROLYN GERIN serves as Senior Editor for Destination I Do Magazine, and is a regular contributor to Here Comes the Guide Magazine, and writes and manages the Antibride.com social community.

Her writing focus is: lifestyle, travel, humor, music, fashion, and TV. She has a thriving practice as a copywriter, journalist, and marketing expert for clients of every stripe. She is focused on creating and producing branded entertainment content, some of which encompasses the bridal genre. Operation Aisle Style, created in partnership with Destination I Do Magazine, and the W-Hotel San Francisco and New Orleans is the first and only alterna-bridal event to showcase out of the box thinking when saying “I Do.” She writes and produces with Content and Company for a variety of branded entertainment concepts. In her spare time, you will find her surfing small waves on her long board, and looking for more passionate, like-minded creatives to build inspirational, culturally relevant projects to address the marketplace, and delight the senses (because life is too short to be bored at work).