Class Notes

Vanessa Harmoush (Jour) is the deputy communications director for the Colorado speaker of the House and the Colorado House majority. She also sits on the Denver Young Democrats board as its community liaison, and on the Policy Committee of the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Hannah Young (Comm) is chief marketing officer for Lockton’s transaction liability practice, where she manages all marketing activities to help ensure mergers and acquisitions for corporations and private equity companies. Young completed her master’s in communication and data from Northwestern University in 2022.

Danielle Seat (Jour) is a broadcast news reporter for the NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Florida (WPTV). Prior to WPTV, Seat was a reporter and anchor in Charleston, South Carolina, at CBS Live 5 News. She has reported on legislative sessions, PGA tournaments, the Murdaugh murders investigation and more.

Morgan Gallo (StratComm) is a nationally touring comedian based out of St. Augustine, Florida. She was recently awarded Best of Fest at the Big Pine Comedy Festival in San Diego, California. This year she plans to perform back home in Colorado for the first time since she began her comedy career.

Hayley Sanchez (Jour) is an afternoon and weekend general assignment reporter and producer with Colorado Public Radio. She joined CPR full time after completing a yearlong fellowship with the station. Before that, she was a digital producer with The Arizona Republic in Phoenix.

After graduation, Hanna Whirty (Jour) worked as a digital marketing strategist for Pure Strategic in Boulder. In April, she became a marketing director for the Golden-based company Icelantic Skis, which manufactures its skis in the U.S. and is committed to sustainability. 

Zoe Beard-Fails (Advert’17) moved to New York City after graduation, where she works as a page at NBC Universal assisting with audience services on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers. During her time at CU, she was a forward on the women’s basketball team. 

Durango native and professional cyclist Sepp Kuss (Advert) won the Vuelta a España in September, becoming the first American cyclist in a decade to win a Grand Tour.

Since Audrey (Rodriguez) Holcomb (Jour) graduated, she has gone on to work in social media marketing for the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Lakers. She is now the social media manager for StockX, a live marketplace for exclusive sneakers, apparel, handbags and watches. During her time with the Lakers, she had the opportunity to experience winning a championship with the team in 2020. She was married in 2021 in her hometown of Laguna Beach, California, and moved to Fort Worth, Texas, with her husband, Reed, and puppy, Sushi.

Tessa Diestel (Jour) is an associate producer in event production with ESPN, where she has worked since June 2019. She primarily works on college football and tennis, but is also involved in production for golf, the WNBA and the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament. She has worked in college football for four seasons, including on the Emmy-nominated Saturday Night Football crew. When working on tennis, she produces features and creative content during the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Riley Clinton (CritMedia), along with other CU alumni, co-founded Boulder Media House LLC, a video production company now located in Denver. The alumni are slowly building their team and are always looking to expand their network and client base. BMH is passionate about working with and supporting local Colorado companies and helping the state thrive.

Austin Braun (Advert) is the digital media strategist at CU Boulder’s College of Engineering & Applied Science, using social and digital media to advance research, elevate reputation and build community in the college. During his free time, when he isn’t distance running or climbing 14ers, he’s working to create a better future with next-generation drone software engineering as chief strategist and creative at Ascend Engineering.

Bobby Gehlen (Jour) is a production assistant for ABC News in Washington, D.C. He writes for ABC’s digital team and field produces for Good Morning America and World News Tonight. In addition, Bobby produces for ABC News live, a streaming platform, covering politics and local stories in Washington.

In July 2019, Jackson Lansing (StratComm'18) started as a production assistant at WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., where he assisted in covering the Washington Nationals’ 2019 World Series championship, the impeachment inquiries and COVID-19 developments. He is training to become a newscast director and hopes to continue to travel, write and enjoy the great outdoors as his career progresses.

John Marinelli (Jour'18) has been working as a general assignment reporter covering Longmont for the Daily Camera and Longmont Times-Call. Previously, he was an education reporter for the Yuma Sun in southern Arizona. He plans to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at CU Denver.

Shortly after graduation, Max Levy (Jour) joined The Holyoke Enterprise as a staff reporter. While at CMCI, Max served as a multimedia journalist for CU News Corps and was a reporting intern for the Daily Camera. 

Lauren Harano (Jour) moved to New York City after graduation to pursure a career in journalism. She works for PopSugar as an editor in the features department. 

Paige M. Ensor (Advert) moved to New York City shortly after graduation to pursue a career in advertising. Through the 2018 MADE program, she was selected by IBM to participate in its summer advertising internship, after which she was hired as a campaign production manager for the Watson and Developer campaigns in IBM’s Worldwide Advertising department. In December 2018, she launched her first global advertising campaign, called “Behind the Code,” for IBM.

After graduating from CMCI, Kimberly Coffin (CritMed, StratComm’18) found a way to stick around. She joined the college staff in 2019 as CMCI’s video and multimedia coordinator, and loves capturing the stories of students, faculty, alumni and friends. Kimberly specializes in video production and photography, and has previously worked for clients including Modern Market, Buck Ross Productions, HGTV’s Tiny Paradise and the University of Colorado Law School.

This spring, Kelsey Simpkins (MJour) left her position as a science and news writer in media relations at CU Boulder after more than three years, where she was a 2023 Hermes Creative Awards gold winner and received a 2022 Silver Pick Award from the Public Relations Society of America, Colorado Chapter. She joined Colorado’s Regional Air Quality Council, the lead agency for improving air quality in the Front Range, as its communications and programs coordinator.