Amanda Nothstine is our Qualitative Strategist and resident optimist, joining us from St. Charles, Missouri. Her extensive background in research and industry experience all stemmed from her interest in the field of health communication. Last summer, she interned at an integrated Public Relations agency, Lambert, in St. Louis. She dove deep into all things data: conducting in-depth interviews, mining for insights, creating content calendars and more. Her love for health communications grew when she was able to work on projects for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, where her favorite project included organizing community outreach at the Missouri State Fair.

Amanda’s devotion to the good of her community doesn’t stop there. She also enjoys spending her free time as a volunteer mentor at the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association. As a part of this organization, she’s traveled to Rolla, Jefferson City and Lake of the Ozarks assisting with various events for foster children.

At Mizzou, Amanda has also discovered a deep passion for improving mental health and has served on the executive board of the Mizzou Student Suicide Prevention Coalition as director of communications for the past two years. She’s also a member of Kappa Delta Sorority and the Honors College.

Amanda has plans in the near future to visit Zion National Park, which will bring her one step closer to her goal of visiting all 63 U.S. National Parks! So far, her visit to Yellowstone has been her favorite (minus the near-death experience with an angry bison). Hopefully there are no bison encounters at Zion!

St. Louis native Grace Hattrich is our indispensable Public Relations Account Manager (Strategy). As a driven, hard-working individual with a passion for public relations, she’s always eager and ready to perform her best for the team. The most recent addition to her top-notch resume includes an internship at Nestle Purina, where she identified engaging stories and developed content for both internal and external channels. As a member of the corporate public relations team, she also assisted in event planning and implementation.

Grace has also worked as a digital marketing assistant at Coegi Partners, a local digital marketing firm. There, she was responsible for creating, publishing and managing content for the company’s social platforms, including their podcast and website. As Paradowski Creative’s project intern, she assisted a charge in data movement and website development on their Bayer/Monsanto account using Adobe Experience Manager. 

At Mizzou, she has volunteered as a member of Chi Omega sorority benefitting the organization’s philanthropy: the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Grace recently spent a summer traveling the globe, with her favorites being Beijing, London, Paris and Majorca, Spain. She’s also a Taylor Swift fan and recently attended the Eras Tour. A clean lifestyle enthusiast, she finds her peace in grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s and making sure her nails are always polished to perfection.

It takes a particular kind of person to be able to find, interpret and summarize data, but Team Encore has found just that person: Maggie Courtney. From Springfield, Missouri, as our Quantitative Strategist, Maggie insightfully fields our team’s research while upholding a spirit of optimism that cannot be diminished. 

Maggie has gained a vast amount of experience through various roles at Mizzou and beyond. Maggie currently serves as an ambassador for the MU Honors Communications Team. Additionally, Maggie was able to blend her passions and work as a communications intern for the Raindance Film Festival in London, England. Maggie’s favorite memories there, outside of the office, included seeing a Harry Styles concert at Wembley Stadium and being on the same flight as Steve Aoki. Maggie also has a love of film, having previously been involved with Columbia True/False Film Festival as an events assistant and a hospitality and guest relations assistant coordinator. 

In addition to her work experiences, Maggie has been involved in countless organizations and events within the Columbia community. Maggie shows her care for the world around her by volunteering with Caring for Columbia, serving on philanthropy committees to raise money for court-appointed special advocates, participating in the Rockin’ Against Multiple Sclerosis Lip Sync Competition and working as a Tiger Academy Gymnastics coach. When Maggie is not busy helping the community, going to class or working on some killer research, she is involved in a variety of campus organizations, including the MU Honors College, the Alumni Association Student Board, Kappa Alpha Theta and Omicron Delta Kappa.

Introducing Frank Roach, the team’s Digital Strategist. He possesses a driven, hard working attitude and insightfulness that have allowed him to build a strong background in strategy. Prior to joining MOJO Ad, he sharpened his strategic acumen by working as an account manager and consultant at a Columbia-area construction engineering company, where he developed digital platforms and oversaw a revamp of creative assets. 

Friends and coworkers would call Frank intelligent, easy to work with and insightful. He has definitely brought these skills to the table for MOJO Ad and looks forward to working with the team. 

Frank’s commitment to excellence extends beyond the digital realm. Near his hometown of Dallas, Frank has also volunteered as a youth sports coach with Lake Pointe Sports in Rockwall, Texas. With this organization, he greatly enjoyed fostering leadership, instilling the value of teamwork and teaching various sports to young athletes. 

Dolphins have always been Frank’s favorite animal and despite going to college deep in Chiefs country, Frank even became a lifelong fan of the Miami Dolphins. He’s still holding out hopes that he’ll see them win a playoff game someday soon!

McKenzi Salyers, Team Encore’s Media Planner, is the most organized person you will ever meet! From Springfield, Missouri, McKenzi takes pride in her highly organized schedule and strives for excellence in all of her work, all while remaining flexible and team-oriented. 

McKenzi has been able to work for some pretty cool places, including Anheuser-Busch InBev in Los Angeles, as a commercial sales execution intern. McKenzi worked directly with the director of the sales department and collaborated to design and execute a variety of different sales materials, promotions and proposals for Anheuser-Busch. McKenzi previously worked for Hannah McClelland Marketing as their social media intern where she specialized in design, branding, digital marketing and content creation while also planning and executing the brand’s social media posts. The proof is in the planner when it comes to getting stuff done the McKenzi way!

Remember how we said McKenzi is the most organized person you will ever meet? McKenzi must stay organized to keep up with her variety of activities inside and outside of the classroom. McKenzi volunteers with the Humane Society, Girls on the Run, Caring for Columbia and the local food bank in Columbia, Missouri. In true McKenzi fashion, she is also a member of Gamma Phi Beta and even serves on the Panhellenic Executive Board as the vice president of member education. On top of all of that, McKenzi is a part of the AACE Venture Fund as the social media chairwoman and serves as the student chair of the Anti-Hazing Committee here at Mizzou. One thing you would not know from just looking at McKenzi or even her planner is her love for cats. McKenzi loves cats so much that she even has a tattoo of her childhood cat!

Anna Turnbull, our Public Relations Account Manager (Content), Kansas City native and resident problem solver has a long history of work and involvement within the field. She got her start at Startland News, where she discovered a love for working with her local community and forming strong relationships with its members. She was able to highlight the stories of local entrepreneurs within the area and provide other entrepreneurs guidance with their endeavors through her online articles.

After her time at KOMU-8, the Missouri School of Journalism’s local NBC affiliate news channel in Columbia, she decided to make the switch from the newsroom to the wonderful world of public relations. In the newsroom, she worked as both a desk assistant and production assistant.

On campus, Anna’s involvement is strong in the School of Journalism and beyond. She’s a social media coordinator for MU Strategic Communications, where she produces graphics for LinkedIn and Instagram with ease and keeps track of analytics. She’s also a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, a professional business fraternity, where she served as secretary on the executive board and as a member of the special events committee. Anna is a member of Mizzou’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

When she’s taking time off from being a public relations superstar, Anna enjoys spending time with and spoiling her two pets, a golden retriever and a calico cat. She loves watching movies, reading, organizing and planning out every moment of her busy life.

Copywriter Libby Gregurich is best described as a whirlwind combination of caffeine and creativity. Her distinctive writing style has been developed by her time at the Missouri School of Journalism, where she has sharpened her skills in both ideation and execution. Libby is currently a student in the accelerated master’s program, meaning that after she graduates in December, she’ll be a full-time graduate student for an extra year at Mizzou.

Most recently, Libby saddled up as a Storyhorse intern at EA Collective located in Chicago. There, she worked with a small but mighty branding team within a larger agency. Her responsibilities included: content creation, strategy, business development and event planning. The creative strategy work in this role was particularly enjoyable and she hopes to incorporate this knowledge into her time at MOJO Ad and in her future career.

Along with being an accelerated master’s student and a part of MOJO Ad, Libby is also a teaching assistant for the Introduction to Strategic Writing and Design class within the School of Journalism. She finds joy in guiding students just like herself to strengthen their writing and design skills, especially when it comes to Adobe Illustrator.

On campus, Libby is also a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. As a member, she has devoted time to help raise money for the organization’s philanthropic recipient: court appointed special advocates. Moreover, she has also volunteered as a classroom assistant at Russell Boulevard Elementary, served as a human resources director and contributed on the organization’s member development committee for two years. 

P.S. – If you ever hear a flurry of sneezes resounding across campus, there’s a good chance it is Libby. For reasons unknown to even her, Libby’s sneezes like to come in clusters of three or more. Her record? Eighteen in a row, which happened in the fourth grade!

Meet Brianna Rodgers-Stemmle, our jet-setting Video Producer hailing from Columbia, Missouri. She brings a unique blend of unwavering dedication, insightfulness and curiosity to the team, along with her extensive background in video production. 

Her versatile skill set extends to staple video tools like the GoPro, Insta380 software and Adobe Premiere Pro, which she has spent the past six years mastering. One of her favorite pastimes is traveling, which has also helped develop her video portfolio. Brianna’s passion for documenting her journeys has taken her to 35 U.S. states, Canada and Bermuda. So far, she’s been to 10 different U.S. National Parks and hopes to one day visit all 63 of them.

Brianna’s favorite trip was a three-day-long, 1,400 mile trek all around Arizona. On this journey, she re-ignited her love of documenting her travels and immersed herself in producing and editing video of the trip. 

Outside of her travels, Brianna was a co-leader in a club called Healthcare Hopes, where people donated items that then were given to those who were hospitalized for extended periods of time at Boone Hospital. 

Brianna has even made a 10-minute short film for a film studies class. She has many skills under her belt and is looking forward to growing her video production skills even more this semester.

Trevor Lerit is our talented Graphic Designer, native to Kansas City, Missouri. His top-notch organization skills and fun-loving creative mindset allow him to create memorable designs that make an impact on audiences. 

He’s also devoted to making an impact on his community by giving back. He volunteers his time at Fisher House and Welcome Home, which are both focused on bettering life for veterans. Trevor has also participated in Rockin’ Against Multiple Sclerosis and MizzouThon, some of Mizzou’s largest student fundraisers, throughout his four years in college.

On campus, Trevor has formed a strong network of involvement with various organizations, including the Interfraternal Council, where he served as vice president of Public Relations. He’s also held many positions within his fraternity, Alpha Gamma Sigma, including social media and PR chair and DEI chair. He is a member of Mizzou Cheer and the Asian American Association. As a Red Bull student marketer, he’s had the opportunity to get out on campus even more through seeding and sampling campaigns. 

Beyond the resume, Trevor is certainly a people person. His extensive on-campus involvement has helped him form many connections with a wide variety of people. He’s never afraid to strike up a conversation with a stranger and strives to make new friends everywhere he goes.