About

With more than 30 years of experience doing just about everything when it comes to marketing, communications, and public relations, Nancy brings both expertise and energy to any project she’s involved with. Clients who work with her quickly see that she is a quintessential “go-to” person.

A Tennessee native, Nancy began her career working on a local school-to-business partnership program where she learned the importance of establishing strong relationships, community involvement, and project management. Seven years of her career were then spent at a not-for-profit health system in Knoxville, moving through the ranks in the marketing and public relations division. She worked and learned at six facilities with unique and plentiful opportunities to build a solid base of communications expertise. Nancy relocated to the Washington, D.C. area in 2003 and launched Mayes Communications — now Blue Wagon Group — in 2004.

In addition to the hands-on work she’s done in the field, Nancy also has plenty of paper on her walls to verify her credentials. She graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a bachelor’s in communications, earned her master’s in communications at the University of Tennessee, and is accredited by the Public Relations Society of America. For eight years, she served on the adjunct faculty roster for Johns Hopkins University’s graduate communications program, teaching courses in public relations, crisis communications, and managerial communications.

Through the years, Nancy has worked extensively with clients in the healthcare industry, as well as non-profit associations. Clients come to her for her strengths in project management, teamwork, and strong writing skills.

Melana has nearly 20 years of experience in health care public relations and marketing. In her work for a large not-for-profit hospital in central Tennessee, she managed internal and external communication projects and coordinated a variety of publications. Additionally, she has experience in media and employee relations in her work with a nationally known teaching and research medical center in Nashville. For Blue Wagon, Melana manages media relations projects and provides editorial and writing services to a variety of healthcare clients.

Melana holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication with an emphasis in public relations from Middle Tennessee State University. She offers extensive knowledge of effectively relaying information, whether the audience is seasoned employees or the general public.

Leslie is a seasoned communications professional with nearly 15 years of experience—almost exclusively in health care.

Leslie worked for a community hospital in Baltimore under the umbrella of a large nonprofit health system in the Maryland/D.C. region. Her primary focus areas were in employee communications, especially related to human resources, information technology, and quality and safety, as well as community outreach and community engagement.

Leslie earned a bachelor’s degree in communication arts with a public relations focus from Hood College.

Amanda is a results-driven, creative communications professional with nearly 20 years of experience in integrated marketing, strategic communications, public relations, and business development for financial institutions and nonprofit healthcare associations. Her areas of expertise include copywriting, brand messaging, advertising campaigns, social media, and project management.

Amanda’s experience includes roles as a content strategist and senior copywriter at virtual agencies, where she creates short- and long-form content for traditional and digital media for a variety of clients in diverse industries. She previously worked as the assistant vice president of marketing and communications at an independent community bank.

She obtained a bachelor’s degree in communications with a concentration in public relations from Hood College followed by an M.B.A. with a focus in marketing from Mount St. Mary’s University.

With 20+ years of bi-coastal pr and marketing experience across the hospitality, arts and entertainment, environmental and retail industries, Tami von Isakovics is a holistic marketing strategist and communications pro who cares as much as you do about your business. Working both in-house and at agencies during her career, she approaches each client with an eye for helping them stand out from the crowd and market their best assets.

In 2020, she relocated to Charlotte, N.C., where she most recently led the marketing and pr department for a utility-scale solar development company.

She served as the executive director of marketing for Michelin-starred Chef Daniel Boulud, and she led all aspects of marketing and pr for his group’s 16 restaurants worldwide. A passionate environmentalist, she is constantly looking for ways to help lessen the carbon footprint and while at Dinex, Tami implemented a company-wide policy against the use of plastic straws.

Before moving to New York City in 2016, she spent 12 years in San Francisco, specializing in the hospitality industry for companies including Moana Restaurant Group and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, working with chefs, restaurants and hotels on brand campaigns, pr launches, brand partnerships, property renovations, and new openings. Prior to joining Kimpton, she was the president and co-owner of Ellipses Public Relations—a boutique hospitality pr firm specializing in restaurants, travel, food and beverage products, and special events.

She began her career in Washington, D.C., at Burson-Marsteller, working for public affairs clients such as the U.S. Treasury and Tysons Corner Center. Tami later moved into the entertainment pr world, serving the messaging needs of several clients, including the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, WETA Washington, DC (PBS producing station), Disney on Ice, and DisneyLive! before she moved westward in 2004.

She is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a major in communication and a minor in Spanish. She still dreams of being fluent one day.

Amie Hornbaker, APR, is an award-winning, accredited communications strategist with more than 20 years of experience.  As a former broadcast journalist, she's a natural storyteller with an affinity for media relations.  She thrives on telling brands' stories through the lens of its people and customers.

She has served in several agency and executive communications roles in both public and private sectors promoting sustainability, healthcare, financial services, technology, and luxury retail. Her areas of expertise include communications planning, media relations, content creation, and brand management.

Amie, a native Floridian, graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's in telecommunication, which laid a solid foundation for her love of writing and uncovering great stories.

Talia Hamm received her master's of public health from the University of Nevada, Reno. She has considerable experience in the healthcare sector, working with a range of clients from pharmaceutical companies to non-profit and for-profit hospital systems.

While pursuing her MPH, she focused on public health communications and interned with the American Heart Association. Her internship supported AHA’s science media relations team, tasked with aiding the promotion of AHA's 14 scientific journals and annual scientific conferences.

Talia's other work experience has centered on clinical research, including federally-funded and industry-sponsored clinical trials for a range of populations primarily in the fields of psychiatry and neurology.

A seasoned public relations professional, Becky cut her teeth at Burson-Marsteller and Hill & Knowlton in Houston and worked in retail PR before relocating to rural Ohio, Chicago, Atlanta, Indianapolis and back to Atlanta, always producing stellar results for her clients. Although a generalist at heart, she’s comfortable in both the B2B and B2C spaces and has worked in a variety of industries including environmental, franchising, disabilities, healthcare, sports and retail.

With writing and media relations solidly at the core of her expertise, Becky enjoys strategizing with clients to find the nut of a story, then the challenge of crafting the pitch and sleuthing out media professionals open to coverage. Whether pitching to small neighborhood publications or national outlets, Becky always takes a human approach to media relations. She’s comfortable in the board room or locker room and can write a mean byliner on nearly any topic.

She earned a BA in journalism from the University of Houston in journalism/public relations after transferring from Butler University in Indianapolis where she was a vocal performance major. She’s active in PRSA Georgia and believes strongly in community give back.

Sharing great stories and helping nonprofit organizations, trade associations, government agencies, and small businesses improve how they communicate is what keeps Ami Neiberger in public relations. She has worked in the field for more than 30 years. She likes to point out that she handled her first PR crisis at age 19 when she joined a nonprofit board of directors that sacked its executive director for mis-managing funds.

A gifted strategist, Neiberger crafts public relations plans that achieve results, and she is well-known for her media relations outreach and success. Her forthright assessment, reliability, and skill at helping clients creatively share their stories in the public eye are well-known. A talented writer, Ami writes reports, social media, speeches, training materials, curriculum, event scripts, news releases, magazine features, and much more. An early adopter of social media, she helps clients think creatively and strategically about integrating their communications.

Stories about her clients have appeared on CNN, Fox News, ABC World News, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, CBS 60 Minutes, the BBC, AP Radio and National Public Radio. The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications have featured her clients. As a former op-ed writer, Ami has a heart for causes and placing letters to the editor and columns for her clients.

She is the former media spokesperson for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) where she spent six years supporting communications around programs assisting gold star families. She previously worked for Sister Cities International and the National 4-H Council, in addition to a long list of nonprofit, government and small business clients.

Ami graduated from the University of Florida with a master’s degree in history and she also holds a bachelor’s degree from the same institution. She is accredited in public relations through the Public Relations Society of America. She has spoken about public relations for students at Marymount University, American University, Columbia University, Georgetown University and at the Carter Center.

Alissa is a communications specialist with more than 20 years of experience in public relations.

Previously, Alissa served as an account director at JPA Health Communications, where she provided strategic counsel and day-to-day support for a variety of national health organizations, and as a manager with Burson-Marsteller where she focused on media relations, thought leadership, advocacy and messaging for health care and corporate clients. Alissa has extensive experience in corporate communications from her positions in large health plans and health care organizations.

Early in her career, Alissa served as the communications manager with the Center for Health Transformation and as an associate with the Advisory Board Company.

A Florida native, Alissa received her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Florida and her master’s degree in communications from Johns Hopkins University.

Vanessa is an innovative communicator with significant experience in branding, marketing, corporate communications, and event planning. She has a passion for solving complex challenges and developing actionable strategies to engage target audiences across a variety of channels.

Prior to her work for Deloitte and Willis Tower Watson, Vanessa honed her tactical communications and project management skills in a variety of nonprofit and health care settings, including Evolent Health, NRECA, Kaiser Permanente, MedStar Harbor Hospital, and the Navy Marine Coast Guard Residence Foundation.

Vanessa obtained a bachelor’s degree in communications with a concentration in public relations from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland and recently earned her MBA from The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.