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. She’s served on the adjunct faculty roster for Johns Hopkins University’s graduate communications program, teaching courses in public relations 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.

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 joining 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.

Amanda is a communications professional with more than a decade of experience in marketing, public relations, business development, and project management. As the assistant vice president of marketing & communications at an independent community bank, her responsibilities included creating brand messaging and advertising campaigns, developing and distributing materials to area media, managing the bank’s website and social media content, and coordinating and implementing tactical marketing initiatives to support the institution’s strategic goals and strengthen community relationships.

She also served on the American Advertising Federation-Greater Frederick Chapter’s board of directors and volunteered with several nonprofit organizations to support their marketing outreach efforts. Amanda received her bachelor’s degree in communications with a concentration in public relations from Hood College, followed by an MBA with a focus in marketing from Mount St. Mary’s University.

Robin is a passionate, energetic communications, media, and public relations professional with 20 years of experience.

After a decade as a broadcast journalist in Virginia, she transitioned her career to the other side of the camera, working in corporate communications. She has served as the vice president of communications for a large mental health and substance use non-profit in North Carolina. Robin also works with several events and businesses in the Tarheel state as a communications and digital media consultant.

Sharing her expertise with future comms pros, Robin is currently serving as a professor of the practice at High Point University.

Robin graduated from the University of Virginia with her bachelor’s in history and completed her master’s in communications from Johns Hopkins University, with a dual concentration in public and media relations and digital communication.

Tanya has worked on marketing and public relations projects in a variety of industries, including healthcare, home improvement, and non-profit organizations. Having spent more than 15 years as an in-house communications director in the financial, banking, and educational sectors gives her a sophisticated point of view and a keen awareness of compliance and regulatory requirements. She has an instinctive ability to capture and convey targeted messaging through compelling, strategic content that builds brand engagement and brand value. As a member of the Blue Wagon team, she assists with a variety of initiatives, such as project management, web development, brand management, and strategic communications.

She received a bachelor’s degree in drama and speech from Loyola University New Orleans. Her early professional experiences in college admissions and higher education outreach initiatives led her to pursue a master’s degree in communications from the University of Tennessee, where she concentrated in public relations with a focus on crisis communication.

Alissa is a communications specialist with more than 15 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.

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.

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.

A versatile communications copywriter for over three decades, Patricia Storm Broyles is also a branding strategist, project manager and creative team collaborator. After moving to Knoxville, Tennessee from Missouri for school, Patti worked on creative teams for several regional advertising agencies. Moving to the client side, Patti served as communications manager for ten years for the century-old athletics goods brand, BIKE Athletic Company. After leaving BIKE, she became an independent contractor, and worked as a public relations, marketing and advertising writer for regional and national clients. Throughout her career, she has written and project-managed for organizations in construction, health care, sporting goods, manufacturing, fine/performing arts, emerging technologies, non-profits, and most recently, higher education.

When HGTV Home & Garden Television launched in Knoxville in 1990, Patti was drawn into the cable phenomenon of lifestyle programing. Over several decades, she served as a project-based copywriter for marketing, public relations and sales departments within all brands of Scripps Networks Interactive, including the HGTV Home retail brand, creating branding collateral, sales affiliates’ direct mail, web content, vendor e-newsletters and consumer eblasts. Patti received her bachelor’s degree in English at Missouri Southern State University and pursued a master’s at the University of Tennessee.

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.

Shelby graduated magna cum laude from High Point University with a major in strategic communication and a double minor in social media marketing and sales.

Currently, she’s working with a brewing company in North Carolina, handling all its digital communication and strategic communication planning.  Additional strategic comms experience comes from her work with the Isabella Santos Foundation on the rebranding of its “Cancer Messed With” campaign, raising both funds and awareness for rare childhood cancers. Shelby serves on the comms team for the Winston-Salem Open, an international men’s professional tennis event, where she oversees branding and social media engagement.

For Blue Wagon, she assists on client projects involving media relations and research.  And she runs the BWG social channels.

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.