MORE THAN Forty years of fearless
For almost five decades, we’ve been defined by three words: original, authentic, and fearless. We’re original in how we do business, authentic in our commitment to our clients, and we’re fearless in finding the root of perception issues and in our approach to finding solutions.
From the very beginning, Fearey was built to challenge the status quo, to push boundaries, and strive for positive change. Our mission is to foster trusting and enduring relationships, one conversation at a time. And our vision is to be the best, most respected communications firm on the west coast.
Philosophical ESO
In today’s multi-channel, break-neck news cycles, elevating a brand’s image can be dizzying challenge. To help cover all the bases, we practice an ESO philosophy, which is a customized blend of Earned, Shared and Owned media efforts. It’s a comprehensive and efficient way to integrate communications, while reaching the audiences that matter.
Appearances
Speeches
Keynotes
Panels
Influencer
Engagement
Relationship
development
Sponsorship
Endorsement
Media
Relations
News releases
Media pitches &
interviews
Submitted articles/
op-ed
Blogger & influencer
relations
Paid
Advertorial
News wires
News aggregators
Awards
Company
People
Industry
Partnerships
Sponsorships
Charity tie-ins
Community service
Corporate social
responsibility
Co-branding
User
Generated
Content
YouTube
Wikipedia
Quora
Review Sites
Yelp
Glassdoor
Indeed
TripAdvisor
BBB
Content
Expert content
E-books
White papers
Reports
Case studies
Employee stories
Customer stories
Newsroom
Paid
Pay-per-click
Retargeting
Geotargeting
Geofencing
Journalism
Webinars
Podcasts
Videos
Emails
Newsletters
Blog
Infographics
Meet today’s renegades
Introducing the Fearey team, an eclectic group of discerning journalists, political pundits, engaging storytellers, and digital ninjas. We pride ourselves in our fearless approach to creating positive change. Our diverse group brings together a wide range of specialized talents and tools to tackle the most complex PR challenges. Meet the people helping to amplify your authentic story.
Aaron Blank
CEO & President
When Aaron accepted a role as a Fearey senior account executive in 2005, he had little idea that he was stepping onto a path that would lead to ownership of one of the region’s most iconic public relations firms.
Since taking over as Fearey’s CEO and president in 2014, Aaron has led the firm through continuous double-digital annual growth, and solidified the firm’s reputation as a creative communications pioneer. When the City of Seattle secured its first NHL team in decades, local leaders turned to Aaron to help steer the rollout. When a construction disaster brought despair to one of the city’s most familiar streets, he was enlisted to help bring clarity to the confusion.
Named to the “40 under 40” list by the Puget Sound Business Journal and PR Week, Aaron is committed to making a lasting impact throughout the region and beyond. He is involved with The ArtsFund and Children’s Hopechest, and served as the second-youngest president of the Public Relations Global Network, an organization with 54 offices on six continents.
Aaron is a firm believer in the “never eat alone” mentality, with one lonely exception: breakfast. If anyone would like to join him at 4:30am, they’re more than welcome.
Lacey Yantis
Strategic Advisor
Lacey serves as a strategic advisor to the executive team at Fearey. She offers strategic guidance on every aspect of the business to ensure that it is operating at optimal efficiency. On a daily basis she is often found developing new initiatives and programs to the betterment of the company. Throughout the last five years, she has been executing on these new programs and helping place foundational elements in place to see it to completion. Some of these new programs include the firm’s bi-annual marketing event called Fearey Unplugged as well as the team’s greeting card program. Lacey is an entrepreneur in her own right having pursued a number of different careers during the past two decades — everything from wedding photography to real estate. Shortly after completing graduate school, Lacey worked in the hospital setting helping to create and implement programming for families in pediatric oncology and the NICU. As a fun anecdote, Lacey is also a NCAA accredited referee for the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association.
JACQUE GAIRRETT
Vice President
Jacque’s publicity career began in New York City where she worked with a variety of A-list nonprofit, health care, tech and consumer clients focused on everything from HIV/AIDS and breast cancer, to climate change and global health, to education, children and families.
At Fearey, Jacque oversees the agency’s health care and nonprofit practice, and is well-known for her creative media storytelling and thought leadership efforts, helping clients get published nationally.
A native Oregonian, Jacque now calls Montana home and spends her free time working on her house, traversing the outdoors and testing out new recipes in her kitchen.
CHRISTINE NETTLES
Director, Administration & Finance
To say that Christine wears a lot of hats at Fearey is to say that Phil Knight wears a lot of shoes. Whether the day calls for a human resources specialist, an IT expert, or an operations strategist, hers is among the first phones to ring.
Christine has been the engine behind Fearey’s smooth legal, financial, and personnel operations for more than 23 years.
When not saving the day at Fearey, Christine is likely creating magic in the kitchen, taking road trips to Colorado, or planning her next global adventure.
JESSE REHM
VP, Creative Director
Jesse is a Seattle native who has spent the last 17 years living throughout the country. As Fearey’s first in-house Creative Director, she is bringing extensive knowledge of creative design and brand strategy to each account. She has experience working on digital brand strategy, loyalty marketing, and building creative for clients like Dunkin’, The Home Depot, Verizon and Alaska Airlines.
When the work day is done, Jesse spends time with her family outside as much as possible. Biking, skiing, camping – anything for some fresh air.
ROCHELLE MINIX
Executive Assistant
Rochelle’s analytical and technical mind has served executives in both the legal and business realms for years.
Since joining the Fearey team, her wide-ranging knowledge and expertise have empowered and multiplied the capacity of the team on a daily basis.
A Coloradan through and through, Rochelle is rarely indoors. Most weekends find her absorbing the sights and sounds of the Red Rock Amphitheatre, cruising down alpine slides in the Rocky Mountains, or hiking one of the state’s 17,099 majestic trails. Those in possession of tips about the latest donut haunts are encouraged to get in touch.
EMI HASHISAKI
Director
Following more than ten years of service to some of San Francisco’s most influential public health, transportation, and environmental leaders, Emi brought her public relations, marketing, advertising, and branding expertise home to Seattle, where she serves clients with strong regional ties.
Emi specializes in applying integrated communication strategies to help clients address challenges both large and small.
When away from the office, Emi invests her free time on North Seattle’s running paths, before community pottery wheels, and among the Pacific Northwest’s majestic mountains, hiking trails, campsites, beaches, and airports.
JILL WIGGINS
Vice President
Jill leads the Community Marketing effort for Fearey, which supports our region’s largest employer in their efforts to be a community partner, resource provider, and coalition builder across the company’s South Lake Union headquarters in Seattle and beyond. It’s a role that perfectly suits this senior leader who has worked to build relationships, reputation, and revenue across the fields of sports, events, and broadcast media throughout her career.
A Southern California native, Jill has called the Pacific Northwest home for more than 20 years. She left commuting on the 110 Freeway, spending time at SouthBay beaches, and going to USC football games for urban living in Greenlake, listening to live music, and wearing her USC gear at Husky football games.
KYLE WALL
Director
A veteran of the New York City publicity and communications circuit, Kyle comes to Fearey following 7 years of music- and technology-focused PR in the city that never sleeps. His career has included a variety of eclectic brands including Mixcloud, Bandsintown, 7digital, and Music & Memory, as well as artists including Kenny Chesney, Chicago, Dr. John, and The Polyphonic Spree.
At Fearey, Kyle leads a variety of accounts with a passion for uncovering new narratives that can cut through the noise and novel ways to position clients through unique campaigns.
A native of Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton, Pennsylvania, he spends his spare time writing, recording, producing and releasing his own music as Wharfer. Kyle is a diehard Green Bay Packers fan — and a reluctant supporter of the New York Knicks.
EVERETT LAWSON
Senior Digital Marketing Strategist
Everett is a Southern California transplant who has spent the last decade living and working in Seattle.
As Fearey’s Senior Digital Marketing Strategist, he brings extensive experience developing and executing user-centric digital marketing and social media strategies for B2B and B2C clients.
After work, Everett spends his time bicycle touring with his wife, DJing the Seattle club scene, and hanging out with his two retired racing greyhounds.
Kelly Potts
Account Supervisor
Kelly comes to Fearey with 10 years of PR experience, with a niche in media relations and helping clients build strong relationships with key media. She has worked in-house and at agencies, servicing a wide variety of local businesses and nationally recognized brands in consumer, tech, and business industries. Additionally, she single-handedly led the media campaign and subsequent crisis communications for a national retail data firm that broke the baby formula shortage news in 2022.
When she is away from her email, she calls Arizona home and spends her time catching up with friends over brunch, snuggling her two rescue pups, searching for the perfect latte, or soaking up the sun.
HANNAH BRADACH
Social Media Strategist
Based in Nevada, Hannah brings a passion for helping brands connect with consumers online through social media. Her experience includes over five years of content creation, strategic execution, and community management in a wide range of industries including manufacturing, cleaning, investing, mining, construction, healthcare, home design, and more.
When her Fearey hat comes off Hannah spends her time giving treats to her dogs, watching spooky movies & shows (year round), and trying not to kill her latest house plant.
MIDORI HOBBS
Senior Community Marketing Manager
Midori comes to Fearey with over a decade of experience in the community outreach, events and live entertainment. Midori spent 10 years working for the U.S. military as a government employee and contractor overseas, and most recently 3 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. She brings her passion for community engagement to the Community Marketing team, which supports our region’s largest employer to continue developing, expanding and amplifying South Lake Union as an 18-hour district to live, work and play.
Born and raised in Okinawa, Japan as a third culture kid, Midori has family ties to the Pacific Northwest and now calls Seattle home. When she’s not jetting off on adventurous travels abroad, you can find Midori attending a variety of live shows and events any given day of the week.
Sami Marshall
Senior Community Marketing Manager
Sami joins Fearey with over 10 years of experience in the marketing world with a diverse background which includes production, video editing, event planning, writing & communications, and digital & content marketing. In her role at Fearey, she will be representing the east coast as she works with the Seattle region’s largest employer as they expand headquarters into Arlington, VA and build out relationships between community stakeholders, employees, residents, retailers, and more. As a theatre and creative writing major, Sami brings her joy of storytelling and interconnection to every role she takes.
Sami hails from her hometown of Charlottesville, in central-southern Virginia. She spends her free time with her husband, Tyler, son, Finn, and dog, Della grilling outside, hitting their favorite Northern Virginia hot spots, and seeing as many concerts as their babysitter will allow.
Chelsea Miller
Community Marketing Manager
A Puget Sound native, Chelsea comes to Fearey after spending nearly 8 years in radio, where she developed her passion for fostering community connections and deepened her love of Seattle sports. She will be working with our region’s largest employer to expand community relations between neighborhood stakeholders, residents and visitors and ensuring South Lake Union continues to be a vibrant destination for all to enjoy.
A proud Washington State University alumna, Chelsea enjoys spending time with her family, including being the “Cool Aunt” to her niece and three nephews, traveling with her friends, or taking in a Mariners or Seahawks game. She is continually in search of the best oat milk vanilla latte in the city, enjoys exploring Seattle’s food scene and is anxiously awaiting the return of live music!
ERIN DUBOTS
Senior Account Executive of Community Marketing
A former intern in travel and tourism, nonprofit PR, and book publicity, Erin brings a unique perspective to the Fearey team. Born and raised in upstate New York, Erin first brought her passion for PR to Fearey as a Production Assistant before advancing to her current Account Coordinator role.
A reliable voice on corporate communications, Erin regularly leverages her experience in graphic design and social brand-building to the tremendous benefit of Fearey’s clients.
When not at work, you can find Erin drinking too much coffee, planning her next travel destination, and tirelessly searching for a bagel as good as those in New York.
LUCIA GRUBER
Senior Account Executive
Lucia Gruber is a Senior Account Executive at Fearey. She is a brand storyteller who is dedicated to innovation and creativity. Raised in Washington, she is a graduate of Western Washington University with a B.A. in Communication Studies.
Prior to joining Fearey, Lucia spent time in Washington, D.C. at Ketchum where she specialized in the consumer-packaged goods industry. Clients have included Fortune 500 companies such as Clorox, IKEA, Maytag and Ulta Beauty. Her experiences have built a strong skillset in solutions-oriented thinking and team coordination.
In her spare time, Lucia loves to be running or hiking around the Pacific Northwest, developing new vegan recipes or daydreaming about adopting a dog.
Drew Howland
Senior Account Executive
Drew is a Senior Account Executive at Fearey. A graduate of Colorado State University with a degree in journalism and media communication, Drew began his PR career working both in-house and on the agency side for the Colorado Department of Transportation. He helped lead numerous statewide public safety campaigns.
Additionally, Drew has experience in analytics, social media messaging, and traditional media relations for a variety of organizations in the consumer, energy and health sectors.
When he’s away from the keyboard, Drew enjoys happy hour sushi, Colorado’s lengthy ski season and being a cat dad.
Mitch Leland
Senior Digital Designer
Coming to us all the way from the Twin Cities, Mitch Leland brings his digital and social media design savvy to Fearey. Mitch has over 3 years of working on an in-house creative team prior to joining Fearey and but loves for the variety of work the agency life has to offer.
Mitch is passionate about seeing a project from all angles and ensuring a cohesive brand message through design.
When he’s not busy pushing pixels, you can find him scouring vintage stores for his next piece of bizarre art, roaming around a plant store to find something to add to his ever-growing (50+) houseplant collection, or picking up yet another crafty hobby.
MEGAN REEVES
Community Marketing Coordinator
Megan comes from four years of marketing and brand management for a local Seattle company where she helped launch new product lines and coordinate celebrity or retail partnerships. Prior to that, she spent two years with a PR company supporting events and educational programs for organizations in King County. She graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and minor in Urban Ecological Design, fostering a passion for placemaking and community building. She brings this passion into her work with Community Marketing in the South Lake Union neighborhood.
In her spare time, Megan enjoys taking her dog on hikes, camping with friends, and exploring Washington beaches.
Stephanie Mudgett
Senior Consultant
Stephanie has been bringing her energy, critical thinking and innovative ideas to crisis, corporate and executive communications for 30 years. The Seattle native has extensive experience working with Fortune 50 brands, C-suite executives, technology companies and venture capitalists.
A majority of her career was spent in communications at The Boeing Company, and she remains an aviation enthusiast to this day. A storyteller and writer at heart, she brings to our Fearey team her skills in media relations, strategic messaging, reputation management and government affairs.
Stephanie enjoys cooking, gardening, paddle boarding, hiking with Rainier her Bernese Mountain Dog, and family time on Orcas Island in the San Juans.
Camryn Sheasley
Designer
Currently based in New York City, Camryn brings a unique skillset, such as her experience in motion graphics, to our team. Freshly graduated from Temple University's Graphic and Interactive Design program in 2022, Camryn was a contractor prior to joining Fearey and has experience working with clients such as Wawa and Domino's Pizza.
Outside of work, Camryn enjoys her time touring art and science museums, searching for the newest video games to play, and chilling with her pet snake whenever possible.
Julie Fogerson
Senior Consultant
Julie has 20 plus years in communications, working at agencies in Seattle and New York, as well as in-house for engineering and financial services firms. Her experience spans multiple industries and audiences, including tech, healthcare, and public affairs.
She completed a doctorate in 2019 and is endlessly energized by education, serving as an adjunct professor for digital marketing and business communications courses, as well as launching a STEM focused charter school.
Gluttonous polyglot, ocean ogler, and tireless traveler, Julie has spent time on every continent (including Antarctica, where she sat amongst penguins and gazed at a glacier). She’s a published writer (fiction and fascinating facts), and she once got to grace the Seattle International Film Festival’s silver screen, acting in a film short she co-wrote and produced.
Theresa Stone
Creative Designer
Theresa is widely respected for her imaginative pairing of business goals with creative strategy and expression. She has successfully led brand design and marketing engagements for clients including Rachael Ray’s Yum-o! brand, Microsoft, the University of Washington, Stanford University, Global Partnerships, WithinReach, Qualcomm Life, John Legend’s Show Me Campaign and ParentMap.
At Fearey, Theresa’s robust experience enables her to help clients develop deeper relationships with their customers through thoughtful design.
When not working, Theresa enjoys spending time with her three kids and rooting for the Seahawks.
Amanda Armstrong
Account Executive
For more than a decade, Amanda was a full-time real estate broker, coach, and leader. She then forayed her experience to launch a career in public relations, working with clients such as the Washington State Department of Health, Google, and Visit Seattle. Now an MBA graduate with a specialty in marketing, Amanda thrives in all areas of public relations, but has a special passion for writing, analyzing, and all things Excel. While she works with a variety of clients, real estate clients will always hold a special place in her heart.
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Amanda is now a true Seattleite – with the coffee taste to back it up. When not building relationships around town, you can find Amanda filling her passport, going on urban explorations with her dog, or finding a great recipe to add to her ever-expanding collection.
Jeff Wilson
Director
Jeff is a dynamic communicator with over 12 years of experience in public relations and communications. At Fearey, Jeff works closely with healthcare, sports, travel and government clients to help increase brand awareness, build communications strategies and secure media placements.
Throughout his career, Jeff has focused on results-driven communications strategies that have earned him the trust of clients in nonprofit, consumer, technology, telecom, lifestyle and more. While Jeff has worn many hats throughout his communications career, he’s at his best and most creative when developing integrated communications plans, bringing new products or services to market, or executing campaigns that build brand awareness.
When not putting his communication skills to use, Jeff enjoys going on adventures with his family, hitting the slopes for some chair lift therapy, and listening to live music.
Stacey Chung
Social Media Community Manager & Content Creator
Born and raised in Seattle, WA, Stacey is a graduate of Western Washington University and comes from a background in non-profit community event management and technical recruiting. She started creating content for Seattle bars and restaurants in 2021 and that’s when she discovered her passion for developing fun and engaging social media content.
In her free time, you can find Stacey hanging out with her friends and family, at a workout class, or trying out new Seattle restaurants.
Ryan Mudgett
Production Assistant
Ryan comes from the University of Washington after recently graduating with a degree in communications. Along with his degree from the University of Washington, Ryan has also obtained a marketing certificate from Cornell. With this blend of education, he brings a creative mindset to the team with a willingness to learn and with the goal of jumpstarting his PR career.
In his free time, Ryan enjoys watching sports, especially UW football. He enjoys getting outside in the PNW (when it’s not raining) and eating delicious food!