We are persistent, committed partners.
Our diverse and talented team lives our values every day by partnering with clients we believe in to drive meaningful change.
– Matt Dorf, president and founder

Helen Chernikoff
StrategistHow do you drive meaningful change?
Using skills honed by 20 years in journalism, I gain a deep understanding of our clients’ goals and work. Together, we surface the stories that will best serve their mission and reach key audiences.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
As the writer of a daily newsletter serving clergy, philanthropists and social workers, I conceived and wrote “The Ask,” which became the publication’s signature feature. Its profiles of thought leaders made it a significant driver of the Jewish communal conversation.
Cannoli, at Mara’s Ice Cream Parlor
Favorite movieEmma (2020)
Favorite hobbyKnitting

Drew Courtney
Vice PresidentHow do you drive meaningful change?
I help clients communicate about complicated issues simply and powerfully, focusing on real world impacts and the difference policies and programs can make in the lives of ordinary people.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
In collaboration with our client Whistleblower Aid, I helped to ensure that the public learned about internal Facebook research and the impact of the platform’s decisions with a strategic media roll out that transformed the landscape for how we talk about public regulation of social media.

Shannon Craig Straw
PartnerHow do you drive meaningful change?
I dive deep into our client’s identity and mission, and work side-by-side with them to develop effective, compelling core messaging that equips them to achieve their goals.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
When proposed changes to a program for parents and young children would have made it less effective, I developed messaging and an advocacy toolkit that enabled our coalition client to secure funding without the damaging changes.
Mint chocolate chip
Favorite movieThe American President
Favorite hobbyWatching baseball

Nick DeSantis
Senior DirectorHow do you drive meaningful change?
As a journalist, I was trained to spot great stories. At WEST, I help my clients identify narratives that will resonate with key audiences, working closely with them to achieve their goals.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
Our team helped launch the Fund for New Leadership, an innovative fellowship for social change leaders. We built the group’s public footprint and have helped several fellows secure high-profile media coverage that advances their work.

Eleanor Donohue
AssociateHow do you drive meaningful change?
I work to identify every side and coexisting narratives within a single issue area, and use my understanding of audiences to successfully craft messaging that resonates.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
Outside of the office, I have long been involved in a pancreatic cancer advocacy organization, including managing communications and media relations for the Capital affiliate.
Jeni’s Salted Peanut Butter with Chocolate Flecks
Favorite moviePride and Prejudice (2005)
Favorite hobbyReading murder mysteries

Matt Dorf
President and FounderHow do you drive meaningful change?
I guide clients to reach the audiences they need to achieve their goals. Then, I collaborate with them to leverage these public-facing moments to further their advocacy, membership and/or development efforts.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
Founding a strategic communications firm that lives its values, encourages our team members to thrive, and partners with clients we believe in to drive meaningful change

Radim Dragomaca
Senior StrategistHow do you drive meaningful change?
I help my clients effectively position their message in a competitive marketplace of ideas and agendas and identify the best opportunities to break through and achieve their goals.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
I collaborated with a client to build a series of partnerships and programs as a part of our effort to elevate and amplify their profile among strategic audiences. The client was ultimately recognized with an award from a former Secretary of Defense and a standing ovation in the Hall of Flags at the US Chamber of Commerce.
Hazelnut Gelato
Favorite movieDeath of Stalin
Favorite hobbyCooking for my friends

Sarah Garfinkel
Senior DirectorHow do you drive meaningful change?
By building strong relationships and earning the trust of my clients, I help them achieve their goals to bring about meaningful and positive change.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
Eighty-two rabbis working to protect DREAMers sat in the Russell Senate Office rotunda, praying and singing as they were arrested. They were loud enough to be heard in live TV interviews on the above balcony, garnering coverage in multiple key outlets.
Cookies and Cookie Dough from Ice Cream Jubilee
Favorite movieYou’ve Got Mail
Favorite hobbyHanging out with my nephews!

Ari Geller
Managing PartnerHow do you drive meaningful change?
I focus on ensuring that our work with clients is goal-oriented. Any media we place or content we develop is aimed a motivating an audience to take the necessary action to advance the client’s agenda.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
My proudest achievement was helping a client elevate their voice in a moment of particular national importance. Doing so immediately changed the narrative and opened the door for other allies to follow our client’s lead.
Chocolate
Favorite movieThe Princess Bride
Favorite hobbyGoing to the movies

Shahed Ghoreishi
StrategistHow do you drive meaningful change?
My familiarity with social media, as well as my life experience as an Iranian-American helps me amplify the core message of our clients the right way, be in foreign policy or civil rights.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
I’ve placed client voices in mainstream outlets advocating for the centering of human rights in U.S. foreign policy, instead of the use of coercive strategies or unsavory relationships.
Coffee and Oreo (preferably mixed)
Favorite movieAnything with Will Ferrell or Ben Stiller
Favorite hobbyFlag football and playing goalkeeper in soccer

Blake Goodman
AssociateHow do you drive meaningful change?
I collaborate with clients to establish both short-term and long-term communications goals, while assessing the rapidly-changing news cycle and finding opportunities to highlight their work and purpose.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
After a highly competitive election, I drafted and distributed a statement that underscored our client’s uniquely consequential role in the campaign and the positive outcome, garnering extensive media coverage that reached key audiences.
Mint chocolate chip
Favorite movieBack to the Future
Favorite hobbyPlaying tennis

Santierra Hutson
AssociateHow do you drive meaningful change?
I work with our clients to create impactful messaging that aligns with their mission and values to achieve carefully defined goals.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
I supported four small, minority-owned businesses in developing their brand toolkits and websites, working closely with them to ensure that these deliverables were aligned with their company vision and mission.
Mint cookies and cream
Favorite movieTitanic
Favorite hobbyAttending local concerts

Alissa Kaplan Michaels
Senior AdvisorHow do you drive meaningful change?
By guiding clients to communicate both efficiently and effectively, I help to amplify advocacy efforts on a global scale.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
I am most proud of my work that raises awareness of human rights issues.
Anything chocolate
Favorite moviePan’s Labyrinth
Favorite hobbyPhotographing sunflowers

Alexa Lamanna
Senior StrategistHow do you drive meaningful change?
I partner with our clients to uplift the voices of those most impacted by the critical issues we work on, creating a platform for leaders and advocates to speak truth to power and to further progressive policy.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
When the federal government failed to provide critical COVID-19 stimulus support to millions of immigrants, I worked with undocumented immigrants to help them tell their stories of sacrifice, loss and perseverance in order to expose the human toll of the pandemic on millions in need of protection.

Jonathan Levenfeld
AssociateHow do you drive meaningful change?
I work alongside our clients to create messaging that highlights their vital work and advances their long-term goals.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
When the pandemic emerged in early 2020, I overhauled the campaign’s communications strategy and organized a series of webinars across different digital platforms, ensuring that the candidate could continue to reach her target audiences throughout the district.
Cookies and cream
Favorite movieInterstellar
Favorite hobbyPlaying Tennis

Alyson Malinger
StrategistHow do you drive meaningful change?
In response to some of the most pressing social justice issues of our time, I partner with clients to strategically achieve their mission-driven goals through communications avenues.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
To help dismantle the misconception that domestic violence doesn’t happen in communities of faith, I partnered with a client to develop a public launch strategy of a report that highlighted survivors within and beyond the Jewish community.
Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy Cinnamon Buns
Favorite movieSleepless in Seattle
Favorite hobbyAnything related to Broadway

Meredith MacKenzie de Silva
PartnerHow do you drive meaningful change?
I support people working on the front lines of injustice: immigration lawyers, human rights researchers, and advocates supporting people experiencing domestic violence.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
The work I am currently doing to remind the United States of its values and obligations to be a defender of human rights, including the right to migrate and to seek asylum, is particularly important. We are working with several human rights and immigrant advocacy groups to remind political leaders of both parties that we are a nation of immigrants, built on the rule of law.
Sea salt caramel
Favorite movieMy Big Fat Greek Wedding
Favorite hobbyDistance running

Adam Peck
Senior StrategistHow do you drive meaningful change?
Every client has an important story to tell. My job is to help them identify the most compelling narratives, build upon those narratives and share them with the world.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
Pulling off the communications rollout for a weekend-long series of events across two states, three federally-operated facilities, and with the involvement of the White House.
Maine Sea Salt Caramel, from Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream Co.
Favorite movieJurassic Park
Favorite hobbyRunning

Ashley Rodgers
Communications AssistantHow do you drive meaningful change?
I support advocacy campaigns for social justice issues and human rights, grassroots organizations, and mutual aid funds.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
I worked with the National Labor Relations Board attorneys to translate their website into Spanish, which provided important information to Spanish speaking workers about their right to unionize as private sector employees.
Mint chocolate chip
Favorite movieNight of the Living Dead
Favorite hobbyGardening

Manisha Sunil
StrategistHow do you drive meaningful change?
I partner with clients to execute strategic communications plans that achieve their goals, around legislation, issue awareness, fundraising, or internal affairs.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
When violence in Gaza escalated in May of 2021, I secured key media placements for humanitarian workers on the ground and worked to center the stories of those most impacted by the conflict.
Cold Stone’s “Founder’s Favorite”
Favorite movieInglourious Basterds
Favorite hobbyHiking

Shamari White
AssociateHow do you drive meaningful change?
I conduct research on clients’ work, audiences and impact on society and then use that knowledge to create creative and impactful messaging and outreach.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment?
After a significant and historic event that resulted in an onslaught of media requests, WEST worked to provide clients with measures to organize and identify the best media opportunities.
Birthday cake
Favorite movieBreakfast at Tiffany’s
Favorite hobbyCreating music playlists via Apple Music and Spotify
What is it like to work at WEST?
We believe in our clients and share their passion, values and commitment to a better world. And we know that the lasting, meaningful change we want to create is only possible with a team of people who have diverse backgrounds, perspectives and beliefs. As we work to create change in the world around us, we are also creating and strengthening equitable workplace cultures at WEST and across our industry where employees can thrive.