Join the hosts of the VoiceAmerica show, The Brand Ambassadors, this Friday at 6 am PST for their latest tips on building corporate culture. Andrew Barlow of Overflow Communications will join Merritt Hamilton Allen and Gary Potterfield to tell our listeners how to imprint their brand on their corporate culture. Brands begin from the inside out – your employees have to know the culture and brand values to relay them to you customers. Andrew, Merritt and Gary will share tips and techniques to make your employees feel part of the team and to serve as your best possible brand ambassadors.
Andrew Barlow has spent his career quietly helping leaders sound their best. Leaders ranging from Navy battlegroup commanders and bank presidents to hospital CEOs and the top elected officials in Texas have benefited from his unmatched writing talent, intuitive communications skills and dry sense of humor. During his career, he served his country as an officer in the U.S. Navy (including a wartime Tomahawk-firing deployment), an associate pastor at a startup church he helped grow from 150 to 3,000 in Sunday attendance, speechwriter to the Texas Governor, Lieutenant Governor and other elected officials and founder of his own communications firm. At every stop, he has found the creative way to tell a story, change perspectives and precipitate effective action. Andrew focuses on creative approaches to effective communication: challenging norms, identifying opportunities and keeping our company and clients thinking big on the way to powerful results.
Merritt Hamilton Allen believes that every employee in every business can help promote that business. Merritt has leveraged unique stories and perspectives to persuade and inform those around her. She turned this personal brand into the company Vox Optima in 2005, and has since been awarded over $25 million in PR contracts. Vox Optima’s public relations clients include multi-billion-dollar organizations, start-ups, and everyone in between.
Merritt grew up in Silver City, New Mexico, where she got her first job in radio at age 13. She attended the University of Notre Dame on NROTC and National Merit scholarships. After graduation she served as a Navy public affairs officer for eight years, and led the Navy’s communication strategy for environmental, personnel, medical, and acquisition issues. Merritt is a disabled veteran.
Vox Optima closed its first year with a $1 million task order from the U.S. Navy. Vox Optima currently has 15 employees, offices in Albuquerque and the DC Metro area and its client roster includes NATO, the U.S. Navy, the Department of Defense, the Department of State, BAE Systems, the Census Bureau and several national trade associations
Merritt was honored as a Woman of Influence by NM Business Weekly in 2012. She was named the top-performing media and marketing CEO in New Mexico in 2013 by Albuquerque Business First. Vox Optima has been listed in the top five PR firms by revenue in the state for the last four years.
