SNSPost Staff
Kevin Abud is a seasoned veteran of both the business start-up environment and radio announcing. Raised in the “burbs” and currently living in Chicago, Kevin has been involved in radio since his college days, where he got his start as an anchor/reporter in the news dept at WNIJ-FM. Aside from various levels of involvement in radio since, Kevin has established himself as a successful entrepreneur, guiding many start-up businesses to profitability. Combining these skills, Kevin joined the Saturday Night Special for its inaugural broadcast Halloween night 2009. Keeping one eye on current events – including the local and national political landscape – and the other on the culture of this living and breathing city, Kevin sits as Editor-In-Chief of the SNSPost.com, the online arm of the Saturday Night Special enterprise and serves as Director of Operations in its parent organization, Red Blooded Productions.
Sal Becovic is a red-blooded born and bred Chicagoan. With an energetic and unorthodox perspective, Sal seeks the joy of getting to the core of the important issues of our day. From government buffoonery, business hyper-greed, to citizen silliness, Sal aims to shed light on each one. But he also understands that life is more than just politics and current events. A die hard, humbled, Cubs fan, Sal, enjoys discussion in all things sports and leisure. He realizes that one of the most important things humans on earth can do is to allow themselves the chance to discover. He will not tolerate blather and will call out those engaging in it. It’s all about learning – and having fun doing it. Overall, he’s a pretty darn good guy.
Eric Abud
VP, Sales & Marketing
Editor, Green Living
As SNSPost’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing and Editor of the Green Living Section, Eric Abud is responsible for building and implementing strategies to drive follower base, revenue growth and brand development. Born in Michigan and raised in the Chicagoland area, Eric has spent more than 10 years living in the city’s various neighborhoods, including Wicker Park, Bucktown, Lincoln Square and Lakeview, giving him unique insight to the culture and “must know” news needs of Chicagoans. Eric’s passion for unique marketing, and innovative ideas have helped position the online news source as a Chicago staple for breaking news and amazing blogs. With a bachelor’s degree in merchandise management and an extensive background in B2B sales, which earned him the Top 5 ranking in one of the largest consulting firms in the country, Eric’s tenacity and energetic approach have grown The SNSPost’s audience to an unsurpassed height, more than quadrupling visitors since coming on board in 2011.
Advertising, sponsorship, and/or partnership inquiries? Contact eric@snspost.com
Michelle Chiodo
Director, Sales & Marketing
Michelle Chiodo is the Director of Sales & Marketing at The SNSPost. She also owns and operates MaxVision Resources, a leading marketing consulting firm in Chicago, and has worked across all industries. More than 10 years of experience comprise her portfolio of sales & marketing communications, including brand identity, public relations, integrated marketing, business communications, social media, market research and online presence.
Ryan O’Malley
Editor, Music & Movies
Ryan O’Malley is a communications professional currently serving as music editor for the SNSPost. Originally from St. Louis, he is a life-long musician who has been involved in the professional side of the industry since graduating from St. Louis University. Working with The Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis and later promoting local artists around the Chicago area, O’Malley has developed a critical ear for music allowing him to offer in-depth commentary on the latest acts from around the country. Founder of OMALLEEZALLEY, he has transitioned his album and concert reviews to SNSPost and occasionally appeared as a guest commentator and host on The Saturday Night Special.
Marty Rocha
Editor, Technology & Business
Marty Rocha serves as editor of SNSPost’s Technology and Business page. His extensive experience with Technology and Information Systems spans over 20 years in all types of business environments, from large-scale multi-national enterprises such as The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Citadel Investment Group, to small, home grown business environments, and everything in between. All this experience has led him to found Nitram Technologies, a premier Chicago-based IT Consulting Firm & Managed Services Provider. Marty is also an active musician in the Chicago music scene, and you may see his name or face pop up on stage around the city. He also sits on the board as a Managing Partner of Northwoods Music, which put on Jammin’ on the Wolf, a music festival in Northern Wisconsin drawing considerable attention to the jam scene in the midwest.
Katarina Ilic
Editor, Love & Sex
Editor, Culture
Katarina was born and raised in Chicago and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She then eagerly pursued a career path in the business world, first in the financial services arena and then in entrepreneurship, thinking that’s what she always wanted. Thankful for some eye-opening revelations, she realized she was a lot more creative than she ever gave herself credit for. Intent on following her heart and pursuing her passions, Katarina left everything behind and moved to Belgrade, Serbia to do some seeking and soul-searching. She finally decided to start her own blog to get her feet wet in writing and after one month was given the opportunity to write a column for a website about living in Belgrade for foreigners. She’s been doing that for almost one year and she joined our team at the beginning of this year as Editor of the Love & Sex section. Katarina is passionate about many things, but her heart’s desire is to share information and inspiration with others, encouraging them to follow their hearts.
Gary is an experienced physics teacher for eleventh and twelfth grade students in southeastern Michigan. He is certified and highly qualified to teach all levels of science. Gary has teaching experience in various academic settings between Michigan and Arizona; he has taught biology, chemistry, and physics to struggling and advanced high school learners. He holds a masters degree in education with a concentration in best practice classroom instruction. Currently, Gary serves as an adjunct professor for the Graduate College of Education at Saginaw Valley State University, where he teaches courses in learning theory, instructional design and educational philosophy. Alongside his classroom teaching experience, Gary has been leading professional development workshops for teachers in science teaching methods, educational technology, as well as learning theory for several years and has presented at several national level conferences. Gary is pursuing a doctoral degree in educational leadership, and he advocates for student-centered educational reform.”
Tara Alley writes on a variety of topics, mostly green, some foodie, but all with a healthy dash of spunk thrown in for good measure. She’s native to Montana but now living in California and soaking in sunshine and farmers markets galore. She’s also a health food fanatic, passionate about sustainability and secretly addicted to instant mashed potatoes. At the moment, she’s working alongside a heating company helping them write content for their panel heaters.
Born and raised in Woodstock, Ariel Azoff is an adventurer and aspiring writer who spent the past year working for a human rights organization in the Middle East. She is a contributing writer to The SNSPost & Midthoughtblog.com, and now that she is back in the U.S. is delving into the world of sustainable fashion and blogging as she goes at Hearsleevesblog.com.
Allison Baughman
Music Contributor
A graduate from Ave Maria University with a degree in literature, Allison Baughman lives in Connecticut but occasionally works out of New York City. She is the founder of RockCoutureDreams and continues to dedicate her life to showing the world good music.
Richard Billies
Contributor, Politics
Richard Billies is an admitted political junkie who’s been interested in politics since about the age of 12 during John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign. After the election and after reading Theodore White’s The Making of a President….he was hooked. Since 2002, Rick has resided with his wife in central Virginia, about 10 miles south of the city of Charlottesville, the home of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. Rick is the founder of a handful of political sites, most notably AllThingsPoliticalToday.com and WasteFraudandAbuse.org, covering all things including the Republican nomination battle, government waste, the Tea Party, local politics and the American Civil War.
Dolph Chaney
Contributor, Music Reviews
Dolph Chaney began formal training on piano at age 8 and has been a singer/songwriter/guitarist for over 25 years. His music is available from at DolphChaney.com and on iTunes. Top of his Music Theory class at University of Houston, he began writing capsule album reviews on his personal website and then launched the Dolphmusic blog (http://dolphmusic.
Dolph writes the “Released This Day” column (http://www.snspost.com/tag/
Claire is a French business student studying at ESSCA in Paris and will obtain her Masters in Marketing and Management in December 2012. She has spent the last six months on a study exchange at the Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville (SIUE) and now has the opportunity to work with us as a Marketing Intern. She also has a further three months work experience with a communication agency in Paris and various other experiences working abroad. Whilst working with us Claire, in collaboration with the other interns, will be coordinating our online marketing and advertising campaigns, updating websites, collaborating with our Communications Department and reporting to the Senior Digital Strategist, in addition to organizing staff and campus coordination.
Russell Irving
Contributor, Love & Sex / Health & Wellness
Russell Irving is a true Renaissance Man. A background in psychology & philosophy. Experience in human services, adult education, technology, retail, entrepreneurship, publishing, and government. He published a tasteful magazine devoted to Single Adults, well before it was popular. Russ created and conducted many Relationship, Single Life, and Small Business, classes for adult ed programs. – Most recently, he wrote the media-acclaimed books Improve Your Marriage – Don’t Overlook The Obvious and Teens! Improve Your Life – Don’t Overlook The Obvious. He is a frequent talk show guest & still conducts relationship classes. Russ operates various websites including: www.DontOverlookTheObvious.com and www.MenExpressThemselves.com. His Facebook page is Russell Irving and Twitter account is RussIrving.
Dan Kang is one of the marketing and sales/social media intern at the SNS Post. He is currently majoring in Marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with an International Business minor. Born and raised in Ohio, South Korea, and Wisconsin, he enjoys playing sports, playing music, keeping up with global news/trends, and socializing with people.
Andrew Keene
Contributor, Markets
Andrew Keene is founder of KeeneOnTheMarket.com (KOTM), started in 2011. Its concept is to provide daily commentary about the overall stock market as well as individual indexes, commodities, and securities through a mix of technical and fundamental analysis. KOTM’s content is geared to investors, traders, and people who are generally interested in the stock market.
Keene is a regular contributor on Bloomberg TV as well as CNBC. You can find his Trade of the Day (ToD) on the SNSPost daily.
Lara Kimbrell is a busy wife and mother to three young children in south Texas. She holds a physics degree from Texas A&M University and taught high school physics for many years before becoming a full time mother and writer. Inspired by her curious children, Lara writes to engage all children in the amazing world of the physical sciences. As the United States faces a shortage of engineers and physical scientists, Lara hopes to inspire a new generation. Lara enjoys organic gardening, cooking, writing, knitting, building things, and caring for her beautiful children, crazy chickens, and spoiled dog.
Sally Lau is currently a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising with a minor in Communication. Sally is a member of the largest chapter of American Advertising Federation on campus. Her strong sense of self-motivation and drive have enabled her to hold several long-term jobs spanning the time from when she has been of legal age to work. Sally works hard at everything she sets her mind to with the maximum amount of positive energy. She is comfortable in executing a program from start to finish, have a healthy sense of humor and a trustworthy, outgoing, and flexible demeanor.
Rebecca Lenzini is a long-time movie fan who grew up in Southern Illinois and attended the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign where she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She is the Founder and President of The Charleston Company, a publishing and marketing firm specializing in libraries and scholarly publishing. She is also the founder of The Nighthawk Press in Taos, New Mexico and SeriousMovieLover.com, a website devoted to movie lovers everywhere!
Jasmina Radjevic, Jr
Contributor
Born and raised on the outskirts of Chicago, Jasmina Radjevic is a self-proclaimed “music junkie” with an attitude. Having gone to her very first concert at the age of 7, she was instantly moved by the musical experience. Writing quickly became a hobby for Jasmina as well, and she earned a Communication degree from DePaul University. Today, Jasmina is an editor for a trade magazine in the horticulture industry. With a desire to connect her love for writing with her love for music, she created her own music blog in 2009: JazzysJoynt.com. Jasmina continues to listen to and watch musical performances on a regular basis, and is always on the lookout for new sounds and hidden gems.
Dr. Lavinia Rodriguez
Contributor, Health & Wellness
As a clinical psychologist and an expert trained in treating eating issues and weight problems, Dr. Rodriguez is concerned about people being misled about what are the most effective ways of losing and managing ones weight for a lifetime. For more than 30 years she has observed how people are set up for failure by unrealistic diets and exercise programs as well as out-and-out scams designed to take advantage of individuals that seriously want to improve their health and lives. Over the years, Dr. Rodriguez has treated many people, has written articles on the subjects of eating disorders, in particular, and weight loss in general, and recently completed a book on the subject.
Alex Sherman is a young entrepreneur with a passion for the environment and blogging. He spent his youth in the North Georgia mountains exploring the woods and learning about the wilderness. This passion and respect for our environment motivated him to join local environmental organizations, such as S.E.A.T. He used the tools and experience motivated him to create the Green Life Pages. He’s a very strong believer in the power of networking and education, through both he believes we can achieve a greener, healthier, and more informed planet.
Susie Shin
Contributor, Culture
Susie Shin received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Primary Education from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She taught first grade and worked at the corporate head quarters for Kumon Math and Reading center for children. Discovering her new love for writing in her adulthood she has been blogging since 2008, mostly about her inner workings and the issues at hand. She is passionate about justice and humanitarian works, having been on staff at Crossing Borders North Korea for over 5 years, she has been fulfilled in that area. She is always excited and willing to share her story and inspiration with others, urging others to get involved in their dreams, in people’s lives, and the greater good of human kind.
Additional SNSPost Contributors
Jack Nimble
Kenneth George
Dave Bolger
Tim Diana
Sarah Gremillion
Rebecca Lenzini
Kim McClelland
