WMG 2025–26 Board Members

Co-President: Jodi Brockington

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jodibrockington/

Instagram: @FriendsOfJodi

Jodi Brockington embodies the term “multi-hyphenate.” Many of her colleagues know her to be a Master Networker, Super Connector, and “Diversity Disruptor,” creating seamless and authentic interactions within the workplace, marketplace, and community. An entrepreneur’s entrepreneur, she has represented, coached, and advised thousands of leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals helping them launch, manage, and develop their businesses. She truly enjoys connecting people, as her professional expertise lies within the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) space. She is a champion of investing in the workforce of the future, driving evolution, and implementing effective and sustainable business strategies while consistently delivering tangible outcomes. In her spare time, Jodi is an author, speaker, traveler, and fitness enthusiast.

As the founder of Niara Consulting, Jodi has developed a solid global network leading strategic and major accounts to define strategies that create innovative solutions for non-profit organizations and Fortune 500 companies. Her latest entrepreneurial endeavor is BLENDiD, a real-time information platform enabling people with biracial and multiracial backgrounds everywhere to connect through personalized content and community. A proud native New Yorker, Jodi has been highly educated on both coasts of the US and is a self-proclaimed foodie that also helps to elevate representation in the culinary industry.

Co-President: Jane Wesman

Jane Wesman, President of Jane Wesman Public Relations, Inc., is one of the country’s top book publicists with a long record of creating national bestsellers, particularly in the areas of leadership, management, and personal growth. She has worked with such business thought-leaders as Marcus Buckingham, Stephen Covey, Faith Popcorn, Charles Schwab, and Shoshana Zuboff. Today, she and her team provide cutting-edge solutions to help authors and publishers market their books to targeted audiences throughout the United States and other English-speaking countries.

Jane is a staunch supporter of working women, providing guidance as a writer, speaker, and consultant. Her book, Dive Right In – The Sharks Won’t Bite: The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide To Success, was one of the first to offer concrete advice geared towards women entrepreneurs. As president of the New York City chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, she launched a mentoring program that still helps women today. She currently sits on the board of the non-profit organization ArtSail and also provides funding for an internship program at Simmons University to help students kick-start their careers.

Treasurer: Cristina Goyanes

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cristinagoyanes/

Cristina Goyanes is honored and excited to join the WMG board after having served on a few committees to support the 50th Anniversary Gala. Cristina is the cofounder of Revel (thisisrevel.com), an award-winning agency that's redefining brand content and messaging for clients with a focus on health, wellness, and positive impact. Cristina leads Revel's new business development, client relations, talent recruitment, PR, and marketing.

Prior to founding Revel, Cristina was a launch editor at Women’s Health. From there, she went freelance for 12 years, by-lining close to 500 articles for major magazines, media platforms, and global brands, including National Geographic Adventure, Marie Claire, SHAPE, Elle, Teen Vogue, Yoga Journal, ESPNW, Refinery29, and many more.

Cristina is a proud first-gen Latinx from Queens, NY, where she visits her parents and friends often since moving with her husband cross-country to the Bay Area in 2021.

Secretary: Jessica Gutowitz

Jessica Gutowitz is excited and grateful for the opportunity to join the WMG board as Secretary! She is a 2022 WMG Scholar who attended the NYU Summer Publishing Institute. Prior to attending NYU, she graduated from Binghamton University with a bachelor's degree in English. After earning her degree, she worked for The Human Condition as a writer and editor. She currently works as an Assistant Publisher at Springer Nature, where she oversees a program of computer science journals.

Co-Chair, Membership: Jodie Cohen

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jodie-cohen/

Jodie Cohen is a marketing and events leader known for driving revenue growth, brand engagement, and high-impact partnerships. Her publishing career began in Italy at a children’s bookstore, sparking a lifelong passion for global perspectives and audience-centered marketing. After five years traveling with authors and producing conferences at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Jodie joined Penguin Random House, where she launched literacy initiatives including Audiobooks Are NOT Cheating and Guys Listen. At Scholastic, she led marketing for Education Solutions, spearheading B2B, B2B2C, and DTC campaigns that increased digital revenue by 156% and Amazon sales by 40%. As Director of Marketing, Partnerships & Licensing at Highlights, Jodie introduced new strategies to increase discovery, deepen relationships, and drive profitability. Jodie thrives on mentoring rising talent and teaches business communications at Pace University.

When she’s not crafting marketing strategies or reading, Jodie is probably planning her next adventure, running in the park, experimenting in the kitchen, or selecting the perfect wine.

Co-Chair, Membership: Georgia McBride

Georgia McBride is a book publisher, literary agent, UGC community expert, and IP development executive who has published USA Today and New York Times bestselling authors. She has worked with multiple Emmy Award winners, Bram Stoker, Prism Award, and Kirkus Prize nominees, plus video game developers, social media influencers, screenwriters, and comic book artists. Her corporate work relating to IP development and rights exploitation work has included companies such as Inkitt, Radish, AlphaNovel, Goodnovel, and more! In 2022, Georgia McBride Media Group launched a TV/film production company spanning TV, streaming, and film. Georgia was recently tapped by Crazy Maple Studio to develop a world-class UGC community program for its MyFiction platform.

Co-Chair, Programming: Yona Deshommes

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yona-deshommes-1a88726/

Website: https://www.riverchildmediallc.com/

Instagram: @riverchildmedia

Yona Deshommes began her professional career in education as a Certified Teaching Assistant and Academic Coordinator at Edwin Gould Academy, where she created and facilitated several cultural and educational programs for at-risk youth from the juvenile justice and foster care systems.

Her love and passion for writing led her to a 20-year career in book publicity, where she served as an Associate Director of Publicity at Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. In August of 2020, Yona entered a new chapter in her career by establishing her own company, Riverchild Media, a public relations firm specializing in promoting books by and for authors of color. In December of that same year, she and four other colleagues formed Collective 5 Entertainment, a literary, talent management, public relations, and marketing/branding firm that recently welcomed its first New York Times bestselling book, The Grift. She launched her Living Out Loud literary series in 2023, which featured authors who live their lives unapologetically and purposefully.

In 2024, she lent her vast experience in publishing as an executive overseeing the legendary Harlem Book Fair. She will soon add the position of publisher to her resume when she and her partner launch River and Reeds Press in the Fall of 2025. She is a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated.

Co-Chair, Programming: Kathy Sandler

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ksandler
Website: Technology * Innovation * Publishing

Kathy Sandler is a WMG President Emerita and a leader in the field of publishing technology and innovation. She currently works in IT at Penguin Random House. She worked on the launch of the Storia eReader at Scholastic and the launch of the digital editions of Fitness and Parents magazines to iPad at Meredith. She worked at Hearst Magazines in publishing technology for 20 years. Kathy was named one of Folio’s 40 Most Influential People in Publishing. She was President of Women in Production and founded Digital Asset Management Day at Seybold. She has an MBA from NYU and taught in the Master's in Publishing programs at NYU and Pace. She is also on the Board of the Feminist Press. Since 2009 she has had a blog and now a weekly newsletter on Technology * Innovation * Publishing at www.sandlertechworks.com.

Co-Chair, Fundraising: Mara Anastas

Mara Anastas recently launched her new consulting business, Muse Media, where she leverages her extensive industry experience to empower authors, literary estates, and publishers in navigating today’s evolving media landscape. Mara is a dynamic media executive with expertise in sales management, publishing, licensing, and business development. As VP of Business Development & Publisher at Re-Discovery Lit (Open Road Integrated Media), she drove revenue growth and profitability while negotiating hundreds of licensing and co-development deals.

Previously, Mara spent 15 years at Simon & Schuster in leadership roles—including VP and Publisher of Simon Pulse and Aladdin Books—managing a $60 million business and overseeing bestselling title acquisitions. Earlier roles at HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster highlighted her talent for driving multimillion-dollar revenue growth and forging strategic partnerships with major brands like Paramount, Nickelodeon, and Disney.

A skilled negotiator and collaborative leader, Mara has also contributed to the industry through past leadership with the Women’s National Book Association NYC.

Co-Chair, Fundraising: Gabrielle Gayagoy Gonzalez

Gabrielle Gayagoy Gonzalez (she/her/siya) is a Filipina American writer with a track record for producing award-winning work. Named to Diversity Woman Media’s Power 100 List for her role in increasing diverse representation in the media, she is a board member and serves on the Executive Committee of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, where she also co-chairs the Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion Committee. Gabrielle is a co-author of Racial Justice at Work: Practical Solutions for Systemic Change and the founding principal of 3G Collaborative LLC, a DEAI consultancy specializing in projects related to events, books, documentaries, and other media. A former editor at Shape magazine and The Winters Group's The Inclusion Solution, her freelance reporting has appeared in Self, Seventeen, and Women’s Health. As a recruiter and DEI specialist for Static Media, Gabrielle increased the hiring of underrepresented writers by more than 50 percent and wrote the company’s first guide for developing inclusive content. She has also created marketing content for brands such as Lovevery and Weight Watchers. 

Gabrielle served as a New York City Teaching Fellow at Harvey Milk High School and was a founding history teacher at the Academy for Software Engineering. She remembers the Lenape.

Co-Chair, Scholarships: Keline Adams

Keline Adams is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Penguin Random House. Her expertise lies in working with companies and organizations to elevate the role of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) within their company culture and programming. Keline is an adjunct professor at CUNY School of Professional Studies where she co-teaches graduate level course intensives centered on anti-racisim, anti-oppression, and DEIB in the workplace and serves as a thesis advisor.

Keline previously worked with Pregnancy Justice for four years to shape programming, DEIB priorities, and facilitate the organization’s endeavors on a national scale. From 2019 through 2021, she served as interim managing director and consulting producer for DNAWORKS, an arts-based wellness organization, working with leadership on strategic planning.

Keline is a playwright and recipient of a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for Playwriting. Her pieces create strong, non-stereotypical, multi-layered roles for Black women. She is the co-creator, with her sister Christie, of Voice Be Heard!, a creative arts initiative that empowers and supports Black women writers to connect and share their work through digital and in-person events.

Co-Chair, Scholarships: Stacey Ashton

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/staceyiashton

Stacey Ashton is a leader in operations, content marketing strategy, team building, communications, and business development. Currently, she is the Publisher at Fabled Films Press, which develops strong literary properties and educational programs for young readers that combine memorable characters with unique author voices.

She has extensive experience providing strategies and solutions for amplifying global brands in a complex marketplace. Her expertise is in the creation of integrated global B2B and B2C marketing campaigns that utilize data-based advertising, publicity, events, and content marketing through social channels and direct marketing newsletter programs to drive revenue of consumer products. She has hired and managed marketing and sales teams as well as developed marketing and sales strategies for e-commerce, retailers, and mass merchants.

She has her MA in Industrial Psychology from NYU. When she isn’t working she can be found uncovering hidden street corners around the world, new theatrical productions, and the best dessert in New York City.

Co-Chair, Communications: Samantha Dietz

Sam(antha) Dietz is founder of & Impact Strategist for The #Impactivists. Sam has spent the last 15+ years building brands and communities through strategic marketing efforts that highlight authentic connections. Sam actively promotes and encourages positive and inclusive work environments, emphasizing the importance of relationship-building, personal authenticity, and community support. Having experienced the world of Media & Marketing through the lens of a neurodiverse female, Sam is passionate about empowering women & differently-abled individuals and encourages everyone --regardless of identity-- to embrace their true selves and support one another in their professional and life journeys.

Co-Chair, Communications: Kathleen Schmidt

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-m-schmidt/

Kathleen Schmidt is founder of Kathleen Schmidt Public Relations. She is a strategist who applies her in-depth experience in all aspects of the industry, including as a publicist, literary agent, acquisitions editor, and ghostwriter, to every project she takes on. Her career encompasses 30 years of creating and directing impactful and strategic global media, marketing, and branding campaigns for politicians, A-List celebrities, athletes, and high-profile personalities. To date, she has worked on 50 New York Times bestsellers, and her clients have continuously appeared in top-tier national print, broadcast, and radio outlets such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Vogue, ELLE, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, GQ, and Sirius XM.

Board Member At Large: Jacqueline Cripps

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-cripps

Jacqueline Cripps is a writer, author, and consultant with a portfolio spanning Australia, the UK, and the US. Her work includes TV scripts, blogs, and a novel currently in development. She is an Associate Producer of a documentary, and a former podcast host. With a strong background in publishing and editorial, she has coached authors, edited publications, and contributed to a range of creative projects.

She is the author of three non-fiction books, including Managing Millennials: Shaping a New Work Paradigm, and has written for publications across Australia, China, the US, and UK. Known as a ‘millennial translator,’ Jacqueline is a sought-after speaker and expert in workforce management. She has presented across Australia, Europe, and the UK and is passionate about storytelling as a tool for change. She remains active in creative and media communities and is committed to supporting and elevating women’s voices in media.

She’s worked with some truly inspiring publications like Woman's Day, Country Living, The Village Voice, The Knot, and Westchester Magazine while networking with many influential and creative individuals along the way. In her spare time, she works on her plus-size lifestyle blog, The Essence of A Curvy Girl, discussing lifestyle topics. Brittany currently is a freelance content creator and editor working with various brands and companies.