Meet the Team
Award-Winning Creative Team
Meet the team behind your customized strategies, innovative campaigns, and expert analysis.
Samantha Lins
VP of PR & Marketing
About Samantha
Your current position in one sentence: Answerer of questions, solver of problems.
Vision Statement: To be a forever student who is constantly growing while remaining calm and positive, and empowering others to do the same.
Biggest career achievement: Growing service offerings available to our clients, and advancing my career to an executive level.
Biggest personal accomplishment: Being a mom to two brilliant little girls, and still somehow being a productive human!
What you’re working toward: Constantly leveling up lotus823’s creative services in order to provide world-class work and results.
Your area of expertise: Content Writing, Public Relations, Social Media, Influencer Marketing and Amazon
Best way to connect: LinkedIn or samanthal@lotus823.com
Katie Rohmeyer
Marketing & Events Manager
About Katie
Your current position in one sentence: Creating experiences and bringing brand visions to life.
Vision Statement: To always start the day with positive energy that inspires success, happiness, and growth to all those around me.
Biggest career achievement: Spearheading the lotus823 events team and successfully launching the lotus823 Smart Living Showcase.
Biggest personal accomplishment: Being able to still find ways to learn and grow every day!
What you’re working toward: Growing lotus823’s events service by developing out-of-the-box experiences for all.
Your area of expertise: Events and Experiential Marketing, Public Relations and Influencer Marketing
Best way to connect: Linkedin or katier@lotus823.com
Amanda Whited
Senior Account Executive
About Amanda
Your current position in one sentence: Providing expertise in all things public relations and influencer marketing to help clients reach and exceed their goals.
Vision Statement: To spread positivity and creativity throughout my life and work, to inspire others to think outside the box and see the glass half full.
Biggest career achievement: Spearheading a multitude of successful new product launches, resulting in millions of impressions on launch day and following.
Biggest personal accomplishment: Receiving a new title: “Mom” and welcoming my amazing son in 2023!
What you’re working toward: Providing a clear understanding of public relations and its capabilities to help brands gain awareness and relevant coverage to meet their goals.
Your area of expertise: Public Relations and Influencer Marketing
Best way to connect: You can connect with me on LinkedIn or send me an email at amandaw@lotus823.com.
Andrea Kartsakalis
Senior Account Executive
About Andrea
Your current position in one sentence: Transforming brands through all things social media
Vision Statement: To bring a positive attitude and energy into all aspects of my life including my work, relationships, and experiences.
Biggest career achievement: Spearheading a multitude of social media advertising campaigns that resulted in increased results year over year.
Biggest personal accomplishment: Finding things that I’m passionate about and sticking with them.
What you’re working toward: Providing actionable insights, education, and understanding of services to meet their goals.
Your area of expertise: Social Media and Advertising, and Public Relations
Best way to connect: LinkedIn or email: andreak@lotus823.com
Cassie Bouvier
Assistant Account Executive
About Cassie
Your current position in one sentence: I’m the digital Swiss Army knife, ready to tackle any task to make our clients shine online!
Vision Statement: To continuously explore life being eager to learn, create, grow, and spread happiness while empowering and protecting the lost explorers.
Biggest career achievement: Playing a pivotal role in content creation for lotus823 has been a cornerstone of my career, allowing me to demonstrate my creativity and strategic thinking at a high level.
Biggest personal accomplishment: Earning my Bachelors Degree in 4 years.
What you’re working toward: Continuous learning and career development
Your area of expertise: Public Relations & Social Media
Best way to connect: Connect on LinkedIn or feel free to send me an email: Cassieb@lotus823.com
Ellen Cockrell
Assistant Account Executive
About Ellen
Your current position in one sentence: Assisting our team by crafting creative deliverables to meet client goals and expand possibilities for success.
Vision Statement: To center creativity, growth, and compassion in all I do, motivating myself and others to embrace their strengths.
Biggest career achievement: Getting promoted to Assistant Account Executive at lotus823!
Biggest personal accomplishment: Finding myself through my passions and hobbies.
What you’re working toward: Translating ideas into reality through inventive written and visual content, while being a continuous student of all things digital marketing to deliver the best results for clients.
Your area of expertise: Social Media and Visual Content
Best way to connect: LinkedIn or email: ellenc@lotus823.com
Want to learn more about our team?
Behind the Scenes Crew
David Hernandez
Co-founder & Managing Partner
About David
Your current position in one sentence: Helping lead a team of truly outstanding professionals and knowing when to get out of their way.
Vision Statement: To maintain a lifelong sense of wonder and creative thinking harnessed with empathy, objective thinking, and positive actions in all my endeavors and journeys.
Biggest career achievement: Co–building our agency 14 years ago as a bootstrap startup to an award winning agency working with top tier brands.
Biggest personal accomplishment: Finding the right life partner.
What you’re working toward: Maintaining a student’s perspective of life and work and keeping a child’s sense of wonder about living and the world.
Your area of expertise: Relationship building.
Best way to connect: David Hernandez – lotus823 | LinkedIn
Allison Hernandez
Co-founder & Managing Partner
About Allison
Your current position in one sentence: Entrepreneur and managing partner of a public relations and digital marketing agency, cultivating an environment that prioritizes people and their well-being above all else.
Vision Statement: To embody courage and honesty, inspiring others to do the same, living each day with compassion and gratitude for all living beings.
Biggest career achievement: Awarded NJ Biz Best 50 Women in Business
Biggest personal accomplishment: Raising three kind, caring, and loving boys
What you’re working toward: Being a continuous learner
Your area of expertise: Human Resources, Change Management and Operations
Best way to connect: Feel free to reach out via LinkedIn or email: ahernandez@lotus823.com
Amanda Zidlick
VP of Business Growth & Culture
About Amanda
Your current position in one sentence: Taking thoughts from ideation to execution while keeping our team connected.
Vision Statement: Constantly live outside of my comfort zone to evoke change and equality for the greater good.
Biggest career achievement: Achieving 100% employee retention rate for over a 2 year period
Biggest personal accomplishment: Becoming a mom 🥰
What you’re working toward: Creating a better working environment – humans can’t and shouldn’t work like robots.
Your area of expertise: operational efficiency, time management, process management and team building
Best way to connect: Connect on LinkedIn or feel free to send me an email, amandaz@lotus823.com
Want to learn more about a partnership with lotus?
Advisors & Advocates
Our in-house group of masterminds that lend their experience to our team for ongoing professional development.
Rachel Litner
Advocate of Agency Partnerships
About Rachel
Rachel’s Vision Statement: To empower people through music, writing and other art forms, as part of a community that is dedicated to creative expression and civil rights.
Rachel’s Background: Rachel is a seasoned professional with more than 30 years of public relations, marketing and journalism expertise. Prior to joining lotus823, Rachel was President and Founder of Rachel Litner Associates, a PR agency that specialized in the culinary and home industry. She previously held positions at CIT, Conair Corporation, Fairchild Publications (Home Furnishings Daily) and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Her diverse background as an in-house PR executive, magazine editor, and an agency principal plays an instrumental role in creating new growth strategies for clients and the company as a whole.
Jeff Scott
Professional Communication Advisor
About Jeff
Jeff’s Vision Statement: To help individuals and organizations increase their level of influence through improved communication skills.
Jeff’s Background: Jeff previously founded Section 810 Communications, a training organization focused on communication and interpersonal skills, after repeatedly hearing business leaders voice a desire to improve their communication and leadership skills.
Jeff is an internationally recognized speaker, certified DISC personality consultant and published author, and has trained thousands of people across dozens of countries on various business and personal development topics.
In addition to his global business experience, Jeff is committed to DEI initiatives, including mentorship through ALPFA (Association of Latino Professionals For America) and through volunteer work with Invest in Girls, a non-profit focused on financial literacy.
Pam Golden
Agency Strategy Advisor
About Pam
Pam’s Background: Pam founded GLA Communications in 1986 and provides high-level strategic and tactical counsel to clients, bringing the benefit of nearly 40 years of experience in creating and executing successful campaigns. She has a keen understanding of the inner-workings of the media, and affinity for strategic communications in consumer technology, banking and public policy.
Prior to forming the agency, Pam was an account supervisor at Robert E. Griffin Inc., New York and Frank Barth Inc., New York. Before entering the public relations field, she was an editor in trade publishing for the technology industries and she started her career as a newspaper reporter at a daily newspaper in Western Pennsylvania.
Pam earned a degree in Journalism and Communications from Point Park University, Pittsburgh, PA. She is a member of Public Relations Society of America and its Counselor’s Academy Section and from 2014-2017 served on its executive committee. She was a 2017 recipient of the Leading Women Entrepreneurs Brand Builder Award.