Wendy Guarisco has 30 years of experience as a communications and marketing professional. She’s worked with Fortune 500 companies, one-man shops, and everything in between. And as the founder of her own media consulting firm, she knows first-hand the opportunities and challenges of small business ownership.

Wendy began her career in Atlanta with McCann-Erickson, then the world’s largest advertising agency, where she helped shape the images of such companies as Coca-Cola and Georgia Pacific. She was hired by her client Contel, then the third-largest non-Bell telephone company, and moved to Washington, DC as their Eastern Region Public Affairs Coordinator. She later spent a few years with a Northern Virginia broadcast production/direct response advertising company before moving back to Atlanta and joining CNN. She spent 12 years booking live interviews and contributing to the network’s award-winning coverage of events such as The Persian Gulf War, the OJ Simpson Trial, the Oklahoma City Bombing, the Balkan conflict, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, three presidential elections, the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, the 2000 Florida recount controversy, numerous international summits, and much more.

As a director of CNN’s Guest Booking unit, Wendy helped manage a staff of bookers in Atlanta, Washington, New York, London and Hong Kong who were responsible for all of the network’s live interviews throughout the day. She was involved in the creation of some of CNN’s groundbreaking programs, including the Emmy Award-winning CNN & Company, Burden of Proof, and television’s first interactive talk show, TalkBack Live! She served as that show’s senior editorial producer for six years.

In 2001, Wendy launched the Guarisco Group, LLC.  She and her team secure major national and international media coverage for clients around the world.  Clients credit their enhanced media profile with generating greater and more positive awareness of them and their products/services, and with generating increased business for them.