The team

More than communications people.
We are communications partners.

The team

More than communications people. We are communications partners.

Dante Betsch

Communications Associate

As a deeply creative person, Dante has worked in a diverse set of fields ranging from manufacturing and printing, UI/UX design, startups, and communications. His studies in textile and graphic design have even led him to live in London. His out-of-the-box thinking and care for creating beautiful work as a Communications Associate shows in all of the projects he works on at MediaDesk.

Mariah Carrillo

Communications Strategist

Mariah is a Communications Strategist at MediaDesk. With a Master’s in Art History, a background in visual arts, and marketing experience in the nonprofit sector, Mariah’s creative vision and strategic followthrough are instrumental in helping organizations achieve their communications goals.

Portrait of Katherine Contreras with a decorative pattern projected onto her

Katerine Contreras

Graphic Designer

Kat is a Venezuelan designer whose life has taken her to different cities across North and South America. She has experience in illustration, animation, photography, film, and printmaking. At MediaDesk, Kat puts her diverse skills and multicultural perspectives to work creating unique visual materials.

Olivia Faust

Communications Strategist

Olivia found herself in a strategy session with the team several years ago and decided that the MediaDeskers were her kind of people. As a Communications Strategist, she balances heartfelt communications, data-driven tactics, and client goals to elevate and mobilize causes that make a difference. She firmly believes that on-the-ground efforts can save the world, or, at the very least, improve the lives of those around us.

Fernando Gaverd

Lead Designer

Fernando Gaverd is MediaDesk’s Lead Designer. He has over a decade of experience, ranging from logo design, to textiles, to web and app interface design. His clients, alongside MediaDesk’s, have included Paramount Pictures, HBO, and in 2020 his design for MEDA traveled to Mars on NASA’s Perseverance Rover. His work has been published in Design Envy by AIGA, and he has been featured in numerous publications.

Jason Griffin

Director of Web Services

Jason Griffin is the Director of Web Services at MediaDesk. With over 25 years of experience in IT, he is passionate about technology and creating intuitive, attractive, genuinely useful sites that ensure our clients succeed at powering positive change. He's a headphone audiophile, coffee geek, opera lover, cinephile, Formula 1 fan, and scotch enthusiast. When a big firm tried to pull him back into the corporate world in 2015 he said, "big nope."

Emily Hill

Communications Strategist

Emily is a marketer and journalist, with a record of in-depth reporting and innovative marketing strategy. As a Communications Strategist at MediaDesk, she specializes in reaching audiences in creative ways through social media, public relations, and multi-platform media campaigns.

Angelica Ortega

Digital Strategist

Angelica is a Digital Strategist at MediaDesk. Her degree in PoliSci started her out in political podcasting and campaigns. Now her experience in print, digital, podcasting, and social media is paired with digital advertising and strategy to reach even larger audiences.

Julisa Rodriguez

Director of Operations

Julisa is Director of Operations at MediaDesk. She got her start in project management and operations in the public education sector. Julisa combines her keen attention to detail and process-oriented thinking to keep projects on time and on budget, which both our team and our clients are thankful for.

Sommer Smith

Co-founder, Creative Director

Sommer leads our award-winning team from concept to creation. With over a decade of experience in creative leadership, Sommer has a proven success record from design to delivery. As co-founder of MediaDesk, she’s been with us since the beginning.

Henry Valdez

Earned Media Specialist

Henry is a writer, storyteller, and communications professional. At MediaDesk, he provides earned media and strategic communications support for causes we believe in. With a background in visual, digital, and written storytelling, Henry brings the heart of a story to life.

José Viramontes

CEO

José is the CEO of MediaDesk. For over 20 years, José has led strategic communications and marketing efforts in both rural and urban settings throughout the U.S. His diverse leadership experiences in the social, public, and private sectors come together at MediaDesk to support a high-trust team that empowers, collaborates, and innovates for our clients.

* Adria Malcolm took these dope photos in collaboration with our creative team

Our Story

Story and Strategy

By helping organizations tell their stories, we aim to speed up the pace of change. We built our model around providing the highest quality service at the most affordable price, with a sliding scale to open the door to small organizations with limited budgets.

Bigger, Faster, More Meaningful Change

MediaDesk was founded in 2013 to support New Mexico’s nonprofits. Our founders knew that the organizations that are strongest, fastest and make the most difference are highly connected with their communities. That connectedness doesn’t happen on its own; an essential part of building -- and sustaining -- connections is telling stories, and telling them well.

We New Mexico

Since 2013 our clients have ranged from small, community-based nonprofits to large national foundations. While our work takes us all over, we remain headquartered in the downtown of our home city, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Our Values

MediaDesk prioritizes sustainability, shared resources and community development. We share values for a healthy workplace, equitable and sustainable business and thriving community. As a community-focused organization, every year we reinvest any profit in our community, our skills and services and in growing our team.

About Our Founders:

Henry Rael of the McCune Charitable Foundation served as a key mentor and driver for the vision of MediaDesk, informing the structure and focus from his background in corporate communications and the philanthropic sector. Sommer Smith co-founded the agency and continues to serve as our creative director. The company is now spearheaded by chief executive officer José Viramontes.

Our Story

Story and Strategy

By helping organizations tell their stories, we aim to speed up the pace of change. We built our model around providing the highest quality service at the most affordable price, with a sliding scale to open the door to small organizations with limited budgets.

Bigger, Faster, More Meaningful Change

MediaDesk was founded in 2013 to support New Mexico’s nonprofits. Our founders knew that the organizations that are strongest, fastest and make the most difference are highly connected with their communities. That connectedness doesn’t happen on its own; an essential part of building -- and sustaining -- connections is telling stories, and telling them well.

We New Mexico

Since 2013 our clients have ranged from small, community-based nonprofits to large national foundations. While our work takes us all over, we remain headquartered in the downtown of our home city, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Our Values

MediaDesk prioritizes sustainability, shared resources and community development. We share values for a healthy workplace, equitable and sustainable business and thriving community. As a community-focused organization, every year we reinvest any profit in our community, our skills and services and in growing our team.

About Our Founders:

Henry Rael of the McCune Charitable Foundation served as a key mentor and driver for the vision of MediaDesk, informing the structure and focus from his background in corporate communications and the philanthropic sector. Sommer Smith co-founded the agency and continues to serve as our creative director. The company is now spearheaded by chief executive officer José Viramontes.