About Barbara

Contact Information: 630.207.7530 or corywestmedia@gmail DOT com

Bio . . .
Barbara Rozgonyi owns CoryWest Media, LLC, a Midwest-based strategic marketing consultancy founded in 1990, whose client list includes Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofits and small businesses.

Named after Barbara’s mother and grandmother, the company creates business for business and motivates community action in the non-profit sector. As the publisher of www.wiredPRworks.com since June 2006, Barbara reports on ways to grow business, build brands, and connect communities with marketing, social media and public relations.

Listed on Alltop and AdAge Power 150 and mentioned in David Meerman Scott’s book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR,” Wired PR Works houses over 700 posts and is ranked in the top 100,000 web sites in the US by alexa.com.

The founder of Chicago’s Social Media Club chapter, GM and Chicagonista recognized Barbara as one of Chicago’s social media leaders. Soho Magazine featured Barbara as “Chicago’s Social Media Maven” and NBC Chicago asked her to comment on social media.

Wired PR Works’ best-read post, “How to Quickly Become a Subject Matter Expert Using LinkedIn” was selected for inclusion in the “You’re the Expert” section in Larry Weber’s 2009 book “Sticks & Stones: How Digital Reputations are Created over Time and Lost in a Click.” Named as one of the top 30 PR experts to follow on twitter by ereleases.com,

Barbara is a frequent keynote speaker and an educator on the topics of leadership, communications, marketing and change. An early digital communications pioneer, Barbara launched her first site in 1996; managed the launch of a major retailer’s intranet in 1998; organized the first sold out wired writing conference in Chicago in 2002; led her first digital marketing and blogging workshops in 2004; began publishing her weekly ezine at www.savvysocialmedia.com in 2006; and created a digital marketing execution class for The Academy for Non-Profit Excellence in 2007.

Barbara earned her marketing degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and lives in Chicago’s western suburbs. In summer 2010, Barbara is honored to be featured, along with Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, Mari Smith and others, in Mitch Meyerson’s book, “Success Secrets of Social Media Superstars,” published by Entrepreneur Press. The mother of three, Barbara is friends with all of her children on Facebook. To find out what Barbara is up to – right now – follow her on twitter @wiredprworks.

Engagement Options

Speaking/Training: live, live broadcast or via teleseminar, includes built-in promotion and PR components

Strategy/Coaching: integrated marketing, blogging and public relations

Partnership: collaborative, consulting, creative or joint venture, 630.942.9542 or barbaraATcorywestmediaDOTcom

Blog Rankings

Top Marketing Content Blogs Junta42.com

Top 25 PR Blogs

adage-power150 alltop-badge prfriendlyindex

#32 world’s top 50 PR blog list

Bio Snapshot

Personal Tag: Communications Explorer Forging New Frontiers

Founder, CoryWest Media, LLC creating business for business and motivating community action since 1990

Web Publisher, Wired PR Works

Faculty, The Academy for Non-Profit Excellence

Photography Credits Include: NICOR, West Suburban Living, District 41, Glen Ellyn Economic Development Corporation, Healthy DuPage

Producer, Ultimate PR Secrets

Technorati

LinkedIn

Facebook

Friend Feed

Twitter @wiredprworks or @barbararozgonyi

Location: Western Suburbs of Chicago

Family: Mother of three lively teens, wife of a marathon runner/climber who’s completed 76 runs at or above marathon distance, owner of a miracle cat

Technology Highlights

1992 Submitted sales training project for Parke-Davis via dial-up modem

1996 Entered the Web with first site; up and running with a continuous Web presence

1998 Ran first user lab at Sears; evaluated a vendor’s online training compliance program at CEO’s request

1998 Managed the first intranet site launch for Sears

1999 Contributed to first Web-based recruiting brochure and Website for global consulting firm

2000 Populated content in Sears credit card privacy site

2000 Organized an all day ewriting seminar for writers

2001 Wrote ad concept messaging for a high-tech music/news player aimed at Gen Y

2004 Created the Success Summit Series, a marketing guide with a how-to blog component

2005 Released the Marketing Transformations Process, a 60 to 90 day intensive change-based consulting system

2006

Attended Alex Mandossian & Armand Morin’s Internet Marketing Seminar and Armand Morin’s Big Seminar

Completed Candidate University, a nine month program sponsored by National Speakers Association Illinois

Created and presented Video Marketing 101, one of the first video marketing programs in Chicago

Launched ezine and blog

2007

Launched a virtual PR mastery teleseminar series, Ultimate PR Secrets, featuring eight speakers

Attended Ken McCarthy’s The System Seminar and The System Intensive

Noted as a fastest growing WordPress blog – twice in one week

Ranked at #60 in PR Power Blog Index

Attended BlogHer ’07 on assignment to live blog

Won a trip to BlogWorld and New Media Expo in the LinkedIntelligence contest

Mentioned in David Meerman Scott’s book, “The New Rules of Marketing & PR

Taught Marketing Execution 301, 16 hours, at The Academy of Nonprofit Excellence for College of DuPage

Quoted in Christian Century about Financial Freedom, a debt management course

Profiled in Liberty Suburban News as “Perpetually Plugged In”

Presented Blogging for Business in Chicago, sponsored by PRO and Harris

Developed an Enlivened Writing Workshop for Women Employed

Created an Online PR presentation to present in Washington, DC

Interview by Elisea Frishberg on KTEK BizRadio Network – again in January 2008

Quoted in O’Reilly’s Women in Technology

2008

Featured as Online PR expert in “Market with Authority”

Guest blogger for Liz Strauss of Successful-Blog and named an S.O.B. [Successful and Outstanding Blogger]

Featured on womeninbusiness.com

Designed Hands-on Fear-Free How to Blog Workshop live events; presented in May

Attended SOBCon08

Attended The System Seminar members-only event in May

Attended Making Media Connections in Chicago

Social Media Events: Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Breakfast, ongoing Tweet-ups

Wired PR Works ranked at 46 on top PR blog list 06.07.08

Attended BlogHer08

October Workshop for IWOC: Social Media Sampler: Bite-Size Crunch=Super Size Networking

Multimedia

Ultimate PR Secrets virtual PR seminar, interviews with Dave Lakhani, Jody Colvard, Marc Harty, Rick Frishman, Dan Janal, Jill Lublin, Joan Stewart and Al Lautenslager

“How to Transform Your Company into a Customer Magnet” mp3 and “How to Fill Seminar Seats Using the Power of Free Publicity,” ebook and mp3

Need a speaker or workshop leader? Check Barbara’s schedule: 630.207.7530

Updated July 2010