About

Lighthouse Creative is a
full-service content agency.

Lighthouse Creative was founded in 2017 with the belief that all content should be good content. We work with some of the most influential companies on the planet to make sure everything they do — from social media stories to sales decks to TV spots — looks, sounds, and feels like a million bucks (even if it costs less).

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter
Co-Founder

Sam Slaughter is the co-founder and IT Director at LHC. He’s had a long storied career as a startup exec and Content Guy, including stints as CMO of Contently, Producer at NY1, and freelance writer for the New York Times. Sam was also a DJ for a number of years, at a series of bars and clubs nearly all of which are (coincidentally, he maintains) now out of business. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the journalist and author Jessica Bennett, and their dog Charles.

Rich Tong
Rich Tong
Creative Director / VP Product

Rich Tong is a designer and developer with more than 15 years of experience building digital products and companies. Most recently, he was the co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Fohr, one of the world’s first influencer marketing platforms. Previously he was the co-founder of Weardrobe, a fashion community that was acquired by Google, and one of the early employees of Tumblr. He’s also built products for a variety of teams and individuals, including Amazon, Andela, Chanel, The New York Times, Lynda Carter, and more.  He lives in Canada with his wife, daughter, and very influential Samoyed.

Nina Hazard
Nina Hazard
Sr. Project Manager

Nina Hazard has more than 20 years experience working in media, marketing,and project management in the technology and finance industries. Prior to joining Lighthouse Creative as the lead project manager, she worked at a mutual fund and a family office managing prospective investors and deal flow. Prior to her time in financial services, she was a senior account executive at Outcast, in San Francisco, and RacePoint, in Boston, both technology and healthcare PR agencies. Nina graduated from the University of Texas when South by Southwest was still just a music festival.

Matthew Rothenberg
Matthew Rothenberg
Senior Editor

Matthew Rothenberg has three decades of experience managing digital content programs for media and corporate clients. He is an expert in building workflows to streamline the creation of targeted content for websites, social media, newsletters, print and more. He is a pioneer of multiplatform content operations that unify a distributed team behind the strategic goals of clients, maximizing both quality and efficiency. Past projects include the US launch of Campaign, Haymarket Media’s advertising-industry brand; creation of a digital newsroom for technology news outlet eWEEK; and establishment of a unified digital workflow for Considerable.com, a site for older Americans. He is the co-author of You’re Better Than Your Job Search with TheLadders.com CEO, Marc Cenedella.

Langa Chinyoka
Langa Chinyoka
Content Strategist

Langa is a writer and newly minted content person. She started at LHC in 2018 when it was a newly minted content agency. At LHC, Langa handles in-house projects, social media, and writes the newsletter as well as the occasional blog post. She has 4+ years of experience with social media management and can most often be found on Instagram.  Her writing can be found on The Paris Review, and A24’s Notes, amongst other publications.

Kenzo Nakawatase
Kenzo Nakawatase
Content Strategist

Kenzo Nakawatase is a creative content specialist at LHC who for 2+ years has been responsible for a range of B2B marketing initiatives as an editor, copywriter and project manager.  He specializes in crafting customized content in a range of formats: blogs, emails, white papers, ad copy and social media.  Previous to LHC he had an eclectic professional background, most recently as director of The Lenfest Center, a non-profit community center that provides programming and services to young people and their families.  His work in media includes time at Comcast, on-air and website management for community radio stations, and the requisite blogging of the mid 2000’s.   He graduated from UMass-Amherst with a BA in history and a minor in Understanding Massholes.  

Kelsey Brunone
Kelsey Brunone
Director, Performance Marketing

Kelsey is a marketing technologist with expertise in demand generation, and sales and marketing operations. She has worked in performance marketing and analytics for 15 years conceptualizing, executing, and optimizing acquisition campaigns for a diverse industry set, including digital marketplaces, non-profits, and SaaS. When she’s not fixing your marketing systems, she’s busy fostering cute puppies, much to the chagrin of her actual dog, Maverick

John Hazard
John Hazard
Co-Founder

John Hazard is a content strategist and the founder of Lighthouse Creative Group. He is the former VP of Enterprise Services at Contently, where he was an early employee who helped design the software experience and built the Contently Freelancer network. John has led content strategy engagements for global brands including JPMorgan Chase, Philips, Sallie Mae, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He studied history at Rutgers University, but ended up a journalist when he took a weekend job writing the obituaries at a local paper and fell in love with newsrooms.

Heather Freiser
Heather Freiser
VP Clients

Heather Freiser is Lighthouse Creative’s VP of Client Service. She has more than 12 years of experience building award winning content and social programs for enterprise brands. She’s a journalist at heart, having previously led Bloomberg Television’s flagship closing bell show, Street Smart. She’s also the owner of Beginnings, a literary-themed restaurant in Long Island, NY.

Guy Cimbalo
Guy Cimbalo
VP, Content

Guy Cimbalo is VP of Content for Lighthouse Creative. Having served as Head of Content for Uncubed, created branded video and editorial content for brands like IBM, Amazon, and Buzzfeed; created the first official web presence for “The Simpsons”; and edited the A&F Quarterly, Abercrombie & Finch’s groundbreaking magalogue, his experience in digital content dates back to before it was even called “content”. His freelance writing has appeared in New York, Entertainment Weekly, Playboy, The Village Voice, Complex, and Maxim.   

Eliza Martin
Eliza Martin
Content Strategist Emeritus

Eliza Martin was a writer at Lighthouse for over two years before she joined the team as a content strategist. Her media experience includes working as a digital producer at WQXR, New York Public Radio’s classical music station, and 3+ years as a proofreader at the New Yorker. She recently got her MFA from Hunter College—and now she’s writing a memoir about estrangement, East German spies, and secret families. She’s since graduated to a much cooler job working for David Byrne, but we like her too much to take her off the website. 

Anthony Miller Jr.
Anthony Miller Jr.
Creative Project Manager

Anthony Miller, second of his name, joins us as our designer and illustrator. Freelancing since attending Pratt Institute, he brings his experience working with a range of clients, from start ups to corporate firms, such as UrbanOne. He is a passionate artist with a knack for visual storytelling. He’s also a musician and comic artist under the name.

Francesco Saviano
Francesco Saviano
Producer

Francesco Saviano has been working in New York’s film industry for fifteen years as a writer, director, producer and cinematographer for both studio productions and his own independent production company. His films have appeared in premiere festivals both in the United States and abroad, including the Vancouver International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and the New York Television Festival in NYC. Through his production company Unarmed Media, as well as through his strong relationships within the filmmaking and entertainment industry, Francesco has been directing and producing films and commercials all over the world. He is currently directing Out of the Ring, a feature documentary on professional boxers and the long-shot nature of becoming a champion in one of the most unforgiving of all sports.

Jacquelyne Pierson
Jacquelyne Pierson
Project manager / photographer

Jacquelyne Pierson is an experienced photographer and visual artist whose work centers on the complexities of emotion and intimacy, as it relates to the fragility of the human body. She’s also a seasoned project manager, runs a thriving photography practice, and holds an MFA from The Pratt Institute. She lives in New York City with her partner, Andrew, their son Rocky, and their two rescue dogs, Ayla and Murphy.

Jon Mackey
Jon Mackey
Software Developer

Jon Mackey is an experienced software developer who’s proficient in a number of programming languages and frameworks including Javascript, PHP, SQL and more. He carries deep expertise in AI and natural language processing, but squanders it building bots that generate fictional NBA players, Cocteau Twins songs, and the like. As owner of the coffee company Heliopolis, he failed to attract a lawsuit despite prominent use of a now-retired N.B.A star’s likeness and name on a number of products.  He denies being the author of the fictional streetball history Mad Handles.

Dasha Merkusheva
Dasha Merkusheva
Editorial Director

Daria (Dasha) Merkusheva was born in Moscow and left home as a 16-year-old exchange student bound for Kansas City. After graduation, she returned to Russia and worked as a reporter for the Moscow Times and the Bureau of National Affairs (now Bloomberg). She went on to become a BBC News producer, traveling wherever the news broke and winning the Sony Gold Award for her radio team’s work in 2005. After eight years of broadcasting and covering wars, revolutions, and politics in the former Soviet Union, Dasha moved to New York City where she rekindled her passion for coding and began helping software engineers write about their tech innovations in plain English.

Adam Laukhuf
Adam Laukhuf
Writer

Adam Laukhuf is a writer, editor, digital content strategist and creative consultant living in New York City. He’s a veteran of national media outlets like Vanity Fair and the New York Observer, where he was Executive Editor, and the arts and travel magazine The National, where he published work by Pulitzer Prize-winning writers and Poet Laureates as Editor in Chief. He has also served as Editor-at-Large of the lifestyle glossy Man of the World, Executive Editor on the luxury relaunch of Maxim, and as an editor of special projects and branded content for New York magazine, DuJour and the Hollywood Reporter. As a content specialist, Laukhuf has launched more websites than he can count and consulted extensively for startups, luxury brands and digital media projects, including Gucci, Casamigos and the Yale School of Medicine. He recently co-wrote the bestselling book Big Macs & Burgundy, which was named one of the best books of the year by Food & WineSaveur and Town & Country

Jesse Brukman
Jesse Brukman
Director, Content Strategy

Jesse Brukman is a recovering lifestyle writer and editor specializing in travel & hospitality and all things food & drink. Most recently, he was the Executive Director of Content & Strategy at Time Inc., overseeing digital media and branded content campaigns for brands such as Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, and Departures. In previous lives, he built and operated a branded content studio at Thrillist, was the founding editor of successfully acquired BSC Media, and interviewed Lebron James at a press event for a tractor company. He lives in the West Village with his much smarter book editor wife and only a little bit smarter daughter.

E. James Ford
E. James Ford
Web Developer

E. James Ford been working on the web since 1997. His first job involved building websites for tourism boards in the Caribbean and Africa. Since that time he has developed websites and online strategies for many companies in the non-profit, higher education, governmental, creative arts, and fashion/nightlife industries.  He currently lives in Brooklyn with his dog Freya.

Jon Mercuri
Jon Mercuri
Director, Design

Jon Mercuri is a multi-media designer, producer and project leader based in Pittsburgh, PA. He specializes in high-efficiency creative problem-solving with a decade of experience in B2B marketing. When he’s not hard-at-work behind a computer screen, he enjoys hiking through the Pennsylvania wilderness, getting lost in music, or working on countless DIY projects at home (ask him about his pond!)

 

Judy Wong
Judy Wong
Senior Designer

Judy Wong is a veteran design and art director with over 20 years of experience. She’s worked in publishing, at tech startups, and with agencies on just about any kind of project you can imagine, from directing magazine shoots on down to designing infographics. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, 4 kids, and 1 chubby rabbit.

Miriam Brisbin
Miriam Brisbin
Project Manager

Miriam Brisbin is a solutions-oriented comms professional and hails from the traditional comms and PR realms, with measurable successes in both marketing and corporate communications for clients spanning the government, private sector, and non-profit/ advocacy spaces. She has since focused more on digital and creative project management, working with clients like IBM, Adobe, and Amazon Alexa. Miriam currently lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and french bulldog Pepper.

Jamie Fass
Jamie Fass
Social Strategist

Jamie Fass is a social strategist. She focuses on weaving storytelling together with strategy without losing sight of a project’s operations that will encourage success. Before joining LHC, she did brand strategy and digital marketing for brands in the hospitality, lifestyle, and wellness space, and was the Chief of Staff of a small restaurant in New York City. She graduated from Barnard College at Columbia after studying Economics and Gender. Currently based in Denver, when she’s not at her desk she can be found cooking or looking for the closest thing to New York-style pizza.

 

Sam Dart
Sam Dart
Content Strategist

Sam Dart is a writer and content strategist. Prior to joining LHC, he was based in Saigon, where he contributed freelance pieces to outlets like the South China Morning Post, co-founded a digital marketing agency, and documented the city’s many hidden tennis courts on his blog. Sam graduated from the University of Michigan; his CV includes a link to his SoundCloud page.

Rudley Dorce
Rudley Dorce
Intern

Rudley Dorce is a self-described millennial residing in Long Island and working as a gear in the Lighthouse machine. In previous roles he’s been a lacrosse coach, sanitation worker, and Atlantic Beach’s best valet parker. He’s into sports, music, tech and self-improvement.

Alison Napolitano
Alison Napolitano
Bookkeeper

Alison has more than a decade of bookkeeping experience in the hospitality and construction industry. Like most great bookkeepers, she also has a BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts. She lives by the beach with her husband Rich, son Vincent, daughter Giada, and dog Sioux. Alison is a big fan of music, comedy, Stephen King, and margaritas.

Brianna Stelfox
Brianna Stelfox
Designer

Brianna Stelfox is a designer for LHC who is enthusiastic about design and loves to try new ways of creating. She comes to us with a background in architectural and interior design with a passion for graphic and print design. She takes inspiration from textiles, Japanese and Scandinavian design and of course, architecture. When she’s not working, she loves sewing, ceramics, running and photography.

Emily Kanner
Emily Kanner
Project Manager

Emily Kanner is a Brooklyn-based project manager and designer. She has been using the internet inconsistently since 1995. As a project manager she has managed the creation of websites, buildings, and advertisement campaigns. As a human she manages the creation of full dishwashers, made beds, grocery lists, and broken hearts.

Tim Barker
Tim Barker
Producer

Tim Barker is a senior video producer at LHC who claims to have “never had a real job”, and is “good at Internet stuff”. Tim began his career as an assistant on feature films such as Argo, and Silver Linings Playbook. He was a director of photography for VICE news on HBO, and has produced countless commercials over the span of his decade-long “career”.

Tamara Sevunts
Tamara Sevunts
Writer

Tamara Sevunts is a copywriter for Lighthouse Creative. Out in the wild, she’s a multi-hyphen with a background in the performing arts and clowning, and wields experience making children’s edutainment content. In her spare time, she writes movies and poems, reads fortunes in coffee grains, and collects languages to add to her six fluent ones.

Richard Sharp
Richard Sharp
Product Marketing Lead

Richard Sharp is a fractional CMO and the CEO of partner agency Boombox, Inc. He collaborates with LHC on marketing and content strategy, sales enablement, and more. In past lives, he was the CMO/VP of Marketing at SimpliField, Networked Insights, Emissary, and Contently. He splits time between Austin and New Orleans, where he lives with his beautiful, genius wife and energetic, lovable dog Starla.

Marika Hacking
Marika Hacking
Video Editor

Marika Hacking is a New York based editor, director, cinematographer, illustrator and co-founder of the production company, Unarmed Media. Along with her commercial editing work for a diverse range of clients from Verizon to NPR, Marika has traveled the world shooting narrative and documentary film. She is passionate about storytelling and bringing to life the personal journeys and issues faced by underrepresented people and communities.

Mallory Beck
Mallory Beck
Account Director

Mallory Beck is a senior marketing strategist with a track record of driving complex marketing strategies (B2B and B2C) in fast-paced, high growth environments. She has more than 12 years’ experience, most recently at Amazon Pay as the Global Head of Marketing Operations. Her channel expertise includes integrated cross-channel demand generation, account-based marketing, event management, baking, and dogs.

Lesley Gibson
Lesley Gibson
Copy Editor

Lesley Gibson is a writer, editor, and content strategist with more than 15 years of experience creating marketing communications for top universities and arts organizations, including NYU, Northwestern University, Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, among others. People love to tell her that she “asks a lot of questions.” She lives in Harlem with her husband and their aggressively affectionate toddler, where she spends most of her free time watching old episodes of Frasier.

Gage McCall
Gage McCall
Jr. Designer

Gage McCall is a graphic designer and photographer based in Orlando, FL. He specializes in a wide range of artistic mediums. When he’s not on duty with his LightHouse Crew, you can find him experimenting with photography, hanging out with his grandma, or jamming out to Taylor Swift.

Jim DelCioppo
Jim DelCioppo
Editor

Jim is a veteran media and communications professional with over 25 years of experience in journalism, content creation, digital and print media strategy, graphic design, brand marketing, and product development. He was previously a managing editor at the New York Post and has also been involved with launching several new products in startups environments. Outside of work, he’s a proud husband and father of two young children, one of who is more famous than he’ll ever be — see Mommyyyyyy! on YouTube.

Laura Brothers
Laura Brothers
Social Strategist

Laura Brothers is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience working with businesses of all sizes. She believes in clean, engaging copy and loves the Oxford comma and em dash equally. Hailing from Western New York, she now lives in Brighton, UK (but travels often).

Lighthouse
Lighthouse

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Ollie
Ollie

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Charles
Charles

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Penelope
Penelope

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Daisy
Daisy

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Fern
Fern

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Ayla & Murphy
Ayla & Murphy
Maverick
Maverick

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Calypso
Calypso
Pepper
Pepper
Po
Po
Sunny
Sunny
Tanker
Tanker
Freya
Freya
Baker
Baker
Duchess & Ollie
Duchess & Ollie
Shabazz
Shabazz
Stevie
Stevie
Augie & Capo
Augie & Capo
Work With Us

Open roles.

Work With Us

How we work.

We are invested in the growth of both our clients and our team. We always respect our clients’ humanity, even when their requests are superhuman. We fully believe that work/life balance is compatible with being an always-responsive, letter-perfect services business.
4 day work week
401k
Employee-owned company
Health insurance
Dogs and kids encouraged in meetings
Snacks (delivered 2 yr home)
Sick merch
Quarterly profit-sharing