We partner with
exceptional teams
to tell their stories
Work we're proud of
WSJ
Forbes
Fortune
Insider
Fast Company
Inc.
TechCrunch
Bloomberg
Marketplace
Washington Post
CNBC
Cheddar
Yahoo!
WSJ
Forbes
Fortune
Insider
Fast Company
Inc.
TechCrunch
Bloomberg
Marketplace
Washington Post
CNBC
Cheddar
Yahoo!
“Hire CMAND, right now. Easily one of the best decisions I’ve made. They’re all action, no fluff. They’ll do the work to really understand your company and then get you the best press possible.”
What We Do
Retained strategic comms
We run the full stack of earned comms — announcements, media relations, speaking, awards, thought leadership, op-eds, and podcasts — from strategy to execution
Media training
We'll equip your speaker bench with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively engage with the media and communicate their message with confidence
Content marketing
We're committed to positioning your brand as a leader in your industry by creating and promoting compelling content that highlights your expertise and unique POV
Launch projects
We love to partner with early-stage and more mature businesses to announce major milestones — from funding to acquisitions
Organic social media
We manage brands' social media footprint, delivering holistic strategy and execution from copy to graphics
effort should equate to outcomes
act like an owner
#KEepitmovin
effort should equate to outcomes
act like an owner
strategy + execution
effort should equate to outcomes — and drive the business forward.
Where we spike
Fintech
Frontier Tech
AI
Funds (VC + PE)
“Wouldn't be here without you. Will be sending every founder I mentor your way.”
Who we are
CMAND was founded in 2019 by Chelsea Allison and Meg Stinson, who first worked together as the inaugural Heads of Marketing and Communications at Plaid. Our approach combines the best of two models: the reach of a traditional PR agency, and the rigor and speed of early-stage operators.
Chelsea Allison
Chelsea Allison
Chelsea co-founded CMAND after leading marketing and communications at Plaid, which she joined as the first marketing hire after the Series A. Before that, she was head of marketing at a cloud security startup, which was acquired by Barracuda. In a prior life, she worked in Features at Vogue, writing on art, food, and politics. Chelsea began her career as investment banking analyst. She went to Duke where she served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and then served seven years on its Board.
Jordan Washington
Jordan Washington
Jordan (Cathleen) Washington is an executive communications strategist based in Washington, DC. With 10+ years of experience under her belt, she specializes in developing thought leadership platforms and media relations strategies for Black and female founders and executives.
Makenzie Spiller
Makenzie Spiller
Before joining CMAND, Makenzie worked at Block, Inc., where she shaped the digital editorial strategy for their corporate newsroom and contributed to Square Inc.'s rebrand. Previously, at Edelman, she specialized in ESG program development and purpose-driven storytelling for brands like Nike, HP, and The North Face. A Gonzaga University honors graduate, Makenzie holds a Bachelor's in Public Relations & Marketing with a minor in Gender Studies.
Stephanie Chan
Stephanie Chan
Stephanie is a Bay Area native with 15+ years of experience in corporate brand reputation and crisis management. Before joining CMAND, she led privacy, security, and business communications at Instagram Previously, she developed and executed multimillion-dollar reputation and crisis campaigns for Fortune 100 companies, trade associations and organizations. She graduated from Berkeley.
Sasha Temerte
Sasha Temerte
Sasha joined CMAND as a communications strategist, and she has a special knack for storytelling. Her work in the operations and fraud departments of Synchrony and Ally Bank has offered her an analytical perspective on the intersection of business and technology. She graduated from Syracuse University with a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. with distinction in Writing and Rhetoric.
Sarah Ortmayer
Sarah Ortmayer
Sarah has spent a decade enhancing brand voices on social media. She is in building online communities and helping brands and execs resonate across social channels. Sarah has partnered with global brands ranging from Kindred Bravely to Accelerant, and she enjoys the challenge of advising companies that are B2C and B2B.
Helena Zarchan
Helena Zarchan
Helena brings over 15 years of experience in communications and marketing across technology, healthcare, and NGOs. Before COMMAND, she led UK communications at Spotcap and managed programs at Burson Cohn & Wolfe, supporting clients like HPE, Accenture, and Intel. A Harvard graduate with a BA in Government, Helena lives in The Bahamas with her family, enjoys tennis, and loves diving into a good book.
Meg Stinson
Meg Stinson
Meg co-founded CMAND after 15+ years in financial and tech communications. She led comms at Plaid, elevating fintech as a category, and directed marketing at AltX, acquired by Addepar. Her career includes leading communications and government affairs at UBS, BNP Paribas, and JP Morgan Chase across the United States, Canada, UK, and Latin America. Meg went to Penn, where she rowed crew.
Kira Wolfe
Kira Wolfe
Kira brings over a decade of strategic communications expertise to CMAND, with a passion for helping emerging brands craft and share impactful stories. Before CMAND, she partnered with B2B and B2C brands across AI, fintech, proptech, insurtech, and more. A University of Oregon graduate with a Bachelor's in Marketing, Kira lives in San Francisco with her family.
Kelly Reilly
Kelly Reilly
Kelly brings 20+ years of expertise in corporate communications, PR, and newsroom leadership to CMAND. She specializes in building reputation-enhancing programs and preparing executives for high-stakes public moments across fintech, tech, banking, and cybersecurity. Previously, she was Managing Director at Caliber Corporate Advisers and held roles at Plaid (launching financial industry comms), Wells Fargo, Bloomberg News, and USA Today.
Caty Bleyleben
Caty Bleyleben
Caty joined CMAND after leading communications at Sequoia-backed software startup Front. Previously, she was a vice president of media strategy at Inkhouse, where she supported fast-growing technology companies in SaaS, cybersecurity, consumer tech, venture capital and CSR & social impact. Earlier, she was the first PR and marketing hire for an angel-backed healthcare startup. Caty started her career at Edelman in Hong Kong.
Dominique Perkins
Dominique Perkins
Dominique is a strategic communications and human resources leader with a deep background in technology and financial services. She previously led internal communications and talent acquisition initiatives and teams at MITRE, Meta, AIG, and Goldman Sachs. Dominique graduated with a degree in English from Howard, where she served as student body president. When not working, she can often be found curating a themed dinner party for two or twenty.
Ali Moore
Ali Moore
Ali has spent her career leading strategic communications for emerging tech startups and venture capital firms across AI, healthcare, enterprise, developer tools, and fintech. She began her career in journalism at PBS NewsHour and Fox News before moving to Silicon Valley to focus on tech. Ali holds a Bachelor’s in International Relations and Journalism from George Washington University.
Fitzgerald Barth
Fitzgerald Barth
Fitz has more than 15 years experience leading corporate communications and product marketing at companies like Netskope and Laminar and at agencies. Fitz graduated from Trinity College with a Bachelor's degree in History. When he's not at home in San Francisco, he's usually in his car on the way to Lake Tahoe or Monterey (depending on the season) to get some good outdoor activities in!
Camille Stephens
Camille Stephens
Camille brings a diversified background to CMAND with strategic communications experience in NPOs, government, tech, Web3, and fintech. She has overseen and implemented comms programs for clients such as LA County, Checkout, and The Solana Foundation. Camille holds a Master’s in Public Policy from University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s from Chapman. She lives in LA and enjoys the beach, camping, and exploring the local food scene.
Riley Burns
Riley Burns
Riley is a strategic communications advisor who has worked with companies like Sierra, TurboTax, Coinbase, and Cape. She twice led Google Cloud’s flagship conference, managing news strategy and coordinating 100+ global media. While her career focuses on enterprise tech, she loves advising startup founders on media and content strategies. Riley holds a Journalism degree from the University of Oregon and lives in San Francisco.
Sandra Chu
Sandra Chu
Sandra has more than 20 years of experience across agency and in-house roles spanning communications, messaging, media relations, consumer education campaigns, reputation management, and issues management. She previously was head of corporate, policy, and safety communications at Reddit and Global Head of Security and Risk Communications at Visa. Earlier, she worked on campaigns doing opposition research. She lives in San Francisco with her family.
Hikari Swim
Hikari Swim
Hikari brings over a decade of expertise in graphic and web design to CMAND. Hikari has been recognized as an Adobe Design Achievement Award semi-finalist and certified Shopify Expert. She lives in Nova Scotia.
Katie Dolan
Katie Dolan
Katie got her start in comms in the world of politics, and she previously served as deputy national communications director for Andrew Yang’s 2020 presidential campaign. She specializes in deep research, strategy, and media relations. Katie earned a bachelor of science in physics and political science with an honors concentration in American Catholic studies from Fordham University. Once upon a time, she was on a game show.
Jill Harding
Jill Harding
Jill brings over a decade of experience as a journalist reporting on business and policy. Before COMMAND, she was senior producer for public programs at the US Chamber of Commerce. Her work has appeared on Yahoo Finance, CBSN, and Reuters, covering monetary policy, workforce development, and personal finance. Earlier, she produced for CNBC, covering the Federal Reserve and NYSE, and began her career at CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.
Chelsea Allison
Chelsea co-founded CMAND after leading marketing and communications at Plaid, which she joined as the first marketing hire after the Series A. Before that, she was head of marketing at a cloud security startup, which was acquired by Barracuda. In a prior life, she worked in Features at Vogue, writing on art, food, and politics. Chelsea began her career as investment banking analyst. She went to Duke where she served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and then served seven years on its Board.
Meg Stinson
Meg co-founded CMAND after 15+ years in financial and tech communications. She led comms at Plaid, elevating fintech as a category, and directed marketing at AltX, acquired by Addepar. Her career includes leading communications and government affairs at UBS, BNP Paribas, and JP Morgan Chase across the United States, Canada, UK, and Latin America. Meg went to Penn, where she rowed crew.
Ali Moore
Ali has spent her career leading strategic communications for emerging tech startups and venture capital firms across AI, healthcare, enterprise, developer tools, and fintech. She began her career in journalism at PBS NewsHour and Fox News before moving to Silicon Valley to focus on tech. Ali holds a Bachelor’s in International Relations and Journalism from George Washington University.
Angelina Bellucci
Angelina is a communications strategist and entrepreneur who founded a six-figure e-commerce business at 18. She later joined Fintech Nexus, now a CMAND portfolio company, where she managed large-scale newsletters and impactful campaigns. A Summa Cum Laude graduate of Pace University's Pforzheimer Honors College, she holds a B.A. in Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship with a minor in Finance.
Camille Stephens
Camille brings a diversified background to CMAND with strategic communications experience in NPOs, government, tech, Web3, and fintech. She has overseen and implemented comms programs for clients such as LA County, Checkout, and The Solana Foundation. Camille holds a Master’s in Public Policy from University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s from Chapman. She lives in LA and enjoys the beach, camping, and exploring the local food scene.
Caty Bleyleben
Caty joined CMAND after leading communications at Sequoia-backed software startup Front. Previously, she was a vice president of media strategy at Inkhouse, where she supported fast-growing technology companies in SaaS, cybersecurity, consumer tech, venture capital and CSR & social impact. Earlier, she was the first PR and marketing hire for an angel-backed healthcare startup. Caty started her career at Edelman in Hong Kong.
Creighton Vance
Creighton is a media relations veteran known for his insightful strategy, keen understanding of technology and easygoing attitude. He’s worked with teams in sectors ranging from consumer tech to quantum computing, spanning pre-seed to post-IPO. When he’s not working, Creighton can be found making music or taking up new hobbies. A graduate of UCSB, he grew up in the Bay Area and lives in Brooklyn.
Dominique Perkins
Dominique is a strategic communications and human resources leader with a deep background in technology and financial services. She previously led internal communications and talent acquisition initiatives and teams at MITRE, Meta, AIG, and Goldman Sachs. Dominique graduated with a degree in English from Howard, where she served as student body president. When not working, she can often be found curating a themed dinner party for two or twenty.
Fitzgerald Barth
Fitz has more than 15 years experience leading corporate communications and product marketing at companies like Netskope and Laminar and at agencies. Fitz graduated from Trinity College with a Bachelor's degree in History. When he's not at home in San Francisco, he's usually in his car on the way to Lake Tahoe or Monterey (depending on the season) to get some good outdoor activities in!
Helena Zarchan
Helena brings over 15 years of experience in communications and marketing across technology, healthcare, and NGOs. Before COMMAND, she led UK communications at Spotcap and managed programs at Burson Cohn & Wolfe, supporting clients like HPE, Accenture, and Intel. A Harvard graduate with a BA in Government, Helena lives in The Bahamas with her family, enjoys tennis, and loves diving into a good book.
Hikari Swim
Hikari brings over a decade of expertise in graphic and web design to CMAND. Hikari has been recognized as an Adobe Design Achievement Award semi-finalist and certified Shopify Expert. She lives in Nova Scotia.
Jill Harding
Jill brings over a decade of experience as a journalist reporting on business and policy. Before COMMAND, she was senior producer for public programs at the US Chamber of Commerce. Her work has appeared on Yahoo Finance, CBSN, and Reuters, covering monetary policy, workforce development, and personal finance. Earlier, she produced for CNBC, covering the Federal Reserve and NYSE, and began her career at CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.
Jordan Washington
Jordan (Cathleen) Washington is an executive communications strategist based in Washington, DC. With 10+ years of experience under her belt, she specializes in developing thought leadership platforms and media relations strategies for Black and female founders and executives.
Katie Dolan
Katie got her start in comms in the world of politics, and she previously served as deputy national communications director for Andrew Yang’s 2020 presidential campaign. She specializes in deep research, strategy, and media relations. Katie earned a bachelor of science in physics and political science with an honors concentration in American Catholic studies from Fordham University. Once upon a time, she was on a game show.
Kelly Reilly
Kelly brings 20+ years of expertise in corporate communications, PR, and newsroom leadership to CMAND. She specializes in building reputation-enhancing programs and preparing executives for high-stakes public moments across fintech, tech, banking, and cybersecurity. Previously, she was Managing Director at Caliber Corporate Advisers and held roles at Plaid (launching financial industry comms), Wells Fargo, Bloomberg News, and USA Today.
Kira Wolfe
Kira brings over a decade of strategic communications expertise to CMAND, with a passion for helping emerging brands craft and share impactful stories. Before CMAND, she partnered with B2B and B2C brands across AI, fintech, proptech, insurtech, and more. A University of Oregon graduate with a Bachelor's in Marketing, Kira lives in San Francisco with her family.
Mackenzie Kreitler
Mackenzie has a special affinity for healthcare tech, fintech, cybersecurity and B2B tech. She focuses on driving results with tailored strategies that align with organizational goals. She regularly secures coverage in outlets such as Bloomberg, Business Insider, CNBC, Forbes, Fierce Healthcare, Modern Healthcare, SC Magazine, STAT News and ZDNet.
Makenzie Spiller
Before joining CMAND, Makenzie worked at Block, Inc., where she shaped the digital editorial strategy for their corporate newsroom and contributed to Square Inc.'s rebrand. Previously, at Edelman, she specialized in ESG program development and purpose-driven storytelling for brands like Nike, HP, and The North Face. A Gonzaga University honors graduate, Makenzie holds a Bachelor's in Public Relations & Marketing with a minor in Gender Studies.
Riley Burns
Riley is a strategic communications advisor who has worked with companies like Sierra, TurboTax, Coinbase, and Cape. She twice led Google Cloud’s flagship conference, managing news strategy and coordinating 100+ global media. While her career focuses on enterprise tech, she loves advising startup founders on media and content strategies. Riley holds a Journalism degree from the University of Oregon and lives in San Francisco.
Sandra Chu
Sandra has more than 20 years of experience across agency and in-house roles spanning communications, messaging, media relations, consumer education campaigns, reputation management, and issues management. She previously was head of corporate, policy, and safety communications at Reddit and Global Head of Security and Risk Communications at Visa. Earlier, she worked on campaigns doing opposition research. She lives in San Francisco with her family.
Sarah Ortmayer
Sarah has spent a decade enhancing brand voices on social media. She is in building online communities and helping brands and execs resonate across social channels. Sarah has partnered with global brands ranging from Kindred Bravely to Accelerant, and she enjoys the challenge of advising companies that are B2C and B2B.
Sasha Temerte
Sasha joined CMAND as a communications strategist, and she has a special knack for storytelling. Her work in the operations and fraud departments of Synchrony and Ally Bank has offered her an analytical perspective on the intersection of business and technology. She graduated from Syracuse University with a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. with distinction in Writing and Rhetoric.
Sophie Jennings
Sophie brings over 15 years of storytelling expertise across fintech, AI, and healthcare. Sophie has helped companies of all stages – from startup to hypergrowth to Fortune 100 – achieve their business goals, working with the likes of Stripe, Stanford HAI, Carta, Intuit, and Serena Ventures. Before COMMAND, she was Senior VP at Outcast, leading the Emerging Tech practice. Originally from New York, Sophie now lives in San Francisco with her husband and young son, Bodie.
Stephanie Chan
Stephanie is a Bay Area native with 15+ years of experience in corporate brand reputation and crisis management. Before joining CMAND, she led privacy, security, and business communications at Instagram Previously, she developed and executed multimillion-dollar reputation and crisis campaigns for Fortune 100 companies, trade associations and organizations. She graduated from Berkeley.