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Intro
Welcome to my PR space. I am a public relations specialist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. My unique skill set includes 4 years of creating buzz in the blogosphere, social networks, and traditional media. For more info about my background and accomplishments, see my story .Favorite Quote
"I treat my professional life the same way I do my personal life. And I measure success the same way—by how much fun I'm having, and by how much fun I'm creating around me." - Merv GriffinWhy MySpace?
You might be wondering, why did Denis build a professional MySpace page instead of a traditional website? Because communication is a two-way street. A traditional website would limit me to talking at you; in contrast, this social-network enables us to have a dialog.The MySpace logo.
My Story
Immigrating to AmericaMy family immigrated from Kharkov, Ukraine to the Silicon Valley in 1990. I am a proud member of the Jewish community as well as the Russian-speaking community. In fact, I created the largest Facebook group for Russian speakers .
An Aeroflot plane.
First Media Coverage
In 2002 at age 17, I was first exposed to the power of the media. At the time, a powerful California legislator was trying to raise the smoking age to 21, so I took a stand against age discrimination by testifying against the bill. Although the committee only included a handful of people, my message was amplified by coverage in an AP article . I received support from friends, classmates, and even people I had never met. The bill eventually died. It was a life changing experience.
Making Noise
In 2004, 2 friends founded a company called AnchorFree . The company began with an ambitious project: covering downtown Palo Alto with wireless internet access. In '04 covering a neighborhood with wireless internet was unheard of, so while it should have been a big deal, the media was not paying attention. I stepped in landing AnchorFree local media coverage as well as national attention .
First PR Job
AnchorFree's co-founders were so impressed with my work that they offered me a job as the company's Communications Director. I couldn't pass up the opportunity so I took (what I thought would be a short) break from college and went on to work there for 2.5 years. During my time there, I helped land the company lots of media attention including: The New York Times , The Washington Post , The San Francisco Chronicle , etc.
My work, San Francisco Chronicle front page story .
Publicity for Positive Change
In early 2004, a professor at my school made extremely anti-semitic remarks in the campus newspaper, so I used my PR skills to inform the public. In addition to landing press coverage , my PR work resulted in the anti-semitic professor being featured in a book which lists the 101 most dangerous professors in America .
In late 2004, an acquaintance of mine who happened to be a Muslim student from Kuwait, was pressured to see a therapist after writing a pro-American essay in poli-sci class. I was appalled and used my PR skills to inform the public. The story was in many media outlets including ABC Nightly News, Fox News, and The 700 Club.
The list of important causes goes on and on.
First Company
In January of '07 after assembling a solid group of co-founders, I launched a company called Uloop . The website is campus marketplace for college students. We launched at UC Santa Barbara and have expanded out to 20 additional schools since January of this year. My role in the company has been overall communications strategy as well as day-to-day management of 20 campus marketing reps across 10 Universities.
Here's a recent feature story about my company .
Me promoting Uloop.
PR Consulting
In 2008, I chose to leave Uloop to work in public relations full-time. My big project right now is working as Manager & Publicist for Max Vangeli , a very talented house music producer and DJ. Additionally I'm working on some fun freelance projects with tech companies locally. Always interested in exploring new opportunities.