Who We Are
Frontwood Strategies is a small but mighty strategic communications firm with roots in politics and advocacy. We help our clients achieve their goals. The firm offers strategic counsel, media training, message development, content creation, media relations, and social media management and draws on a network of partners to offer research, advertising, graphic design, and video production.
Nell Callahan, Founder
An award-winning strategist, Nell Callahan has worked across sectors and issues, including technology, health care, education, civil liberties and the economy. She founded Frontwood Strategies after more than a decade working with some of the nation’s largest brands and prominent advocacy campaigns. She works with business leaders, advocates and experts to develop effective communications strategies, messaging, and national and local earned media placements.
As Managing Director and Chief of Staff at SKDKnickerbocker, which was the Holmes Report 2018 Public Affairs Agency of the Year, Nell led effective campaigns across industries and policy issues. She worked with the government of Puerto Rico to frame the Island’s historic fiscal crisis as a humanitarian crisis, leading the charge for landmark legislation that gave them access to bankruptcy protection. She’s worked with leading women’s organizations to empower leaders and advance equality. She’s helped trade associations and corporations navigate crises and articulate their competitive advantages. And in 2013, she was part of the team that helped make marriage equality legal nationwide.
As Press Secretary for Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Nell developed a broad understanding of the political landscape, the mechanics of media and where decision makers turn for information. Prior to that, as a director at The Glover Park Group, she designed and executed an award-winning integrated campaign for the nonprofit Center for Constitutional Rights to promote the Center’s Guantanamo Bay–related legal activities and expertise. She worked at the national headquarters of the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign, and began her career at The Albright Group. She received her master’s degree in media and public affairs and her bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from The George Washington University.
Isa Gholston
Isa Gholston is an Associate at Frontwood Strategies, where he executes public affairs strategies on behalf of a wide variety of clients from nonprofits and advocacy groups to major international corporations. His work encompasses a broad range of public affairs strategies, from advancing media relations campaigns to crafting digital content and conducting detailed media monitoring and research.
Born and raised in central Maryland, Isa holds a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies from Loyola University Maryland and an Associate’s in Social Sciences from Howard Community College.
Zoe Jensen
Zoe Jensen serves as a Director at Frontwood Strategies, where she specializes in leading digital initiatives and effectively managing both organic and paid content strategies.
Before her tenure at Frontwood Strategies, Zoe's professional journey included roles in government and media. As a Field Organizer for the Maine Democratic Party during the 2020 election, she led the engagement of volunteers across the state.
While working for U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, Zoe refined her digital acumen. She played a pivotal role in crafting social media content, including a compelling documentary addressing Connecticut's pressing issue of college food insecurity. She also worked with the HBO Documentaries Media Relations department to assist the platform with event planning, advertising, and nurturing vital relationships within the press and talent sector.
Zoe is an alumna of the University of Connecticut and proudly calls New Haven, Connecticut, her home.
Chris Lisi
Chris Lisi is Senior Counsel for Frontwood Strategies. For nearly 25 years, Chris has worked with top businesses, innovators, NGOs, and thought leaders to shift policy, market, and media environments throughout her career. Her passion for and expertise in policy and public affairs was first sparked by a White House internship where she worked for Vice President Al Gore. In the more than two decades since, she has advised three presidential administrations and served as deputy chief of staff and senior communications strategist in the United States Senate. Chris has also advised several U.S. Government agencies at pivotal moments, including helping the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to implement the Affordable Care Act and the Peace Corps celebrate its landmark 50th anniversary. She was Google's Director of Trust Strategy, where she managed various complex global, national, and local regulatory issues related to competition, privacy, and more to build user trust with the over 1 billion Google users of the company's products and services.
Chris has advised clients for more than 15 years as a consultant and trusted advisor on public affairs, consumer marketing, and other nationally and internationally important issues. She has also held senior roles at global public relations and marketing agencies, including the Glover Park Group (now Finsbury Glover Hering) and FleishmanHillard.
Chris has been an adjunct professor at George Washington University and Georgetown University, where she helps to prepare the next generations of communications leaders. She is a graduate of Rutgers University, has completed graduate courses at Georgetown University, and lives in Washington, D.C., where she obsesses over her kids' education, the best new restaurants, and caring for foster dogs in need of forever families.
Philippa Martinez-Berrier
As a Vice President at Frontwood Strategies, Philippa Martinez-Berrier develops, manages, and executes communications and public affairs strategies, including media relations and third-party stakeholder engagement for nonprofit clients. She plans national and local earned media campaigns and directs content creation and social media for clients on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. Her work also includes helping clients tell their stories through engaging written thought pieces.
Previously, Philippa worked at Giant Noise, a public relations firm in Texas where she helped hotels, bars, restaurants, and music festivals garner national and local press coverage. Prior to that, she was at SKDKnickerbocker in Washington, D.C. working with Fortune 500 companies and advocacy organizations, responding to crisis situations and providing communications support.
Hailing from San Antonio, Texas, Philippa graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor's degree in Government and a minor in Hispanic Studies.
Don Schaefer
As a Vice President at Frontwood Strategies, Don specializes in creating digital media campaigns across owned and paid media channels that help clients reach their most important stakeholders with messages that resonate and drive action to their desired goals. He has led impactful awareness and advocacy campaigns for local, state and national brands and organizations across a variety of sectors and industries including tech, energy, healthcare and education.
Before Frontwood Strategies, Don worked at APCO Worldwide and the Curley Company where he helped lead teams across the digital and paid media practices, creating and executing integrated communications strategies to educate, engage and encourage action among key audiences. His experience includes grassroots and grasstops advocacy, brand awareness, demand and lead generation, and issue education campaigns. Prior to that, Don started his career at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), producers of CES, helping to elevate the brands and consumer technology industry, engage association members and drive support on key legislative issues.
Don graduated from James Madison University with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, he currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Tara Schultz
As a Director at Frontwood Strategies, Tara Schultz leads and supports client teams in developing strategic communications plans and supplemental project plans across communications channels.
Tara is an established communications professional with extensive experience in message development, social media management, media relations, and graphic design. Previously, she worked with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership to manage digital communications and generate engagement around important conservation policy issues. Prior to that, she was an Associate with Good Insight, a Washington, D.C.-based executive search and governance consulting firm.
Tara holds a bachelor’s degree in studio art from Ripon College and a master’s degree in arts management from American University. Originally from central Wisconsin, she now lives in Washington, D.C.