Who we are.
Frontwood Strategies is a small but mighty strategic communications firm with its roots in politics and advocacy, and its focus on achieving our clients 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 the 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 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. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, son, and daughter.
Philippa Martinez-Berrier
As a Director 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.
Seth Nelson
As a communications strategist, Seth has worked on a variety of issues, including democracy reform, education, trade policy, climate change, and LGBTQ+ equality. As a Director at Frontwood Strategies, Seth specializes in overall communications strategy, messaging, national and local earned media placements, and speechwriting and opinion writing.
As Communications Director and primary spokesperson for the Maine Democratic Party in a critical election cycle, Seth helped local, state, and national campaigns communicate their progressive values to voters and make the case for why they should give Democrats a chance to lead. At SKDKnickerbocker, Seth worked with democracy reform nonprofits to change the political appetite for broad reforms on ballot box access, money in politics, and government corruption. He wrote speeches for clients working to ensure our approach to addressing the climate crisis includes all the tools at our disposal. And he helped survivor-led nonprofits oppose unjust federal policies that fail to protect sexual assault survivors’ civil rights to access their education.
Seth started his career in public service, joining AmeriCorps and working with an Alabama-based non-profit to help hardworking families prepare income taxes for free while avoiding exorbitant, negligent, and sometimes fraudulent preparers. Originally from Tennessee, Seth holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School as well as a master’s in business administration and a bachelor’s in marketing from The University of Alabama. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Zoe Jensen
Zoe Jensen is a Strategist at Frontwood Strategies, where she supports client teams and key administrative functions.
Prior to joining Frontwood Strategies, she worked in government and media. She engaged hundreds of volunteers across Maine as a Field Organizer for the Maine Democratic Party during the 2020 election. Her experience organizing during the pandemic taught her creative ways to engage online audiences. She also was the Press Intern for U.S. Senator Chris Murphy where she developed social media content, including a documentary on college food insecurity. As an intern at HBO Documentaries, we supported film releases by assisting with event planning, advertising, as well as press and talent relationships.
She graduated from the University of Connecticut where she used her communications skills to advocate for and pass an increase in Connecticut public education funding, sexual misconduct climate surveys for universities across the state, and student worker financial relief in light of the pandemic. She currently lives in New Haven, Connecticut.