The Office of Strategic Communications and Relations

Michele DeMarco

Director of Communications, Marketing, and Strategic Relations

Michele leads the extraordinary team responsible for telling CIIS stories every day—stories that reveal the resilient and transformational nature of an integral education and the CIIS experience. A senior officer of the University, Michele works closely with CIIS’ President, Brock Blomberg, and other senior officers to advance CIIS’ mission and strategic goals.

Michele came to CIIS with comprehensive leadership experience in higher education and both the non-profit and private sectors. In her time at CIIS, four of her digital and print campaigns won UPCEA Marketing Awards in the field of professional, continuing, and online education; her writing has likewise earned national awards. Michele also brings extensive experience in conflict transformation and crisis management.

A native Bostonian, Michele holds master’s degrees in world religion and ethics, comparative culture and conflict, and psychology, via a consortium comprising Harvard University, Boston College, and Boston University. She also studied Marriage and Family therapy at Antioch University. In addition to being a member of staff, Michele is a PhD candidate in Integral and Transpersonal Psychology, writing her dissertation on the trauma of moral injury. She is the “parent” of a 33-lb Maine Coon cat named Sebastian.

Svetlana Smironova

Assistant Director of Integrated Marketing

Svetlana (Sveta) is an essential member of the department, driving integrated marketing projects for strategic audiences and designing and executing campaigns to deliver against top-level University strategic goals. She combines high-level strategy with tactical, hands-on orchestration. She works in a cross-collaborative manner with the community to steward the CIIS brand and develop programs that support our mission and values. 

Sveta holds master’s degrees in Linguistics and International Business, and comes to CIIS with a background in business consulting. She especially enjoys developing new processes and synergies across the University.

In her free time, Sveta creates amazing ceramics at a clay studio in San Francisco.

Crystal Nohelani Erlendson

Assistant Director of Creative Services

Crystal (she/her) serves as the lead visual storyteller for CIIS. She is responsible for aligning and driving the creative vision for the University to achieve strategic goals and objectives. Working in alignment with marketing, strategic relations, web, trademark and licensing, University events, division leaders, and vendors, Crystal produces best-in-class creative assets from conception to completion for projects and campaigns that bring the CIIS brand to life across all platforms.

Crystal came to ACTCM in 2014 as a Communications Manager and began consulting for CIIS Communications in 2016. She has directed CIIS videos e.g., “Ideas Are Born Here” and “Work That Matters”, webinars e.g., “Cultivate Calm with Chinese Medicine”, ceremonies e.g., Chinese New Year and CIIS Commencement, and events e.g., “Healing Our Opioid Crisis”. She has given art direction for CIIS websites, educational campaigns, and social media.  Crystal has a Master in Fine Arts in painting and performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Design and Studies.  

Outside of CIIS, Crystal is a multimedia producer, artist, and mother of two with 15+ years dedicated to learning, creating, and questioning in the spheres of community and mental health, film, ceremony, indigenous futurism, and matriarchy. She has been council and advisor to filmmaker Sky Hopinka for over a decade, supporting his experimental documentaries and art films. Her interests in media revolve around embodied makings, community health inquiries and justice work involving storytelling, myth, romantic reimagining, and mother-centric valuing.

Mustafah Greene

Assistant Director of Web Strategy and Development

Mustafah (he/they) plays an essential role in the Communications department, working as web strategist, technical developer, and web design lead. They work with CIIS leadership, marketers, analysts, admins, program managers, writers, video producers, and photographers to create a dynamic rich experience for visitors to the website. They also play a role in leveraging the University’s holistic digital footprint within the context of CIIS’ overall communications and marketing positioning strategy, and partner with University stakeholders to identify goals, set measurable objectives, gather requirements, and implement the vision into digital reality. Mustafah oversees a team of web and SEO developers who support the editor community, offer content strategy, user experience and analytics consulting; and create and uphold digital governance to impose clarity and consistency on the website. Mustafah has been with CIIS since 2014. 

Outside of CIIS, Mustafah is digital and mixed-media artist whose work orients towards reimagining and reclaiming culture in the pursuit of liberation. In their work, they’re often searching for and playing with ways to insert vibrant imagery into contemporary dialogues, particularly the ways in which we move through the practice of recognizing joy in the midst of struggle. Ultimately, their art exists in the liminal space of the abstract and surreal to reconnect people to their ability to imagine themselves and the future in new ways.

Check out Mustafah’s art! www.mustafahgreene.com

Andrew Martin

Senior Media Relations Manager

Andrew heads up CIIS's internal and external media relations, coordinating media coverage of CIIS leadership, faculty, students, academic research and managing the University's thought leadership with regional, national, and international media.

Andrew Martin comes to CIIS with more than 15 years’ experience working in strategic communications and media relations with a focus on education, poverty and homelessness, criminal justice reform, population health, and health care affordability. He previously led communications for The Open Society Foundations (Soros), The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, The New York Academy of Medicine, and Volunteers of America, among others. Prior to this, Andrew served as a journalist with KQED-FM and the New Haven Register, where he covered social issues. Andrew attended Bennington College and received his BA in Journalism from San Francisco State University. He is an avid baseball fan and enjoys exploring hiking trails throughout the Bay Area.

Danielle Freiman

Creative Services Manager

Danielle (she/her) is responsible for supervising creative output for CIIS from early concept stages through production, as well as allocating resources across multiple, and often complex, projects at a time, ensuring that work is delivered on time to the required level of quality. Danielle also helps with design, producing compelling collateral materials for the University, including branding assets, event flyers, brochures, ads, web and social media graphics, among others.

Danielle has a background in interdisciplinary art from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and values collaboration, good fonts, and all things printed. In her free time she makes zines and other handmade goods centered around mental health and healing.

Anna Franchi

Web Services Manager

Anna is responsible for the tactical management of the CIIS website, including monitoring and responding to Zendesk requests, conducting content management system (CMS) training, and providing support to the editor community. 

In addition to her work responsibilities, Anna is also a Clinical Psychology (PsyD) student at CIIS; her research and clinical work focuses on attachment between mothers and infants and community mental health.

Before joining CIIS, Anna worked in Public Relations and Marketing in the US, UK, Italy, Chile, and Indonesia. She is fluent in Italian, German, English, Spanish and French. Anna holds a Master’s in Counseling Psychology, a Master’s in Arts Administration and a Bachelor in Ancient Oriental and Classical Studies.  

Nelson Melgar

Multimedia Specialist and Production Manager

Nelson Melgar brings his creative eye, sensibilities, and technical skills to conceptualize and produce multimedia projects that highlight the programs offered within CIIS and communicate the mission and values of the university.

Nelson’s professional experience includes camerawork for national network news and network sports coverage, cinematography for short films, music videos, and videography services for individuals, organizations, and events.

Through his work in photography and video, Nelson continuously seeks to grow as an artist using the camera as a mode to explore aesthetics, culture, and place, while documenting and sharing the stories that are constantly unfolding around us.

Jennifer Masciocchi

SEO & Marketing Analytics Manager

Jen fell into CIIS’ sweet embrace after 11 years of editing and digital marketing for individual writers across the western U.S., with a particular focus on Vedic approaches to health, philosophy, and spirituality. She combines expertise in search engine algorithms, web analytics and publishing platforms, with digital marketing strategies to maximize the volume and quality of inbound organic traffic to CIIS websites.

Jen works remotely from Fairfield, Iowa, where she and her husband purchased their first home. She enjoys updating the 140-year-old structure, playing the piano, and doting on her Pomeranian, Andre.

Alice Lin

Graphic Designer

Alice joined CIIS in 2022 as the lead graphic designer for CIIS. She brings a design eye and a wide range of experience in print and digital design, marketing, logo design, and website building for nonprofits and small businesses. Prior to joining CIIS, Alice was the Communications and Sales Director at Arion Press and previously the Communications Director at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. She also art directs and designs for the Litquake Foundation. She earned her BFA in Graphic Design from RISD and BS in Computer Science from University of Chicago. When away from the computer, Alice enjoys hand-making books, bicycling, and rock climbing.

Christina Fanciullo

Writer/Editor

Christina Fanciullo comes to CIIS via Harvard Libraries, where she has worked for the past few years coordinating access at the business school. Aside from traditional librarian duties, Christina has built up several passion projects, including a permanent collection of Black thought leadership books, and collections and programming for Pride. Simultaneously, Christina works as the Books Editor for a pop culture website, where she oversees a small staff writing book reviews and producing a podcast. She also previously worked at the MIT and Emory Libraries, and has an MTS in Comparative Religion from Harvard Divinity School.

Jacqueline Legazcue

Social Media and Digital Content Manager

Jackie (she/her) loves building community and connections through storytelling. She is a digital content strategist who specializes in social media, photography, and integrated marketing. At CIIS, she focuses on highlighting the values and vision of the University through digital platforms.

Jackie enjoys artistic adventures and becoming fully immersed in producing creative, professional pieces. She has photographed inspiring activists and award-winning poets, documented Native American oral traditions, and ran a TEDx media crew. Her previous social media campaigns have been featured in Inside Higher Ed. She attended Pitzer College and earned Bachelor's degrees in both Media Studies and English with a minor in Studio Art. 

When she isn't collaborating on a social media campaign, Jackie can be found performing improv, raising endangered butterflies, exploring caves and Basque culture, photographing rescue animals, practicing Tai Chi, or volunteering with environmental programs.

Rhonda Reliford

Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Rhonda Reliford comes to CIIS with eighteen years of experience building client relations in fast-paced environments among some of the world's leading organizations. Rhonda's experience includes seven years in the travel industry, working as an international travel consultant, a Director of Sales and Marketing, and an Assistant General Manager of a resort property. Prior, she managed various projectsacross twenty-seven states for two fortune 500 companies.  

Rhonda earned her B.A. in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Valdosta State University and will begin her graduate studies at CIIS in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness this Fall. Rhonda is interested in the nature of consciousness from the perspective of Ancient and Modern philosophy. She is a passionateresearcher of phenomena that challenge mainstream scientific paradigms regarding the nature of the mind/body problem.