President & Founder
Jo is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and came to California looking to expand upon her skills as a dance concert producer. She began her career at Sony Pictures International Publicity and went on to work for several PR and event firms in Southern California with clients such as Motorola, Juicy Couture, The Gap, and Grey Goose Vodka. During 2006 and 2007, Beyersdorfer was the head of production and events for the Southern California Honda Helpful Campaign. The campaign gained great media recognition for it’s innovative marketing efforts and various events and initiatives. Having a varied background in the fields of events, marketing, entertainment and public relations, Jo decided to open JNB in 2007, to offer all of these services in one comprehensive firm. She lives in Hermosa Beach with her boyfriend Tyler and their miniature dachshund Oscar.
ABOUT OUR TEAM & PARTNERS:
PR Professional & Co-Director, Dirty Dancing Festival at Lake Lure
Michelle McConnell Yelton has produced noteworthy events across the United States featuring celebrities and public figures such as Charles Gibson and Serena Williams from the stages of ABC’s Times Square Studios in New York City to poolside at the W Hotel in Los Angeles with sponsors such as Grey Goose Vodka and Hewlett-Packard. Michelle of The McConnell Group, Inc. and Jo Beyersdorfer of JNB came together in 2009 to found and produce the 1st Annual Dirty Dancing Festival at Lake Lure in Lake Lure, North Carolina. The event was a huge success, yielding over 47 million press impressions internationally.
Prior to launching The McConnell Group Public Relations, Inc., Michelle worked as an account executive for Harrison & Shriftman in Los Angeles where she produced numerous Hollywood events including launch parties in Houston & Miami for Lara Shriftman and Elizabeth Harrison’s Fête Accompli Workbook, The Ultimate Party Planning Guide and Serena Williams’ birthday party two years in a row. Before joining Harrison & Shriftman, Michelle produced alumni events for American University’s School of Communication in Washington, D.C., where she simultaneously received her master's degree in Public Communication. While at AU SOC, Michelle executed two landmark events for the school including one at ABC’s Times Square Studios hosted by former Good Morning America meteorologist Tony Perkins, and the second at LA Center Studios hosted by Bill Maher (Real Time with Bill Maher) and featuring Barry Josephson (Executive Producer: Bones, Men In Black). Michelle lives in Lake Lure, North Carolina with her wonderful husband Michael and her 3-year old son Jackson.
Prior to launching The McConnell Group Public Relations, Inc., Michelle worked as an account executive for Harrison & Shriftman in Los Angeles where she produced numerous Hollywood events including launch parties in Houston & Miami for Lara Shriftman and Elizabeth Harrison’s Fête Accompli Workbook, The Ultimate Party Planning Guide and Serena Williams’ birthday party two years in a row. Before joining Harrison & Shriftman, Michelle produced alumni events for American University’s School of Communication in Washington, D.C., where she simultaneously received her master's degree in Public Communication. While at AU SOC, Michelle executed two landmark events for the school including one at ABC’s Times Square Studios hosted by former Good Morning America meteorologist Tony Perkins, and the second at LA Center Studios hosted by Bill Maher (Real Time with Bill Maher) and featuring Barry Josephson (Executive Producer: Bones, Men In Black). Michelle lives in Lake Lure, North Carolina with her wonderful husband Michael and her 3-year old son Jackson.
Event Designer
Luciana Venture has produced and designed events all over the world for clients such as Nintendo wii, St. Ives, BlackBerry, LG, Kenneth Cole, Axe, and others. Her work has been showcased at various high-end functions such as Sundance Film Festival and Mercedes Fashion Week. She has also designed permanent interiors for a major resort in Oahu, Hawaii, and has been asked to expand upon the project to other resorts across the islands of Hawaii. Luciana has brought a level of sophistication and creativity to several JNB projects with her designs, and is preparing to assist in JNB’s international expansion. Luciana lives in Hollywood, California and travels as frequently as possible to her beautiful native country of Brazil.
Administrative & Technology Manager
Bio coming soon...
Intern
Jordan Toppin is currently a Junior at Loyola Marymount University, majoring in Communication Studies and minoring in Business Marketing. She has had experience in event planning working with the nonprofit organization, I Live Here. She has also worked in film production, focusing on areas such as accounting and production. Since then, Jordan has been interning at JNB and is especially interested in pursuing a career in the areas of Marketing and Events. She will be studying abroad in Madrid, Spain for her spring semester and plans on graduating a semester early in the Fall of 2011.
Intern
Lauren Nunn is a current Senior at Loyola Marymount University and is set to graduate in May of 2011. She has been working in the student events office on her campus for four years now and has been managing the office for three years. Lauren served as her sorority’s social chair for one year before JNB. As social chair she planned six annual events ranging from socials and sisterhood events to philanthropy events and educational movie screenings. This past October she coordinated a week’s worth of events for the entire Greek community on her campus for their annual fundraising event resulting in over $12,000 dollars donated to local public schools. Lauren has aspirations of being an independent event planner in the near future and hopes to be living and working in San Diego in a few months when she graduates.
JOIN OUR TEAM:
If you are interested in a position with JNB, we are currently accepting resumes for 2011 internships, and account managers (entry level) starting in June of 2011. Please email resumes as a pdf attachment to info@jnbllc.com and check back to our website often for updated job postings.