Janet White, President
The JW Speakers Agency
jwhite@jwspeakrsagency.com (972) 517-7503
Company president Janet White did her first booking at 16 with New York City’s top deejay, “Cousin” Bruce Morrow,” and her second booking at 20 with world-renown Broadway composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. In one way or another and in one form or another, Janet’s been in business-to-business sales, marketing or public relations ever since.
After stints as a reporter at Newsday and Operations Assistant at WABC-AM when it was the #1 radio station in America, Janet got a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from New York University, and spent 12 years as a commercial real estate writer and publicist – nine of those years with her own PR agency in New York and Dallas, where she moved in 1990.
While representing some of the largest companies in the industry in both cities, Janet was a freelance writer for many of the industry’s leading magazines – both under her own byline and as a ghostwriter for clients – including Buildings, Business Facilities, Journal of Property Management, National Mall Monitor, National Real Estate Investor, Stores, Urban Land and World Property.
In 1996, Janet switched gears and began a 14-year career as an outside sales rep of durable medical equipment in Texas and Oklahoma. After working for two dealerships and a major manufacturer, Janet became an independent rep for patient care, bariatrics and patient handling equipment.
In 2010, Janet came back to her B-to-B public relations roots and created The JW Speakers Agency to bring together local business owners who use free speaking as a way to build their business but don’t want the hassles of getting booked, and local business, civic and consumer groups who use free speakers but don’t want the headaches of having to find them.
Barbara Larrabee, Account Executive
The JW Speakers Agency
blarrabee@jwspeakersagency.com (214) 755-2725
Covers Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman, Navarro and Rockwall Counties
There are people who just work in sales, and then there are those who love the sales process of reaching out to people, connecting with them and providing them with something they want or need in way that benefits everyone concerned. Barbara Larrabee is one of those salespeople you simply want to work with over and over again because she’s just so nice.
A former sales account representative with Action Company, Inc. in McKinney, Barbara was one of the top producers for this telemarketing call center for the world’s largest wholesale distributor in the equine industry. During her 12 years there, Barbara generated $4.8 million in product sales working with approximately 600 accounts in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
Like many salespeople, Barbara tried her hand at entrepreneurship, starting a retail sales company with $500 and growing it to $200,000 in annual revenue with a product line of men’s and ladies’ clothing in Grass Valley, California.
During the 16 years she had that company, Barbara motivated, managed and trained approximately 400 independent contractor sales representatives for 16 years and personally executed person-to-person sales with approximately 20,000 customers.
Previously, Barbara was co-owner of First Western Mortgage in Grass Valley, where she originated and processed conventional, FHA and VA home loans, refinances, builder take-out loans and hard money seconds.
Cathy Rosen, Account Executive
The JW Speakers Agency
crosen@jwspeakersagency.com (972) 984-9854
Covers Denton, Cooke, Hill, Hood, Johnson, Parker, Tarrant and Wise Counties
As a highly experienced sales professional, native Texan Cathy Rosen learned a long time ago that selling really isn’t about transactions; it’s simply about helping other people.
Prior to joining The JW Speakers Agency as the company’s booking agent in the western half of Dallas/Fort Worth, Cathy was Business Manager – Cosmetics, at Nordstrom in Frisco. In that position, she was responsible for supervising the counter sales staff, as well as ensuring that her department’s sales met or exceeded its quotas.
Previously, she was Retail Cosmetic Manager at Macy’s in Fairview, where she implemented marketing strategies which resulted in an average of 75 new customers per month generating a 40% growth in revenue. While at Macy’s, Cathy was named one of the top 10 sales performers in 2010 and 2011, and named employee of the month for Macy’s in Fairview in 2010.
Before launching her cosmetics career, Cathy was Senior Sales Director /Implementation Analyst for ACI Merchant Services and a Resource Analyst/Asset Reconciliation/Budget Analyst for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Cathy holds an MBA from SMU’s Southwestern Graduate School of Banking, and a B.A. in bank administration from the University of Wisconsin.
Andre Costa, Web Videographer/Marketer
Orion 21
andre@orion21.com (214) 717-5757
For some people, web videos are a form of blogging, while for others it’s a way to catch movies and TV shows they may have missed. But for web videographer Andre Costa, web videos – from YouTube to websites to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – can be the key to making your sluggish sales soar.
A native of Brazil, Andre combines decades of experience in technology, business, storytelling and video production to create powerful, yet cost-effective promotional videos that are scripted, produced and marketed online to maximize Google page rank and increase traffic and conversion to a client’s website through his company, Orion 21.
Before starting Orion 21 in 2007, Andre contracted to many corporations and served as eLearning Director for ReachLocal, an internet marketing company, where his duties included web video production focused on marketing, recruiting and sales. Andre was directly involved in script writing, storyboarding, Chroma Keying, video editing and web distribution.
Andre was previously a project manager for McAfee, an IT security provider, where his focus was on ecommerce, employee training and IT development. In that position, he created a number of training videos and managed the online learning system for the company’s 3,500 global employees.
As an expert in elearning, Andre delivered over 400 webinars and numerous live training and presentations to classes from 2 to 200, and managed development of business-to-consumer and business-to-business systems on behalf of his clients. A highly experience public speaker, Andre won seven Toastmasters Storytelling competitions.
Orion 21 is a web video production company specializing in small business and e-learning programs for medium and large organizations. Along with Andre, the staff includes an Allen TV director who has won five Emmys and more than 200 other video awards. The company is partnering with Allen TV to produce a documentary that aired on Allen TV in Fall 2012.
Beginning in 2013, Andre will provide web video production and marketing services for our speakers in Dallas/Fort Worth.