| Inspiring Behavior Change for Sustainable, Healthy, |
SPARKS 2024 Speakers |
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 | Claire Nitsche Health Educator, Washington State Department of Health A Case Study in “Scientific Off-Roading": Social Marketing on the Front Lines of the PFAS Response in Washington State |
| Sian Wu Managing Director, Resource Media Cutting through the politics of abortion care Fundamental to Sian’s approach to her work is leveraging cultural power for community engagement and social change. In her role as the managing director of Resource Media, a nonprofit creative change agency, she is a trusted partner for community health partners in the Seattle, King County region, providing communications capacity for video and content production, advertising, earned media and social promotion, while staying attuned to the needs, messaging and bandwidth for BIPOC-led organizations. She continuously expands and improves her approaches through her work as an instructor of multicultural marketing at the University of Washington’s CommLead program. As a part of her solidarity work to support communities directly, she is a board member for AMT Up 3D, a Black-led nonprofit that fosters wellness, leadership and economic opportunities through the sport of double dutch. Her board work for The International Examiner, the Pacific NW’s longest running AAPI-led and serving newspaper, provides a unique lens into cross-generational and place-based leadership through storytelling. Sian’s current and past clients include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Public Health, Seattle & King County, If/When/How, Center for Multicultural Health and the Department of Energy and EPA under the Obama administration. |
| Joel Kohlstedt Partnership Manager - Waste Reduction and Innovation, Waste Management Reducing Textile Waste with Existing Latina Online Communities Joel Kohlstedt is WM’s Partnership Manager for Waste Reduction and Innovation. With over a decade in the recycling industry, Joel is driving innovative programs to increase recycling and reduce waste. Joel’s expertise includes using research, data, and pilot programs to engage residents and foster behavior change in multicultural communities, at multifamily properties and in communities across Washington State. Want to learn more? Ask him about engaging Latinas to reduce textile waste or helping schools reduce waste and boost nutrition by transitioning from milk cartons to dispensers! Joel is a graduate of the University of Washington and former president of the Washington State Recycling Association. |
| Jade Monroe Food Center Lead, Washington Department of Ecology Use Food Well: Empowering smarter choices to fight food waste Jade Monroe is the lead for the Washington Center for Sustainable Food Management (Food Center) at the Department of Ecology. She has a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Natural Resource Management from North Dakota State University, where her research on resilient systems won local and international awards. Her work at Ecology focuses on leading the Food Center, increasing education and awareness, and implementing the Use Food Well Washington Plan, Washington’s roadmap to meet the 2030 food waste reduction goals. When not focused on food waste, Jade enjoys the exploring the culinary arts and playing music with her band in Tacoma, Washington. |
 | Katherine Diers Account Director, PRR Use Food Well: Empowering smarter choices to fight food waste Katherine is a senior associate director of marketing and communications programs at PRR. She specializes in managing complex projects from start to finish with a focus on environmental marketing. Katherine has developed behavior change campaigns for issues including food waste, oil pollution, hazardous waste, electronics, and medicines. |
| Erica Stineman Communications Manager, Washington Traffic Safety Commission Erica Stineman is the Communications Manager at the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and has been with the Commission since 2012. There, she manages public education campaigns aimed at changing driver behavior to make Washington’s roads safer for everyone. She lives in Olympia with her two daughters and her cat, Pepper. |
| Mark Fox Senior Account Director, Desautel Hege Communications Mark Fox is Senior Account Director at DH, a social impact agency based in Seattle and Spokane. At DH, Mark leads public education campaigns that promote safer roads, healthier communities, and thriving ecosystems. Mark is a graduate of Seattle University and currently lives in Oakland, CA. |
| Megan Schuyler Kennedy Creative Director, Rogue Heart Media SPC Self-Competition for the Win: How Individualized Goals Energize Change Megan Schuyler Kennedy is a documentary filmmaker and founder of Rogue Heart Media SPC, a B Corp Certified nonfiction media studio celebrating 13 years in Spokane, WA. She leads a team of nonfiction filmmakers and dynamic social marketers who are committed to developing and publishing media that makes a difference. For the past five years, Rogue Heart and the City of Spokane have evolved the Water Wise Spokane campaign to help shape water conservation and stewardship programs that reflect the needs and values of the region they serve. Megan holds a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Production and Management from WSU, and carries a guiding belief that everyone has a role to play in positive change. |
| Kristen Zimmer Conservation Program Manager, City of Spokane Water Department Self-Competition for the Win: How Individualized Goals Energize Change Kristen Zimmer is a social marketing practitioner with a focus on sustainable water resource management. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Natural Science Education from Eastern Washington University and is a Certified Irrigation Auditor. Kristen has worked with the City of Spokane for over 10 years, where she designs and leads initiatives that encourage responsible water use and conservation. Her work explores the intersection of community behavior and environmental stewardship, with a focus on creating accessible, impactful campaigns. Kristen also oversees community outreach efforts and creative asset development, all with the goal of fostering a deeper, collective commitment to preserving water resources. |
| Nikki Meline Social Marketing & Public Health Campaign Manager, Washington State Department of Health Finding The Insight Nikki Meline (she/her) is the Social Marketing and Public Health Campaign Manager in the Executive Office of Public Affairs and Equity at the Washington State Department of Health. In this role she supervises a team health educators who lead all the social marketing campaigns at the agency. Her team works on approximately 30 campaigns per year, on a wide variety of health topics. Nikki previously served as the Cannabis Health Educator, leading the cannabis prevention and education campaigns at DOH. Prior to her time at the Washington State Department of Health, Nikki was a Health Educator in higher education with a focus on substance misuse prevention, suicide prevention and mental health promotion. |
| Carey Evenson EVP, Creative Services + Strategy, C+C Finding The Insight Carey leads C+C’s creative, content and digital teams in helping clients articulate their creative vision to bring about meaningful behavior change. She believes the best work comes from successful collaboration, a focus on insights, and a healthy dose of grace and humor. Under Carey’s leadership, C+C develops the full spectrum of creative and content: high-profile PSAs, outdoor and TV ads, branding, integrated digital strategies and web experiences — all designed to reach the right audiences, at the right time with the right messages, often in 20+ languages. |
| Crystal Hall Professor in Public Service and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington Crystal C. Hall is John and Marguerite Walker Corbally Professor in Public Service and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington. Her research pursues the integration of psychology into the design and implementation of social policy. She has collaborated with government agencies at the local, state, and federal level—including having served on the Federal Office of Evaluation Sciences and the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team. Her recent book (co-authored with Mindy Hernandez) Antiracist by Designoffers the tools and a roadmap to an antiracist approach to applied behavioral science. She holds a PhD and MA in Psychology from Princeton University. In addition, she holds a BS from Carnegie Mellon University in both Decision Science and Policy and Management. |
Molly Burke
Outreach and Education Specialist, Whatcom County Public Works
Using social marketing for Paw-sitive Behavior Change
Peggy Campbell
Senior Planner Education & Outreach, Snohomish County Surface Water Management
Encouraging DIY Households to Install Solutions Themselves: Did it work?
Camellia Mortezazadeh
Director of Strategy and Insights, Civilian Agency
Never a Bother and Live Beyond: Elevating Diverse Youth Voices in California’s Historic Youth Mental Health Awareness and Outreach Campaigns
Sophia Fall
Sustainability Coordinator, City of Bellevue
Effective heat pumps messaging for skeptical homeowners
Doug Mckenzie-Mohr
President, Mckenzie-Mohr & Associates
Ten insights from the 4th editon of Fostering Sustainable Behavior
Jennifer Tabanico
President, Action Research
Ten insights from the 4th editon of Fostering Sustainable Behavior
Presentations
Note: Presentation titles are subject to change
Use Food Well: Empowering Smarter Choices to Fight Food Waste
Jade Monroe & Katherine Diers
The way to motivate people to waste less food is not through environmental messaging – but cost savings. Consumers we surveyed were overwhelmingly motivated to adopt behaviors to reduce their food waste when learning that food waste costs them at least $1,500 every year.
Using Social Marketing for Paw-sitive Behavior Change
Molly Burke
Everyone says the pick up after their dog, but piles left on trails say something else. Creative engagement solutions can help tease out the realities and create a window for behavior change conversations.
Encouraging DIY Households to Install Solutions Themselves: Did it work?
Peggy Campbell
People love to be empowered! They have shown their willingness to roll up their sleeves and follow step-by-step guidance.
Self-Competition for the Win: How Individualized Goals Energize Change
Megan Schuyler Kennedy and Kristen Zimmer
Water Conservation can be a big, vague, and often philosophical topic - but by getting personal with participants who sign up to compete against their own household’s past water use, citizens connect with and see the impacts of their behavior change in real numbers, dollars, and water used. Rather than focusing on rule-following or competing against their neighbors, participants are invited to work as a team in their own household, learn to improve their habits, and take pride in their real, measurable savings.
Finding The Insight
Nikki Meline & Carey Evenson
You have so much information, now what? This talk will show attendees how they can apply a strategic framework to identify an insight for their campaign that will then help drive the program and creative strategy.
A Case Study in “Scientific Off-Roading": Social Marketing on the Front Lines of the PFAS Response in Washington State
Claire Nitsche
Sometimes, communities aren't the ones who "need" behavior change - sometimes, it's the agencies responding.
Cutting through the politics of abortion care
Sian Wu
Audiences typically get divided into "pro-life" and "pro-choice" camps. But when it comes to audiences who are most susceptible to abortion criminalization, political views become a lot less relevant. Instead, we focused on discovering behaviors and needs through keyword research (tricky when dealing with an issue that carries so much stigma and threat), and reaching them through a combination of search, forums, ads and influencers.
Never a Bother and Live Beyond: Elevating Diverse Youth Voices in California’s Historic Youth Mental Health Awareness and Outreach Campaigns
Camellia Mortezazadeh
This presentation will showcase Civilian Agency’s unique youth co-creation approach in the recently launched Never a Bother youth suicide prevention and Live Beyond Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) awareness campaigns, developed through the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), a five-year historic investment transforming the way California supports children, youth, and families.
Effective heat pumps messaging for skeptical homeowners
Sofia Fall
Most heat pump marketing features clunky appliances and confusing rebate structures. A more effective marketing strategy uses humor to connect with consumers around the experience of being comfortable at home.
Ten insights from the 4th editon of Fostering Sustainable Behavior
Doug McKenzie-Mohr & Jennifer Tabanico
This presentation highlights key behavioral change insights that you can incorporate into the programs you deliver.
Reducing Textile Waste with Existing Latina Online Communities
Joel Kohlstedt
You can connect with communities that aren't related to your desired behavior through virtual platforms, and program results are more impactful and longer lasting when they come from the community itself.
Yes, this frantic attention to detail is necessary! DUI prevention, party culture and connecting with young adults
Erica Stineman
Mark Fox
Behavior modeling is more effective if you do the work of reflecting your audience’s experiences back to them.
Prevent Overdose WA: The use of a phased research approach to help save lives in Washington State
Chantel Wang
How a comprehensive six phase research approach was able to gather iterative insights from hard-to-reach audiences, challenging assumptions and narrowing campaign focus.