Clark is a media futurist, journalist, and strategist whose work connects ideas across art, technology, and politics.She founded Dot Connector Studio in November 2013—clients have included the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, the Knight Foundation, the Wikimedia Foundation, the Internet Archive, and other philanthropic and media organizations. In 2022, she is serving as the Futurist in Residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is the co-author of Making a New Reality: A toolkit for inclusive media futures, published in 2020. In 2016, she co-founded Immerse — an online publication designed to spur creative discussion of emerging storytelling—and now serves as its publisher. Currently she is a research affiliate at MIT’s Open Doc Lab; previously she held fellowships at USC Annenberg’s Norman Lear Center and the New America Foundation. From 2011-2014, she served as AIR’s media strategist, working to develop the national public media transformation production Localore. From 2007-2011 she led the Future of Public Media Project at American University’s Center for Media and Social Impact. She has produced research and convenings with high-profile universities and media networks, including NPR, PBS, Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, USC Annenberg, and MIT. The co-author of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (The New Press, 2010), she was the Executive Editor at national news magazine In These Times, and has written for PBS MediaShift, the American Prospect and other outlets. She holds a BA/MA from the University of Chicago.
McLaren has over twenty years’ experience in web and print, as a web designer, editor, researcher, and marketing strategist. Her clients have included Benjamin R. Barber, Mark Crispin Miller, the Center for Media and Democracy, City Limits, Metropolis, David Byrne, and Tom Waits. She is the co-author of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor’s Guide to American Consumer Culture, published by an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. For over a decade, McLaren edited and designed Stay Free! magazine and its sister blog, Stay Free! Daily. Her media projects have been covered in many major outlets, including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, ABC-TV, and NPR.
Evan Walsh is a strategist, photographer, facilitator, and writer from Philadelphia. Evan has seven years of experience in co-creation practices, cultural organizing strategy, documentary and nonfiction storytelling, mission-driven producing, and facilitation with those invested in driving personal and community transformation. He has produced both hyperlocal and broad-reaching national social change initiatives with For Freedoms, the Guild of Future Architects, Sundance Film Festival / New Frontier, Cinereach, Pop Culture Collaborative, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, MOCA LA, Magnum Foundation, The ICP Museum, Guardian US, and more.
David has over 10 years of experience as an arts administrator and project and operations manager. He specializes in strategic planning, effect organization, and best practices for small businesses. Prior to joining Dot Connector Studio, David worked at Sentry Arts LLC, Studio IQL, and CWP Graphic Design Studio. He holds degrees from Westminster Choir College, University of Arizona. He also holds a certificate in Project Management from Temple University and a certificate in nonprofit management from Drexel University.
Em Costello is a photographer and digital artist based out of the Greater Philadelphia area. They earned a BFA from Moore College of Art & Design and have a demonstrated work history in the Philadelphia arts and culture sector. Em specializes social media & content management, newsletter creation, communications, database creation and management, copywriting and editing as well as public relations. They also currently work with WXPN as their Digital Marketing Content Producer and have previously worked with the Philadelphia Film Society, and WHYY.
Jenna Rines is a social worker, researcher, and resource curator. She earned a Master of Social Work degree and pursued a clinical career in acute and community healthcare settings before transitioning to program development and community-based research. She was a Social Work Health Futures Fellow and is interested in contributing to transformative responses to social and environmental inequities.
Donnelly has collaborated with businesses, nonprofits, universities, and independent media producers to create, evaluate, and amplify projects for social good. With a decade of experience in content creation and evaluation, she develops effective programs through research, strategic planning, and curriculum development. She has authored numerous engagement toolkits, including curricula addressing social issues including body image, substance abuse, and gender-based violence. Formerly a contributing writer for PBS MediaShift, she has written about the power of media to drive behavior in a range of journalistic and academic publications. Learn more: katiedonnelly.net.
We regularly collaborate with other independent consultants and small firms:
Mark Glaser is a media advisor and consultant with a focus on the sustainability of local and independent news, and worked as a Dot Connector Studio associate from 2019-2022. He supports organizations such as Knight Foundation, LION Publishers and Lenfest Institute for Journalism in communications, event planning, sponsorship sales and more. He is also the Director of Business and Program Development at the New Mexico Local News Fund, running a grant program, fundraising and supporting policy work. Glaser is the founder of MediaShift.org, an online publication covering the intersection of media and technology that was part of PBS for nine years. He lives in Santa Fe.
Gupta is a digital strategy consultant, author and community builder. She worked with Dot Connector Studio on a digital transformation project for The Kiplinger Letter. She spent more than ten years working in the news and media industries, first as a science and tech journalist and later as a product manager for organizations like National Geographic and the Atlantic. She works with clients on finding and understand new audiences, building out online community spaces, and envisioning more just and equitable media futures. Her first book, “How to Handle a Crowd”, was published by Simon and Schuster in 2020, and profiles online community moderators from across the internet.
Principal Nancy Watzman is an award-winning investigative journalist, researcher, and strategist with a focus on launching data-rich journalism projects on emerging platforms. Formerly Dot Connector Studio’s director of strategic initiatives, she has more than two decades of experience doing research, writing, strategy, communications, and policy analysis. Her reporting and commentary has appeared in many leading publications, including Harper’s Magazine, The Nation, The New Republic, USA Today, The Washington Monthly, and she has appeared on NPR, Fox News, and C-SPAN, and other networks. She is co-author, with Micah Sifry, of Is That a Politician in Your Pocket? Washington on $2 Million a Day (John Wiley & Sons, 2004).
San Francisco Bay Area-based impact and innovation consulting firm Multiply Bureau is led by Hannah Eaves. Hannah has worked with our executive director to develop rigorous methods of media impact assessment on and off over the last several years as part of a field-wide effort to help funders and outlets better track outcomes, experiment with emerging platforms, and become more sustainable. Dot Connector Studio worked with her on projects for the Knight Foundation. She brings to the table a wealth of experience in digital project development and innovation.
Joyce Rice is a designer and cartoonist with a focus in journalism, education, and advocacy. Dot Connector Studio worked with her to develop various illustrations for The Democracy Fund. She takes a multimedia approach to sticky design problems and develops graphics, comics, games, and other digital solutions for a wide range of clients. She believes fervently in the power of visual storytelling to create deep connections between audiences and complex content.