Texas Advertising Group Officers

2008 TAG Officers

Find out more about the people running the organization.

Jocelyn Lai - President
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Biography:

Jocelyn was born in San Jose, California but raised in Austin, Texas. Jocelyn calls herself a forever "ad nerd:" she loves learning about the industry and thrives on its never-ending challenges and fast-paced personality. A very enthusiastic Texas Media student, Jocelyn's remarkable drive and energy complement her sincere interest and passion for advertising, which has led to, already, numerous accomplishments. She is currently a media associate at LatinWorks and plans on working in Chicago after graduation.

In her free time, Jocelyn enjoys jewelry and fashion design, fashion photography, and swimming. During her advertising career, Jocelyn plans on pushing for Asian-American marketing as well as working abroad in Asia. Jocelyn also has some plans to open a non-profit organization, utilizing her creative skills to serve the local homeless.

 

Kristin Cardwell - VP of Industry Relations
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Biography:

Kristin Cardwell is a double major in Advertising and Spanish, in the TexasMedia sequence, and has completed the Business Foundations program. Kristin is currently a media buying intern at GSD&M's Idea City, where she works on all of their accounts, primarily BMW, MasterCard, and AARP. She's had several internships under her belt, thanks to TAG!
In addition to being the VP of Industry Relations for Texas Advertising Group, she is one of the Co-Founders of TAGlines, TAG’s student-run ad agency that caters to pro-bono clients. A former University of Texas Cheerleader, Kristin enjoys working out in her spare time. Her passion is traveling – she studied abroad in Spain during the summer of 2006, and this past summer, she backpacked across Europe solo. She was just in Australia over the winter break.


Barrett Rogers - VP of Special Events
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Biography:

Barrett Rogers is Advertising Senior from Houston, Texas.  He is currently dabbling in both Account Service and Creative and is participating in the TexasCreative and Business Foundations programs. Barrett recently made the switch from PC to Mac, which has proven to be one of his greatest and most exciting learning experiences.

In his free time you can find Barrett at festivals and local music venues, as these are two of his most obsessive hobbies.  Two years ago he started his own freelance company called Creativity Bar. It is his mission to one day put an end to all Badvertising in hope of a better tomorrow.


Jennifer Grieger - Secretary of Special Events
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Biography:

Jennifer Grieger was born and raised in the north Houston suburb of Cypress, Texas. As of Spring 2008, she is classified as a second-year senior advertising major and a recent inductee of the Texas Media Program. Jennifer is excited and passionate about her future in the fast-paced advertising industry and is hoping to move to New York after graduation in May 2009.
When she is not working endlessly on a school project, Jennifer enjoys cooking fabulous meals for her roommates in their not-so-spacious west-campus apartment. Her favorite dish is Chicken Kiev, but she has a particular passion for anything chocolate. She also likes to reread the ingenious Harry Potter series, and is not at all embarrassed to admit that she is obsessed. Jennifer loves being a part of TAG and The University of Texas and will miss both terribly when she graduates.

 

Anita Kalaswad - Chief Financial Officer
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Biography:

Anita is a senior majoring in Advertising with concentrations in both Business and French.  Aside from having a close knowledge of French, she is also a native Spanish speaker; Anita was born in Argentina and moved to the U.S. when she was three years old.  She has been back to visit several times and has also traveled through other parts of South America, North America, and Europe. 
After her graduation in December 2008, Anita hopes to pursue her Masters in advertising at the University of Texas at Austin, focusing specifically in account planning; her curious nature and interest in the consumer's mind has led her to this specific area of the field. 
Anita's passions include traveling, cultures, and learning about people and she hopes to incorporate the three into her future career.

 

Laura Scullin - Publicity Diretor
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Biography:

Laura is an aspiring copywriter in the Texas Creative sequence with a concentration in Spanish and a general infatuation with words.  She lived in Germany at a young age and traveled most of Europe via stroller or high tops.
She considers herself a Texan but has also lived in Louisiana and California.
Laura is a 3rd year Advertising student and plans to graduate in December.
After graduation she intends on traveling to as many places as possible before officially enrolling in the real world.

Her obligatory list of interests include photography, art history, Rene Magritte, any music from the vein of Mississippi blues, slam poetry, analogies, blatant disregard for the rules of capitalization, English Premier League, ugly shoes, and all things culinary.  In fact, she would love to one day be referred to as a pastry chef extraordinaire

 

Danny Yirgou - Social Chair
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Biography:

Danny Yirgou is a 3rd year Advertising student, in the Texas Creative sequence, and Business Foundations program. Born and raised in the comfort zone of south Austin, he was raised on predominantly Tex-mex and loud music. While the Tex-mex has led to an unhealthy love for cheese, the loud music has led to a love for sound production and writing. In addition to being the Social Chair for TAG, he is also the Recruiting Chair for Texas Revue, the largest student talent show of UT. This annual tradition showcases a variety of acts for the university community to enjoy. After graduation, Danny hopes to revolutionize something. He is not sure what it will be yet.


Bart Kieschnick - Volunteer Coordinator
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Biography:

Bart is a senior advertising student and is currently completing the Texas Media Program. He has recently returned from his international studies abroad where he studied Spanish language and culture, and had a blast collecting passport stamps from many other European countries. He is currently employed as an Account Executive with Texas Student Media where he does advertising media planning and sales for his clients. He was recently nominated for the 2008 American Advertising Federation Stickell Award, which if granted will lead to a promising summer internship.  

He is extremely interested in gaining practical national and international industry experience through volunteer work and internships related to advertising and media. His interests include traveling, cooking, dance, and you-tubing. Bart is eager to move to Chicago, Illinois after graduation in December 2008.

 

Christina Vara

Rebecca Weiser - Secretary
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Biography:

Rebecca Weiser is an Advertising and Business Foundations Sophomore at UT. Raised in Houston, she loves being involved in her community. In addition to TAG, Rebecca teaches 11th graders at a local Sunday school in Austin. Hoping to one day change the world, she has also gotten involved in The White Rose Society, Student Government, Best Buddies, and Texans for Israel. Rebecca loves traveling. For her senior year of high school, she studied abroad in Jerusalem, Israel, and has gone back every year since. She is also going to Argentina this Spring Break for volunteer work. In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys reading, cooking, surfing the internet for the latest in advertising lore, and catching up with her friends. Rebecca is really excited to be your Secretary this year, and can’t wait to meet you!


Lee Steinfeld - Resume Book Chair
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Biography:

Lee is currently a junior from Dallas, TX. Ever since winning a logo design competition for Junior Achievement of Dallas's 50th anniversary in one of his advertising classes, he knew advertising was the way to go. While heading into the Texas Creative Sequence, he is interested in many fields of advertising. He hopes to have a career possibly in Los Angeles or Dallas and even to make his own agency one day. Advertising provides his creative side to shine.

Some of Lee's hobbies include the Texas Powerlifting team, working out in general, and a wide arrange of sports. He also only eats healthy food and is a rabid fan of the San Antonio Spurs basketball team even though he's from Dallas.

 

Ibrahim Kabil - Chief Technology Officer
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Biography:

Ibrahim is a 3rd year advertising major concentrating on interactive and web-design. He spent much of his early youth living in the Rio Grande Valley until he moved with his family to Egypt in 1995. After being deprived of modern technology for 3 years, Ibrahim returned home in 1998 to discover the internet for the first time, and has been obsessed with it ever since.

When he's not glued to his laptop, you can find Ibrahim at Barnes & Noble sipping on Starbucks coffee or flipping through the pages of the latest issue of Luerzer's Archive.