Media & Social Media Awards Judging Committee

Kristin Marquet is a publicist, brand strategist, and creative director with seventeen years of experience across more than 500 brands, over 100 of them in luxury and fashion. She is the founder of Marquet Media, a PR and brand studio for women founders, and of Maison Marquet, the parent house for her portfolio of editorial and advisory ventures.

Marquet has spent her career on a single question: why capable founders with strong businesses are so often misread by the markets they serve, and what closes the gap between how good the work is and how it is understood. Her practice pairs publicity with positioning, helping women founders earn press, sharpen their brand narrative, and build visibility that compounds rather than exhausts.

Her own commentary has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and Inc., and she has been featured on the covers of Success Magazine Monaco and Entrepreneur Magazine New Zealand. She has appeared on Fox News San Diego and PIX11 New York, and has been interviewed across national and international outlets on branding, publicity, and the modern founder economy.

Marquet is the author of two Amazon bestselling books, including Publicity Jumpstart: 10 Ways to Get Your Brand Featured in the Press, with two further titles forthcoming. She founded and edits FemFounder, an editorial platform on positioning, visibility, and growth for women founders, where she has interviewed and published founders across industries on the decisions that changed their businesses. Through The Tenure, her advisory practice, she provides fractional marketing leadership to fashion, beauty, and wellness brands.

She holds a Master of Science from New York University, a certificate in artificial intelligence and machine learning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed coursework at Northwestern University. That combination of creative practice and technical training shapes how she advises founders on visibility in an era when discovery is increasingly mediated by search and artificial intelligence.

As a judge for the Women in Business Stevie Awards, Marquet brings the eye of someone who has evaluated hundreds of brands from the inside: how a company positions itself, how clearly its value comes through, and whether its growth is built to last. She is drawn to founders who have made hard, deliberate decisions rather than chased volume, and to businesses whose substance matches their presentation. Her assessment tends to reward clarity, evidence, and staying power over polish alone.

Marquet works from New York, where she runs her studio and portfolio while raising her family. She is a longtime advocate for women building businesses on their own terms, and much of her work, editorial and advisory alike, exists to give those founders the visibility their work has already earned.

Robyn Baker is an international speaker, award-winning business leader, and Founder of Busy Connecting, with over 40 decades of expertise in grants, tenders, strategic growth, and partnership development. Robyn is recognized for her ability to connect strategy with execution - helping organizations secure funding, win competitive tenders, and scale with clarity and purpose.

A consumer finance professional with years of experience in banking

Gillian Berry is a plant based wellness content creator, educator, and digital media founder. She has built a global audience through YouTube, social media, recipes, interviews, juicing resources, and Club Raw, making plant-forward living practical, approachable, and nonjudgmental.

Gabriela Etchelecu is an environmental scientist and executive with 25+ years of experience in sustainability, consulting, and marine conservation, including roles at the Smithsonian. A former MarViva Director and Aspen Fellow, she influenced public policies, led climate projects. Currently, she is a professor at USMA and Executive Director of ILASA.

Zhongqi Fu is an award-winning creative designer who excelled across healthcare, AI, renewable energy, and B2B SaaS. Now a Senior Product Designer at Reveleer, she previously led high-impact design initiatives for multiple unicorn startups. She is also a devoted mentor who guides junior designers in developing their craft and career paths.

Eric Hards is a creative director who translates complex technology and strategy into clear, compelling stories. Over nearly three decades at Lockheed Martin Space, he helped build the company’s internal agency model and led teams at the intersection of design and business. He also teaches visual communications and mentors emerging creatives.

Gen is a visual effects artist with over ten years of experience in film and television post-production. He contributed to major productions at FuseFX New York, including The Changeling, American Horror Story, and The Diplomat, and worked on Forza Motorsport. He is currently a Senior Technical Artist at TEKsystems.

Danting Li is a Senior Graphic Designer and Co-Founder of SparksGlo, leading creative direction for branding, digital platforms, and marketing campaigns. She manages end-to-end design across CMS and e-commerce projects, from concept development and visual strategy to final delivery. Danting is also the curator of YOSN Art Series, a globally distributed e-magazine series.

Vocational education professional with PhD in Hospitality with experience at universities, authored training content for professional diplomas in tourism & hospitality. Recently, served as Expert coordinator in BTEC at the Ministry of Education - Jordan. His expertise includes assessment, internal verification, curriculum and content development, strategic planning, and accreditation.

Yuqian Tao is a global e-commerce and social commerce leader with over eight years of experience driving digital commerce innovation across China, the UK, and the US. Yuqian brings deep expertise in influencer marketing, the creator economy, livestream commerce, marketplace growth, and building category-leading businesses across global digital ecosystems.

Jianing Wei is an AI product designer specializing in human-AI interaction for complex systems. She has contributed to a multimodal AI initiative supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, translating complex biomedical data into accessible tools for interdisciplinary research communities. Her work has been recognized by 20 international design awards.

Pingyu Layla Zhan is an internationally recognized Art Director, graphic designer, and visual artist based in Los Angeles. Her interdisciplinary practice spans typography, publication, visual identity, packaging, digital image making, and installation, with a focus on transforming emotional, psychological, and cultural experiences into visual form.