We’ve assembled a team of approximately 15 marketing professionals with their own individual specialties and years of experience. We then customize a specific team for your project allowing you to use an individual service or take advantage of our expertise for an entire turnkey project. Some of our key players include:
Vicki Garcia
President – Copywriter – Editor – Proofreader – Print Production Management
Vicki Garcia brings more than 28 years of experience in production management, editing (Chicago & AP styles), copy writing, proofreading, advertising and printing to Marketing À La Carte. She began at a daily newspaper, then worked as a proofreader and production manager for an advertising agency.
Her love of the printing process inspired her to represent commercial printers, serving such companies as Disneyland, Hyundai, Quest Diagnostics, Yamaha and Verizon. She gained a reputation among her clients as being detail-oriented, knowledgeable, dogged and all about service—delivering on-time and on-budget.
Starting in 2002, she made broader use of all of her skills as senior marketing manager/editor for Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts, where she served as copywriter, editor, proofreader and production manager for all print advertising and collateral, including a 32-page quarterly magazine.
Vicki’s education includes a BA in English/Spanish from U.C. Davis (where she met her husband of 25 years), and continuing education in writing, print production, graphic design, desktop publishing, sales, management and language.
John Garcia
CMO – Strategy – Concept – Branding– Sales – Marketing
John has worked in advertising, sales and direct mail marketing for over 25 years. From national and statewide political campaigns to local public and private agency and business promotions, John has worked with companies and organizations of all sizes to develop and implement marketing and promotional campaigns that work. Having graduated from U.C. Davis, where he met his wife of over 25 years, John joined the Marketing À La Carte team in 2009 and enjoys helping people accomplish their goals of business success.
Douglas Hough
Strategy – Concept – Art Direction – Graphic Design
Doug has enjoyed a career in the advertising business that spans decades. Great creative, he says, is the process of communicating brand distinction through the perfect marriage of image, copy and design. “Just saying it isn’t enough—the message needs to be arresting, relevant, and most of all, fun.” Most importantly, he says, you don’t have to have a lot of money to create a great message. “If the idea is strong enough you don’t need a lot of bells and whistles. Great work can be done on even miniscule budgets.”
He’s conceived and designed all sorts of projects—international advertising campaigns, sales promotions and collateral, direct mail, video, television commercials, and web design. Clients have included Robert Mondavi Winery, Del Monte Corporation, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Knight-Ridder, Brown-Forman Wine Group, and Ronnie Lott’s All Stars.
“There’s no better reward than having a client see your work and be overjoyed, awed, or even emotionally moved. That’s what I aim for. I just love what I do.”
Laura B. Kaufman
Project Manager – Copywriter – Editor – Proofreader – Public Relations
Laura’s strong organizational ability, attention to detail and outstanding editing skills have combined to create a successful communications and marketing track record. From strategic planning for marketing major hospital service lines, to managaing communications campaigns, to developing diverse collateral publications as well as interactive online products and videos, Laura has done it all. Her professional experience includes work for John Muir Health, CALSTAR (air ambulance service), the American Heart Association, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and more. Laura has a BA from Stanford University and an MS from Columbia University in Journalism.
Cori Kesler
Graphic Design
Graphic designer Cori Kesler works with customers to get the most from their advertising, design, print and marketing budgets without cutting corners or sacrificing service. Her number one goal is to keep clients happy by making collaborations as easy as possible.
She has developed logos and corporate identity systems, websites and advertising campaigns. Her collateral projects have ranged from invitation packages to brochures to newsletters to annual reports. Her customers have included The Cannery, the Sachs Foundation, Computer Using Educators (CUE), Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts, the Girl Scouts, Napa Valley Museum and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Betty Teller
Writer – Editor – Proofreader
The daughter of a newspaper editor and a reporter, Betty Teller trained as a writer practically from birth. After earning a cum laude degree in history from Barnard College and an M.A. in American Studies/Museum Studies from George Washington University, she put her verbal skills to work in a distinguished career as an exhibition developer, shaping and crafting exhibition content and writing labels, text panels, and catalogue essays at the Smithsonian Institution.
Betty moved to Napa in 1998 as founding Exhibitions Director of Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts, where she subsequently wore many hats. Since then, she has pursued her interest in food, wine, and culinary history as a writer and copy editor, writing a column and copy editing for the Napa Valley Register (AP style), and editing for Mathematica Policy Research (Chicago and APA style). She has completed numerous feature assignments for the newspaper and national and regional magazines.
Kathleen Iudice
Branding/Marketing – Community/Public Relations – Copy Writing/Editing
Kathleen has over 25 years experience in branding/marketing, community/public relations and copy writing/editing with an emphasis on tourism, wine and food, and visual/performing arts.
Her portfolio consists of a wide range of projects, including the launch of Francis Coppola’s Rubicon label in conjunction with the premiere of Godfather III; marketing Old Sacramento’s Gold Rush (California’s sesquicentennial event); public relations for Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts; branding for the City of Winters; and marketing/PR for Simi’s annual Forage event. Additionally, she is a Certified Nutrition Educator and caters the food for Red Barn Studio workshops. On the side, she conducts group tours to France. She’s a consummate professional with a passion for helping people who are doing good work.
Other specialists include graphic designers, social media experts, photographers, videographers, web designers, project managers, variable data and direct mail specialists, and vendors such as printers, fulfillment houses, writers, custom and unique product suppliers and specialists in all areas of promotion and marketing.
