Meet Your
Marketing Team
We take a "Marketing Now" approach to our work. In industry terms this is also referred to as "agile" which means we move quickly to identify what needs to be done and get to work. We don't leave you with a To Do List, we leave with a 'Done' list.
We are a high value vs. high volume company. This means we work with a limited number of clients to ensure the proper focus for each project. Learn more about how we work and what we do.
Mari Peterson
Marketing Strategist and Founder, Marketing Outpost
Mari is a marketing trailblazer. Mari was born in Seoul, Korea, adopted by American family at 3 and raised in the southern United States (southern twang included). She has lived in 7 states and 2 countries. Today, she splits her time between Charleston, SC and Asheville, NC where she has mostly lived for the past 25 years.
Prior to marketing, Mari was a corporate administrator for the 2nd largest law firm and also 2nd largest accounting firm in the Asheville area. Experience in human resources, accounting, management and operations provide the backbone of her marketing expertise. She has been an independent marketing consultant for more than 15 years. She rebranded 5 years ago as Marketing Outpost with a brick and mortar office located in north Asheville.
As a strategist, Mari quickly synthesizes project scopes to achieve long-term marketing goals and has access to a network of vetted marketing pros she has developed over the years. She describes Marketing Outpost as, “small, but mighty” and takes a boutique, hands on approach to each client and project. “We make our clients feel like we don’t have any other clients.”
Mari is essentially a native of the WNC region. She has lived in and around the Asheville area for more than 25 years. She attended Rabun Gap Nacoochee School, Rabun Gap, GA, attended Gordon College in Wenham, MA and eventually obtained a Business Administration degree from Montreat College in Montreat, NC. She loves to travel with her husband, surf fishing on the Carolina shores and one day envisions herself as the “ultimate cat lady”.
Board Member, American Red Cross, Greater
Jenn Gordon
Marketing Generalist and Project Manager
Born and raised in Orlando, Jenn has lived in the region for more than 25 years. Her career is one that’s had several twists and turns – from working as a licensed vet tech and baker to creating and managing a local reference website, Asheville Date Night Guide. It’s these diverse experiences that have contributed to her success as a creative marketing professional who gets results.
Jenn understands the heart and mind of the small business entrepreneur. She’s able to quickly grasp the workings of an industry and thrives on learning new things. She’s proficient in helping clients to find their target audience because she knows the right questions to ask from the get-go.
Whether building diverse social media audiences, creating new marketing strategies or helping clients get creative with revenue resources, Jenn is dedicated to implementing customized marketing campaigns, leading to positive change and business growth. She enjoys knowing that she had some part in making that happen.
Her immense curiosity about social trends and patterns gives her a professional edge when it comes to understanding customer behaviors and profiles. She openly communicates her knowledge and encourages others to do the same. She believes life is a series of learning experiences that are meant to be built on and shared.
As a creative, Jenn sees all things beautiful and makes it her mission to know what is new and what is coming. She aligns herself with marketing strategies through producing creative content, storytelling, photography and connecting with an audience. She continues to strive for success, fluidity and a conscious business relationship with all clients.
She has a BA in Sociology from Appalachian State University and enjoys hiking, snowboarding, the beach, baking, and spending time with her dogs. Jenn loves to travel, but also loves returning to Asheville – every time. She treasures the personal and professional relationships that she’s built here over the years and wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Jess Menezes
Marketing Creative and Social Media Maven
Jess grew up on her family’s farm in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. She spent time in Philadelphia, but quickly tired of the big city life and moved to Asheville about 10 years ago. She developed a personal interest in nutrition and quickly realized how good nutrition can affect one’s health. This was the springboard that led to her current career as a professional videographer and storyteller.
Jess created a series of nutritional videos and worked on building her brand. Her digital success led others to seek her assistance in doing the same for them. As a result, she helped several local businesses with marketing videos and social media before joining Marketing Outpost. She loves helping others bring their businesses and brands to life.
Now, Jess offers audiences an authentic look inside the workings of the small businesses she represents. Her heightened ability to listen to people allows her to get to know the client, their style and marketing needs before diving into their social media by creating videos and reels that fully showcase the people and stories behind a business. When she combines her videography and editing skills, she helps them to achieve their social and digital media goals – and to reach as many potentially-interested people as possible.
She says that inspiring people through professional video and attractive photography is a true passion. She enjoys creating connections that will motivate people to take action. She’s the ultimate creator and a self-described “workaholic.” When she does find free time, she enjoys spending it with her husband and dotes on her pet bunnies, Holly and Hazel. Jess also loves a good puzzle and can often be found trying to figure her way out of one of Asheville’s escape rooms.
Liisa Andreassen
Content writer
Liisa is a content writer and editor who works to create custom content that clearly communicates a business’ message. If you have a story to tell, she can help you tell it because she knows how to listen and can quickly grasp the workings of a concept and/or industry niche. She’s done a good deal of copywriting for well-known brands such as Publix, Einstein Bagels, Char-Broil and many more. She enjoys multi-tasking and often juggles several projects at once. In addition to writing and editing, she’s managed teams of writers and also done market research and PR for new business and publication launches. When she’s not communicating via the written word, she can be found giving cooking lessons alongside her husband in their co-business – Cottage Cooking. It’s this moonlight pursuit that allows the couple to pursue their mutual passion for travel – and of course, food.
She received her Master's Degree in Media Studies from the New School for Social Research in New York City and has experience working with many industry sectors including: legal, architecture and engineering, educational, healthcare, technology transfer, hospitality, not-for-profit clients and more. She was a member of the Junior League of Asheville where she was Vice President of Communications; and also, a former Board member (Vice President) for the Public Relations Association of Western North Carolina. She’s called Asheville home for nearly 20 years and loves its eclectic culture and easy access to the great outdoors.
Kara Dalhberg
Photography
Kara grew up in northern Wisconsin but knew from a young age that she needed to live in an area that was more populated. She went to college in Massachusetts where she majored in philosophy and photography and then moved to Asheville for a quick minute. Wanting to hone her craft more, she relocated to New York City where she attended the International Center of Photography.
While there, she developed a passion for street photography and explored the boundaries between personal and private space and the lines between staged and documentary-style photos. Among her many jobs, she managed the souvenir photography team at the Tavern on the Green where she learned how to master that fast, photo-event style on the fly.
After a 9-year stint in the city that never sleeps, she was drawn back to Asheville by a friend who wanted to take her vintage store business to the next level. Kara helped her to build her online product channel through product imagery and social media management.
The camera she uses most often is a Canon DSLR, but as a lover of all things vintage, her favorite portrait camera is a vintage Yashica twin-lens reflex camera.
Kara has had an interesting career history ranging from being an international flight attendant for the military to touring with the Amazing Acro-cats right before starting with Marketing Outpost. She recalls an unusual night sleeping in the green room of a New Orleans cabaret with 15 cats.
In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, thrifting and music and says she’s “really stoked” about working with Marketing Outpost and its amazing group of women. Her versatility and ability to capture images that tell a story – interesting, strange, beautiful and fun – make her a great match for this multifaceted marketing team.
Matt Drum
Asheville Date Night Guide, Content Creator
Much like the Asheville Date Night Guide, Matthew is driven by thinking outside the ordinary. A self-proclaimed movie nerd, his career got started after he completed a degree in film production at Valencia College in Orlando. He worked on some low-budget films and then landed a job as stage tech for Disney/MGM.
After a few years of working with lighting, camera, audio and more, he decided he wanted to get married and raise a family, which required a job with a bit more stability. So, he entered the food and beverage arena where he worked in sales and customer service management. Winning a trip to Dublin for selling a bunch of Guinness was one of the highlights of this career time.
He and his family moved to Greenville, SC and then migrated up to western North Carolina. He recalls the moment they made the decision. They were visiting some family in the area and when he and his wife – at the time – saw their daughter dancing around in a field of fireflies one Fourth of July weekend. The magic set their heart on fire and they headed north.
Today, he says his teenage kids – a son, 17, and a daughter, 19, keep him current and even offer up some tips on music to use in the client videos he now creates.
As Content Creator for Asheville Date Night Guide, Matt combines his skills and passions – the love of the outdoors, music, and quirky events – all in one place. He’s excited to be on the creative side of the business again and is looking forward to featuring small businesses in different ways. He wants to catch people’s eyes and make them think twice.
He is constantly questioning how he can make things more fun – whether through social media or other types of promotions. He enjoys the whole process and says the video editing is his favorite part – kind of like playing musical chairs and then putting all the pieces of the puzzles together, much like a lab scientist.
So, what’s Matthew’s go-to for a first date night? He says it really depends on the person you’re going out with and he typically tends to let that be his guide. His personal preference is a coffee/tea/brew date with a little twist where he thinks of a way to pump up the fun. He says the most important thing is to make sure the person feels comfortable with whatever you’re doing.
And that’s his philosophy with clients too. Take the traditional, pump it up and make it fun – outside the ordinary can become quite extraordinary.
Luciano Menezes
Web Design & Content Coordinator
Luciano (Luci) grew up in Brazil and spent five years in Miami before moving to Asheville in 2012. He worked in the hospitality industry, but when COVID hit, he decided it was time to make a career switch. He started thinking seriously about a lifestyle that didn’t involve late nights and weekends, but also offered freedom and flexibility. After researching several options, and experimenting with some affiliate marketing, he landed on web development.
He started out with the software and web development certificate program at AB-Tech and then decided to officially enroll in the software and web development program at the school to get his associates degree. During his attendance, he was part of a federal work/study program. He worked as a web assistant in the school’s community relations and marketing department where he received valuable hands-on training.
As a marketing coordinator at Marketing Outpost, Luci has a wide-range of responsibilities. He handles everything from social media scheduling and video posting to web support, marketing research and more.
He enjoys the job’s daily diversity as well as working with his wife, Jess Menezes, the company’s “marketing creative and social media maven.” And, when he’s not working, he and Jess can often be found heading out on weekend beach adventures. He admits to missing the water as he spent many years swimming and surfing, but also appreciates Asheville’s mountains and thriving restaurant scene.
Luci speaks three languages – Portuguese, English and Spanish – but says he prefers more to listen than to do the talking. For the most part, he finds people like to talk, and he likes to listen, so it works out well.
A self-proclaimed “chill” guy, he’s always ready to lend a listening ear and to help clients achieve their social media and web marketing goals.