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EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM

Highly Disciplined Business Drivers

We are recognized leaders in successfully creating and implementing effective business and marketing communications programs. We have proven success analyzing business and sales infrastructures to deliver creative, yet practical programs that drive corporate objectives and operational transformation.

Our philosophy is data and market driven, strategically customizing purpose-driven client solutions to address every unique challenge. We prove concept and build platforms that support long-term scalability and success. Our solutions create the results our clients deserve.

Combined, we have 40+ years of marketing/crisis management experience on the client and agency sides, working with national and international corporate, institutional and non-profit companies and organizations.

Portrait of Jolie Balido, CEO of NewStar Media

JOLIE BALIDO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

MEET JOLIE

Portrait of Raelene Mercer, Chief Creative Officer at NewStar Media

RAELENE MERCER, CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER

MEET RAELENE

Portrait of Raelene Mercer, Chief Creative Officer at NewStar Media
Portrait of Kris Conesa, Chief Media Strategist of NewStar Media

KRIS CONESA, CHIEF MEDIA STRATEGIST

MEET KRIS

Portrait of Robert Althuis, Chief Change Agent of NewStar Media

ROBERT ALTHUIS, CHIEF CHANGE AGENT

MEET ROBERT

Portrait of Robert Althuis, Chief Change Agent of NewStar Media
Portrait of Jolie Balido, CEO of NewStar Media

JOLIE BALIDO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Jolie is a seasoned marketing, communications and business strategist. She is a full-stack marketer, a corporate change agent, brand builder, business driver, crisis manager and common sense expert. Her uncanny ability: to anticipate clients’ needs and deliver results that exceed their expectations.

Her 20-plus years of experience spans all aspects of the industry – having worked on all sides of the fence as a news reporter, later in-house on the client side, and eventually establishing and growing successful agencies for over 20 years. Beyond conceptualizing big-picture strategies, she rolls up her sleeves and takes a sharpshooters’ approach to execute from concept to completion and deliver programs that ”work.”

Jolie conceptualizes and implements national and international programs, including business strategy, branding, media relations, internal/external stakeholder communications, launches of new products and services, corporate social responsibility, analyst and investor relations, crisis communications and reputation management. As a writer and lover of words, she enjoys helping clients tell their stories, the way they need their stories told, in order to advance their business objectives.

Some background on Jolie: After selling her majority interest in 2018 in a national marketing-communications consultancy that she founded and grew to become one of Florida’s top firms, in 2020 she co-created a new integrated marketing-communications consultancy: NewStar Media. At her prior firm, Roar Media, her leadership since 2008 helped the agency earn recognition as South Florida’s fastest-growing and third-largest marketing-communications consultancy by revenue and number of employees, and as one of Florida’s top 50 fastest-growing private companies.

As part of her life-long commitment to community involvement, she served on the City of Coral Gables Planning and Zoning Advisory Board, on the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Governing Board and Real Estate and Marketing Committees, and on the Governing Board and Marketing Committee of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami. She also has donated her time, talents and treasure to nonprofits including Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, Kristi House, Parkinson’s Foundation, Voices For Children, Make-a-Wish Foundation, United Way, No More Tears Foundation, and City Year Miami.

Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards for her achievements and impact, including a SABRE award, the GMCC’s “Good to Great” business growth award, several W3 creative awards, and the ”Best PR Award” from BBBS. Beyond her professional pursuits, Jolie pursues her personal passions with equal zeal. Her hobbies include reading, writing, flying airplanes, photography, adventure sports, diving, international travel, and fitness nutrition. She lives in Coral Gables, Florida, with her two young children: Julianna and Jett.

Portrait of Raelene Mercer, Chief Creative Officer at NewStar Media

RAELENE MERCER, CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER

Raelene’s artistic and creative talents are balanced by a strong pragmatic core and business acumen which enable her to conceptualize and create powerful brands that not only excite and engage but also directly support clients’ business and revenue goals.

Raelene has extensive industry experience – from conceptualization to development and implementation – of all aspects of the creative design and branding process across all types of web, digital, print, and advertising campaigns as well as signage. She is distinguished for her attention to detail, work ethic and commitment to ensure absolute client satisfaction.

Beyond her ability to conceptualize creative strategies, Raelene brings to NewStar Media a significant depth and breadth of highly valued, hands-on agency experience representing clients in a range of complex, competitive industries including legal, financial, healthcare, hospitality, fashion, technology, real estate, government and nonprofit. She has worked with some of the world’s best-known corporate brands as well as Hollywood A-listers such as Betty White and Woody Harrelson, and late fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.

In addition to her pursuit of perfection in the design world, she has been recognized by more than a dozen top-tier awards and competitions, including ADDYs and MARCOM Awards.

She worked for more than 20 years with award-winning design firms such as Planet Propaganda and Pinkhaus as well as Roar Media, a leading agency founded in 2007 and sold in 2018 by NewStar Media CEO Jolie Balido. Raelene and Jolie worked together for over 10 years at Roar Media before reuniting in 2020 when NewStar Media was established.

Raelene received a bachelor’s degree in business marketing and graphic design at Montana State University, where she won the prestigious designation of Top Designer of the Year.

To a large extent, her creative ideas are fueled by her personal passions, which include photography, dance, mountain climbing, shark diving, and collecting, growing and curating rare exotic plants. She lives in Miami Beach, Florida, with her young daughter, Olympia.

Portrait of Kris Conesa, Chief Media Strategist of NewStar Media

KRIS CONESA, CHIEF MEDIA STRATEGIST

Kris Conesa, chief media strategist for NewStar Media, is a journalist at heart who’s distinguished for his uncanny ability to position clients in the news and secure the top-tier headlines they need.

Kris has been a fixture in newsrooms since his first reporting assignment at The Miami Herald at the young age of 15. Throughout his career, he has written for various publications including Ocean Drive, People, Miami Modern Luxury, and The New York Post, and also served as a television producer and morning show TV host.

During the past decade, Kris worked as a corporate communications specialist while serving in top leadership positions at Roar Media, the PR firm which NewStar CEO Jolie Balido previously founded. At that agency, he oversaw the entire media relations department and secured media placements for clients at the highest echelons of national and international media. Later, after Jolie sold her majority ownership stake in Roar, he took the opportunity to join her and the team at NewStar, based on their long-standing working relationship and mutual alignment on fundamental values of client-first service.

Community service – another value shared by Kris and the entire NewStar team – has been a hallmark of his life, instilled in him early on as a byproduct of his strict education. He has donated his time, talents and treasure to nonprofits including Key Club International, Habitat for Humanity, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, Parkinson’s Foundation, Voices For Children, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, the United Way, and City Year Miami.

In his quest for personal excellence, Kris has committed himself to regularly pursing new and diverse interests which include everything from martial arts, music, aviation, motorcycling, boating, international travel, Sci-Fi films, and exploring U.S. waterparks. An accomplished chef, he specializes in Nikkei cuisine and owns a popular food truck and catering company called Master Coco’s Ceviche, Swords & Sushi. He lives in Florida’s Cocoplum area with his wife, Susan, and young daughter, Ava.

Portrait of Robert Althuis, Chief Change Agent of NewStar Media

ROBERT ALTHUIS, CHIEF CHANGE AGENT

Robert Althuis, chief change agent for NewStar Media and the author of the Amazon bestseller Never Enoughitis, provides business-minded coaching, strategies, tools, and techniques to help clients embody their full human potential.

Robert’s approach to coaching is differentiated by his strong business and finance background, which gives him a unique perspective when providing highly valued guidance to business professionals.

While serving in his role at NewStar Media, Robert is a Venture Partner at Keen Growth Capital, an impact investment private equity firm based in Orlando, and serves as an Advisory Board Member for Miami-based Bulltick’s alternative investments real estate fund. He also is the founder of Wayfare Holdings, a boutique impact investment firm for his personal real estate and entrepreneurial interests.

Some background on his business experience: Robert launched Wayfare in early 2009 with the acquisition of a 50% ownership position in Lynxs, a leading international transportation infrastructure development firm based in Austin, Texas. Prior to acquiring an ownership position in Lynxs, he was a Senior Vice President in the Airport Infrastructure group of GE Capital Aviation Services. At GECAS, Mr. Althuis served as the lead originator for the Americas Region of the Airport Infrastructure group and was instrumental in structuring Global Infrastructure Partners, a then $10 billion infrastructure investment fund sponsored by GE and Credit Suisse as well as the acquisition of numerous operating companies and real assets on behalf of GECAS where he also served as board member on behalf of GE. He began his career at GE Capital in an executive management program in 2002 and joined GECAS on a full-time basis in 2003 and was promoted to GE’s executive band in 2006. In his initial role in GECAS, as a member of the structured finance team, he closed in excess of $1.5 billion of aviation related debt and equity financings.

Robert, who has dual nationality of The Netherlands and United States, holds a B.B.A., summa cum laude, with a major in Real Estate from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, and a M.B.A., with distinction, with a major in Finance & Management from Columbia Business School in New York City. In addition, he is a certified member of the CCIM Institute and a licensed real estate broker in three states. He began his career in commercial real estate acquisition and development in 1995; his last position before joining GE was Vice President and Division Manager of the commercial real estate activities of a diversified real estate firm in Atlanta, Georgia.

Robert resides in Coral Gables, Fla., and is a father, artist, avid yogi (RYT-200), kite surfer, crossfit athlete, and an active dive volunteer with the Coral Restoration Foundation in the Florida Keys where he previously served as a Board Member.