Meet Our Team
Courtney Abeyta
Director of Operations
Courtney is the brains behind the scenes at COMPETE. She has conquered the administrative world working in industries ranging from print advertising to healthcare. She keeps COMPETE’s trains running on time so everyone else can focus on doing an excellent job for our clients. Courtney witnessed our politics becoming more and more toxic, and co-founded COMPETE to do her part to bring us back to a more equitable and harmonious place.
Juan Calderón
SPANISH LANGUAGE CONTENT MANAGER
Originally, born in Morelia, the capital of the beautiful State of Michoacán, México. Juan migrated to the US at a very young age and now calls the State of California home. Juan has worked with not-for-profit organizations, engaged in the Labor Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Movement, and many other causes that serve the purpose of achieving a better quality of life for everyone. He has experience as an administrative assistant, a community organizer, and a freelance translator.
Andrew Curtis
digital Designer
Andrew Curtis is a Virginia-based graphic designer who focuses on helping clients in finding the right visual solution for their creative problems. A graduate of George Mason University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, he was also involved in AIGA (American Institute for Graphic Arts) while in college. Andrew has been involved in several local Startup Weekends & Hack-A-thons.
Keith Frederick
Director of Messaging
Keith Frederick is the owner of FrederickPolls based in Arlington, Virginia. FrederickPolls is one of the country’s leading issue and political polling firms. Keith has 35+ years’ experience providing strategic message and targeting advice. Recognizing that digital is the future of communication, Keith co-founded COMPETE to provide message testing expertise and invaluable experience navigating the political market.
Jadah Greenidge
Operations and Social Media Coordinator
Jadah is a coordinator with many hats. She has a background in marketing, social media project management, sales, as well as office management. She enjoys being behind the scenes and supporting the team with personal and professional development to ensure that each team member is thriving in our team oriented environment at COMPETE. She helps coordinate social media content for several platforms and supports the operations for COMPETE. When she takes her hat off, she’s at the park hanging out with her dog Bentley.
Kimberly Humke
Director of Creative Production
Kimberly is a retired professional dancer, entrepreneur, writer, and life-long activist. She is a frequent contributor to local news publications and manages content creation for several not-for-profit organizations. Kimberly is passionate about creating strong messaging that hits the mark eloquently. In college, she double majored in Women’s Studies and Political Science with a minor in Philosophy. When she’s not dreaming up new concepts for COMPETE, she is chasing around an exuberant 2 year old and an adventurous 13 year old.
MacAdam Lea
Search and Mid-Funnel Advertising Strategist
MacAdam and President Zach Mandelblatt cut their teeth together at Digital Reach. After working for 8 years at DRA, MacAdam was at lunch with his family when his siblings asked “what would it take to start our own company?”. Many meetings later and MacAdam launched LEA Analytics! COMPETE partners with LEA when our clients would benefit from Search and Mid-Funnel specific marketing expertise / solutions. Driven by a need to make customers money and a fear of letting his co-founder’s down, MacAdam loves Dark Souls and cats and his wife/business partner Dori.
Zach Mandelblatt
PRESIDENT
Zach co-founded Digital Reach, a marketing firm that works with tech companies in Silicon Valley. After Trump won, he started knocking on doors and registering folks to vote. In 2018, he cut his political teeth working for Congressional campaigns across the country and as Paid Digital and Social Media advisor for the Digidems. Zach founded COMPETE after realizing he could best help Democrats by bringing successful digital strategies over from the tech world to politics.
Pooja Patel
Digital Strategist
Pooja is a digital strategist with deep experience in rapid response, high-impact visibility, and large-scale acquisition programs. She is a solutions-oriented problem solver passionate about efficient process. Before getting into paid media, she was an organizer and a pollster for progressive advocacy organizations and electoral candidates. She's worked on issues including include gun violence prevention, reproductive justice, environmental protection, voting rights, and immigration. Pooja currently resides in Brooklyn.
Adam Perry
Creative Director
Adam is an experienced Creative Director and children's book author with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. He is skilled in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Logo Design, Advertising, Video, and WordPress, and possesses a strong arts and design background. He graduated from the Bradley Academy for the Visual Arts.
Chris Ricci
partner
Chris founded and ran Chris Ricci Presents, Inc. an event promotion firm in Central California. When Trump won the election he was compelled to get involved politically. Prior to joining COMPETE in 2019, he worked with the social media teams in CA-21 and Josh Harder in CA-10, and on texting campaigns for Democratic candidates using Relay and Hustle. Chris was recently elected Councilmember for the City of Modesto, giving him even deeper insight into what campaigns and elected officials need from their media firm.
Jaden Slagle
Chief Technology Officer
Jaden is a lawyer turned organizer turned digital enthusiast. In 2014, he moved home to Texas to work for Wendy Davis. After he caught the campaign bug, he organized in Kansas, Missouri, Virginia, and Maryland before moving to Iowa to work for Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal. He has since managed campaigns in Virginia, Michigan, and Florida. Somewhere in there, he found the time to learn to code. Through his campaign travels Jaden realized the value of investment in digital, which led him to co-found COMPETE.
Ameera Sylvian
Digital Strategist and Email + Social Media Coordinator
Ameera is a social media coordinator passionate about using her skills to bring about positive change. She has worked with a wide variety of social media and content moderation clients, including starting her own small business and building a loyal clientele via social media. She has been involved in progressive politics since a young age, and now takes pride in furthering those causes using social media to drive engagement. When not tied to a screen, she can be found in the woods of Oregon chasing after her 3 dogs.
Isobel Sylvian
Director of Campaigns
Isobel is a seasoned professional whose journey from early involvement in politics to a career in New York City's corporate advertising world led her to believe that innovative Digital strategies could have a huge impact in the political sphere. After founding her own social media business and connecting with COMPETE, her passion for helping Democrats and left-of-center causes win was solidified. As COMPETE’s Director of Campaigns, she leads a team of strategists that has successfully launched hundreds of campaigns, crafts strategic plans, and maintains an unwavering commitment to our clients’ success. Isobel blends her political fervor with her advertising and client management expertise ensures that COMPETE's clients receive unparalleled support.
Nicola Vigio
Director of Digital Fundraising
Nicola has several cycles of experiences across the Democratic space. Nicola has previously worked at the DCCC where he ran and advised the digital communication and digital fundraising of 16 highly competitive House races. He has also worked several email fundraising programs, including writing emails for the Biden campaign. Nicola is an immigrant from Brazil but after moving to the United States he calls DC home.
Tank
Assistant to the regional manager
Sergeant Tank Obama joined COMPETE after a brief stint at Delaware Alliance for Animal Welfare Groups, Inc. (DAAWGS). He is a social butterfly who has helped take COMPETE’s organic social media game to the next level. He has an eye for trending and viral content and brings style and class to every team meeting. In his spare time, he enjoys chasing trash cans and loudly snoring.
Pretzel
Director of Pup-lick relations