Karen Weiner Escalera

Agency President & Chief Strategist, Karen Weiner Escalera has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations, first in New York City and now in Miami. She is a leading lifestyle trends consultant with expertise in travel, tourism, hospitality, real estate and luxury products. Karen has counseled top executives at global hotel chains, cruise lines, real estate developments and government tourism boards. Her campaigns have been cited by a number of influential publications including Advertising Age, Nation's Business, and Fortune Small Business for setting the standard in travel and lifestyle marketing and public relations.

Named one of the "Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds" in hotel sales and marketing for 2008 by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), Karen is a sought-after speaker and author of the internationally syndicated Luxury Travel & Lifestyle Trends newsletter and blog. Karen is also a member of the Luxury Marketing Council’s International Luxury Advisory Board, an invitation-only network of top managers and leading marketers in the luxury goods and services business. She also serves in leadership positions with a number of South Florida community organizations.

Prior to forming KWE Partners, Karen was the public relations director for Hilton International, and was a contributor to the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Globe. Early in her career, Karen was an English professor in Bogota, Colombia. She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and conversant in French. A self described “foodie,” Karen includes culture and the arts among her hobbies – and of course, a passion for travel.

Chelsea Orth

Chelsea Orth, Principal & General Manager of KWE Partners, is a part of the agency’s leadership and client planning team. She brings over a decade of luxury marketing experience to KWE, having worked with world-class clients and firms in the UK and the US.

With a strong background in international marketing, Chelsea specializes in client strategic planning, and oversees all business and marketing management at KWE Partners. Chelsea is a digital and social media specialist, and helped launch KWE Partner’s digital marketing division: an integrated service for clients that includes internet, website design/development, Search Engine Optimization, social media relations and email marketing. An important part of her role is negotiating favorable rates with vendors to help clients save on costs, and bring in programs and events on or below budget

Savvy, smart and a visionary, Chelsea keeps her finger on the pulse when it comes to knowing the latest industry trend research. She is co-editor of KWE’s internationally syndicated Luxury Travel and Lifestyle Trends newsletter and blog. Raised in Singapore, her firsthand international experiences acquired from living and traveling extensively throughout Asia, Europe and North America offer clients valuable international marketing insight.  In addition to her global experiences, Chelsea is a member of the Florida Luxury Marketing Council, a professional, invitation-only organization for senior management and marketers of luxury goods and services.

Chelsea began her career at Anne Stabler Associates in London, a marketing communications firm that specialized in luxury lifestyle brands: from Baccarat and Christian Lacroix, to Christofle, Cartier and Graff. She graduated with a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Florida and holds an MBA with a concentration in International Marketing from the University of Richmond, London. She also is conversant in German, Swedish and Mandarin.

Megan Sterritt

As Principal and Director of Account Services, Megan is part of the agency’s leadership and client planning team. She is involved in all aspects of strategic positioning and creative services, and she manages the firm’s hospitality and lifestyle accounts, supervising events, promotions, traditional media and social media.

Megan has directed client programs for travel products of every size, from a boutique cottage hotel to a high profile resort group called the “Rolex of All-Inclusives.”  Both in North America and abroad, she has strong media contacts everywhere from daily newspapers and national magazines to radio and TV programs and influential blogs.  Her clients have recently appeared on The Today Show, FoxNews, New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Gadling, Luxury Daily, Travel + Leisure, Newsweek, OK! Weekly, E!, TLC and MSNBC. Her social media initiatives, including a food bloggers camp and the first remote #TNI tweetups, have been featured in leading hospitality and public relations journals for their success in generating “buzz” and traffic to client websites as well as direct sales.

Prior to joining KWE, Megan worked with Colgate-Palmolive and Quality Hotels, as well as prominent real estate developments in South Florida.  She also was an account executive with Elevate in Dublin, where she played a major part in launching the Sony Playstation Portable.

Megan is a member of the Greater Miami Hotel & The Beaches Hotel Association.  She writes a locally syndicated blog and counts among her passions coaching a high school lacrosse team.  Megan received a B.S. in Public Relations and Psychology with a minor in Marketing from the University of Miami (FL).