Smiles Included

SmilesIncluded has added another enthusiastic young talent to their team.  Ben La Marca joins as Director of Photography, responsible for using still images to illustrate our editorial content while developing and maintaining the signature look of the SI site.

 Says Ernest, “I am excited to add another committed, creative person to the group here at SI.  I know we’ve got a terrific product, and the fact that so many others have embraced our vision and joined the team tells me we’re on the right track.  We’ve got experienced writers, talented producers, highly educated professionals in child development, and we’ve added an award-winning photographer.  This pool of talent is both broad and deep, and I’m looking very much forward to getting our product out there!”

SmilesIncluded Co-Founder Ernest Tarango announced today that SI has forged an alliance with the Consumer Products Safety Commission. SmilesIncluded will feature an RSS Widget from the CPSC, allowing SI users to tell immediately if a product they are considering has been recalled by the CPSC.

Says Ernest, “This is another step forward in establishing SmilesIncluded.com as a one-stop, easy-to-use service website for our community.” Co-Founder Susan Hustace adds, “Because of all the recent recalls, parents and educators are nervous about making purchases, and understandably so. Every children’s product recall involves risk to a child. Part of our job at SmilesIncluded is to help minimize that risk. Now shoppers can use the SI site with more confidence than they might feel perusing store shelves. They can find out right away whether or not an item has been the focus of a recall.”

SmilesIncluded has added talented young video producer Rajeev Nirmalakhandan to their video review team. Raj’s resume is both broad and deep. A graduate of UCLA’s Film School he’s been producer, writer and/or director on countless film and video projects, has worked with top-flight studios including DreamWorks and Universal, and has fronted his own film and video production company. Says SI co-Founder Susan Hustace, “Raj is a real catch for us. I have been impressed with his originality, and his intuitive sense of what ‘works’ on video. He’s enormously creative and fits in well with the team we’ve put together.”

SmilesIncluded welcomes Patrick Nelson, who will be joining our video team. Patrick has a strong background in video production that he will use to help build and guide the SI team, establish our brand, create a signature SI video “look”, and streamline production. His knowledge of the production requisites of professional film and video, combined with his MBA degree, marketing skills, and experience leading contract and union film crews, which will be central to his role at SmilesIncluded. Says SI Co-founder Susan Hustace, “Patrick has been a successful entrepreneur himself, and understands the vicissitudes of this business perfectly. His ability to manage all aspects of video production, combined with his experience managing personnel and promoting a new business will be very valuable as SI continues to grow.”

SmilesIncluded Co-Founder Susan Hustace today announced that SI is working towards a Technology partnership with software development leader Adobe Systems.  Says Susan, “We have been looking into the future of technology and services for SI. Adobe products are the de facto standard for web services development. We believe a cooperative agreement would be great for both companies, enabling SmilesIncluded to offer services we have in mind well into the future, and providing Adobe a channel for increased deployment of their technology.”

Keep checking back for details of this exciting relationship as the situation progresses.

 www.adobe.com

SmilesIncluded is happy to introduce our newest marketing and video team member, Randy Nargi. “Randy is a seasoned marketing executive with proven experience working with successful online companies, so we’re very excited to add him to the team,” says Ernest Tarango, SmilesIncluded Co-Founder and President of Marketing.  In addition to nearly two decades working as a marketing executive, Randy brings a unique skill set as a writer, producer, and web designer.  Welcome to SmilesIncluded, Randy!

We’re thrilled to announce five new members have joined our editorial staff! SmilesIncluded will be welcoming Cindy Mantegna, Angela Derrick, Theresa Adams, Cory Vas, and Judson Kusy to our work force. These five newest members of the editing team are trained in such pertinent areas as child development, pediatric occupational therapy, family relations, pediatric developmental evaluation, and the use of toys in developmental remediation. Many also hold advanced degrees in their fields.

“Adding these new editors really rounds out our editing staff,” says Ernest. “We now have a large, very talented group of reviewers and writers. They have so much experience working with and educating children across age groups, from infants to young teens. I’m very happy to have such a deep talent pool here at SmilesIncluded.”

We’re happy to announce Chris Campbell has joined the SmilesIncluded team. “Chris Campbell is a real asset to SI’s marketing efforts,” says Ernest. “He has more than 20 years experience as a marketing expert in the toy industry. His familiarity with toy industry leaders, his marketing know-how, and his firsthand understanding of the products SI’s users want to know about, makes him a perfect match for us.” Chris’s strengths include his passion for new toys, and his innovative ideas in consumer research. Chris will be sharing his marketing tactics and spearheading our marketing team.

SmilesIncluded is happy to announce we’ve added another talented young writer/editor to our staff this week. “Elizabeth is a real catch for us,” says Susan Hustace. “Not only does she have a strong background in Internet editing and writing, she’s also been an educator, with experience teaching special needs children. So she brings a special understanding to the support network we’re building for SmilesIncluded parents, as well as an ability to generate Internet content quickly and accurately.”

Welcome aboard, Elizabeth!

“Kathy has been on our radar for quite some time as a person we wanted to join us at SmilesIncluded. Finally her schedule meshed with ours, and we’re glad she’s on board,” says co-founder Ernest Tarango. “She’s got such a strong background in personnel and customer service, and has been a successful project manager in the past—she’s a real asset for SmilesIncluded.”

Welcome to SmilesIncluded, Ms. Murray!