Meeting/Event Information

This month New Mexico PRSA features one of the most popular programs we schedule annually – our Meet the Press Media Roundtable. This year's Roundtable(s) will be held in The Mill Room at the Sawmill Market on Thursday, July 28 from 5 to 7 p.m. 

The importance of relationship-building with the media can't be overstated. Media and PR professionals rely on each other in story creation and to engage audiences. Brand awareness, credibility and crisis communications are other key areas of need for both. In this program, attendees will rotate around a half dozen tables and interact with various members of the media learning tips and tricks from news business professionals that will help your stories attract and gain attention. 

Join NMPRSA when it hosts Meet the Press Media Roundtable on Thursday, July 28, from 5 to 7 p.m. in The Mill Room at the Sawmill Market. Tickets for this event are $25, which includes a Hall Pass good for food and beverages at any of the Sawmill Market vendors. 

Who: NMPRSA
What: Meet the Press Media Roundtable
When: Thursday, July 28, 2022, 5 to 7 p.m. (MDT)
Where: The Mill Room, Sawmill Market, 1909 Bellamah Ave., NW 

Media Guests
The following media will attend the Meet the Press Media Roundtable.

Matthew Narvaiz – Albuquerque Journal
Matthew Narvaiz is a business reporter covering the economy, cannabis and health care for the Albuquerque Journal. Born and raised in Albuquerque's South Valley, he attended Menaul School before heading to the University of New Mexico to study multimedia journalism. He previously covered business for Albuquerque Business First and education for the Taos News and Valencia County News-Bulletin. In his free time, Matthew spends his time hunting down the best breakfast burritos across the state and watching Braves baseball. 

Stephanie Hainsfurther – The Paper and Corrales Comment
Stephanie Hainsfurther is Managing Editor of The Paper. and Corrales Comment. She is also the recipient of an Urban Enhancement Trust Fund (UETF) Resiliency Residency sponsored by FUSION Theatre Company. She is a longtime journalist and former publisher of ABQ Arts magazine and has lived in Albuquerque for 25 years. She has published more than 600 articles in regional and national magazines and newspapers, and in international trade journals in the fields of energy, the environment, commercial real estate, and architecture. Hainsfurther is also the former Editor-in-Chief of Albuquerque The Magazine, a lifestyle monthly. She earned a B.A. in English from St. Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut.  

Peter Rice – Downtown Albuquerque News
Peter Rice started out young in journalism. As a teenager growing up in Washington State, he worked in community radio and later for a consortium of NPR stations. While attending Colorado College, he wrote features for the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Denver Business Journal. He later worked as a general assignment reporter for the Curry Coastal Pilot on the southern Oregon coast, on the city hall beat for the Albuquerque Tribune, and as an announcer/news writer for KUNM. Having noticed the grim direction in which the journalism industry was heading, he retreated for several years from the business and put in stints as an electrician, video producer, and health insurance evangelist at Albuquerque's The Waite Company. He probably should have been content with this, but the siren call of reporting proved too strong in the end, so in 2019 he founded Downtown Albuquerque News, a subscription digital newspaper about Downtown, Old Town, and surrounding neighborhoods. Since then, "The DAN," as it is affectionately known, has become an essential weekday read for those who care about the city center and its future.

Larryl Lynch – Albuquerque the Magazine
Larryl’s experience as a newspaper reporter (for publications such as the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee), independent filmmaker, photographer, and graphic designer led him to launch Albuquerque The Magazine in April 2004. A journalism graduate of New Mexico State University, Larryl is proudest of the fact that ATM is able to show readers every month the true greatness of Albuquerque—through the eyes of a staff who loves the city. Though he still has to blink back tears every time he watches Forrest Gump, Larryl also has a dark side: he’s banned from renting at Budget Rent-A-Car, and he’s a huge “Sopranos” fan. He also claims he’ll buy lunch for anyone who can beat him at the ’80s video arcade game, “Stargate.”

Gena Salazar – Albuquerque the Magazine
Associate publisher Gena Salazar’s passion for the magazine runs deep—she joined ATM just after the first issue hit newsstands. Since, Gena has overseen the rapid growth of the mag, which has boomed in page count, advertisers, and revenue. Gena has the most fantastic collection of whiskey we’ve ever seen.

Megan Kamerick – KUNM Radio
Megan has been a journalist for 25 years and worked at business weeklies in San Antonio, New Orleans and Albuquerque. She first came to KUNM as a phone volunteer on the pledge drive in 2005. That led to volunteering on Women’s Focus, Weekend Edition and the Global Music Show. She was then hired as Morning Edition host in 2015, then the All Things Considered host in 2018. Megan was hired as News Director in 2021.

Prior to radio, Megan spent many years in print and online journalism and she moved into television with New Mexico PBS in 2012 where she produced “Public Square” and “New Mexico in Focus.” Megan also produced two podcasts with NMPBS, New Mexico Women and the Vote and Growing Forward: Cannabis and New Mexico, which she co-hosts with Andy Lyman of New Mexico Political Report and which is in its third season.

Megan has produced stories for National Public Radio, Latino USA, Capital & Main and Marketplace. She’s passionate about getting women’s voices into media and is the former president of the Journalism & Women Symposium. Her TED talk on women and media has more than 350,000 views. She’s the treasurer for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Rio Grande Chapter. In her spare time she manages to scrape together she goes hiking with her husband, seeks out cool cultural happenings, goes to movies and travels.

Annalisa Pardo – KRQE TV
Annalisa joined KRQE as a multimedia journalist in January of 2020. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she is thrilled to call The Land of Enchantment her new home.

Before moving to New Mexico, Annalisa was a multimedia journalist, fill-in anchor, and producer at KIMT-TV in Rochester, Minn. While at KIMT, she covered President Donald Trump’s visit to Rochester, a number of severe storms, and colorful feature stories at the heart of the community. Her live reporting on tornado recovery in Iowa earned a regional Emmy in 2019. She also earned a regional Emmy in 2018 for her live coverage of an extreme winter storm.

In August of 2019, Annalisa helped cover the Iowa Wing Ding, the largest fundraiser in the state for Democratic presidential candidates. During this coverage, she assisted in interviews with a number of presidential candidates including former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

Annalisa got her Master of Science in Broadcast and Digital Journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Go Orange! During this time, Annalisa interned for Fresno stations KSEE-TV and KGPE-TV from Washington, D.C.

She received her Bachelor of the Arts in Political Science at Loyola Marymount University while pursuing a minor in dance. When Annalisa is not reporting, you can find her exploring New Mexico, trying all the local restaurants, or dancing.

Breana Albizu – KOAT TV
Breana Albizu is a reporter who joined KOAT in August 2021. Breana grew up on the east coast, having lived in Philadelphia, Miami, Orlando, and Atlanta (which she considers her hometown).

Her passion for journalism started at an early age by watching local news stations and idolizing national icons like Soledad O’Brien and David Muir.

Breana graduated summa cum laude from Georgia State University in May 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a double minor in Spanish and Sociology. She spent the summer of her sophomore year in Spain, where she focused on Spanish studies at the Universidad de Granada.

For three years, Breana served as a reporter, an anchor, and the News Director of the college’s news station, GSTV. During her time in college, she had the opportunity to mentor aspiring journalists, produce general stories, and host a weekly news show. She won second place at the 2016 Southeast Journalism Conference for “Best TV Hard News Reporter.” She was also awarded second place for “Best Anchor” through the conference’s onsite competition in 2017.

In her third year of college, Breana was selected to participate in the Georgia News Lab, an award-winning investigative reporting collaborative with some of the top college journalism programs in the state and two leading news outlets, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and WSB-TV. There, she compiled an extensive report on how an Atlanta agency failed to provide affordable housing and prevent gentrification.

Breana also interned with WSB-TV and “Crime and Justice with Ashleigh Banfield on CNN/Headline News Network. She was asked to come back to the network as a freelancer after graduation until the show ended in November 2018.

Breana enjoys cooking new recipes, exploring unique places, and spending time with friends and family. She’s very excited to call New Mexico her home and can’t wait to see what the Land of Enchantment has to offer!

EVENT Cost

• Tickets are $25 for NMPRSA Members, Non-Members and Students. Ticket purchase includes a Hall Pass, which can be used to obtain food and beverages at any of the Sawmill Market vendors.