Meet a member: Marilyn Saltzman

Unfortunately, there continues to be shootings at schools across the country. One that really hit home for me happened in Littleton, Colorado in 1999. I knew people living in the Littleton area and an NFPW friend was the public relations manager for the school district. Marilyn Saltzman handled this difficult situation in a professional manner with the eyes of the world on her school district. It was not an easy task, but she handled it like the professional she is. Lessons learned from this experience have helped many others prepare for something no one wants to have to handle. She is another outstanding NFPW member I am honored to call a friend.

Name: Marilyn Saltzman

City and State: Conifer, Colorado

Marilyn Saltzman

Affiliate and any leadership positions: currently newsletter editor and program committee member for Colorado Press Women.

Years a member of NFPW: 40 years in 2017!

Tell us a little about you.

I have been a journalist, school district public relations manager and college adjunct professor, and most recently own Saltzman Communications,  a public relations consulting business. An avid volunteer and community activist, I am on the board of Mountain Resource Center, a community-based nonprofit offering health and human services. I am the adult education chair of Congregation Beth Evergreen and serve on several other synagogue committees. My two grandchildren are a constant source of joy and learning. Irv and I have been married for 48 years.

I am former president of Colorado Press Women and the Colorado Chapter, National School Public Relations Association. I co-chaired the 2006 NFPW Conference in Denver with Ann Lockhart and have been CPW’s Communicator of Achievement three times.

I worked in the Communications Services Department for Jefferson County Public Schools, Colorado, for 20 years. In 1999, I experienced the most emotionally difficult and challenging time of my career as public relations manager during the Columbine tragedy where 12 students and teacher Dave Sanders lost their lives. I was in charge of both media and internal relations. We had media from around the world on site and on the phone, and we worked hard to take care of our community and our local media first. We also coordinated a visit with students and staff from then President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton…from working with White House staff and the Secret Service to asking Walmart to donate an umbrella because rain was in the forecast, and Air Force One didn’t have one on board.  It was a grueling 24-7 job for several weeks, and I couldn’t have made it without the support of CPW, NFPW and National School Public Relations Association colleagues

I have co-authored four books, “Building School Communities, Strategies for Leaders,” “Dave Sanders, Columbine Teacher, Coach, Hero,” Reflections, Learning by Doing,” and “Maybe Tomorrow: A Hidden Child of the Holocaust.”

Marilyn Saltzman, photo by Linda Kirkpatrick

Any career advice you would give?

Make the most of the amazing women in NFPW as mentors, colleagues and networkers.

Which talent would you most like to have?

Not so much a talent, but I am working on the Jewish soul traits of patience, gratitude and honor.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

I love living right here in Colorado, and I love traveling the world – most recently a safari in South Africa, Zambia and Malawi.

What book are you reading?

I like to read both fiction and nonfiction, often at the same time. I just  finished “A Little History  of Religion,” a nonfiction book I loved,  and “The Yellow Eyes of the Crocodile,”  a bit too much of a soap opera for me.  Next up, “For All the Tea in China,” for my book club.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

I co-authored a romance novel, “Love’s Eternal Flame,” with 11 other women. It began with a weekend mountain retreat and lots of wine.

Why is your affiliate and NFPW important to you?

CPW and NFPW have been part of my life through most of my career. Many of my dearest friends are press women.  They have been a source of inspiration, motivation and support. And we know how to have fun together!

Way to follow you on a website, twitter, Facebook, etc.

I don’t have a website but am on Facebook.

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Meet a Member: Bobbi Gigone

Long-time member Bobbi Gigone is another of our outstanding NFPW members. She has served in a variety of positions on the affiliate and national level, helping to mentor other members. She has always found a way to support the issues and causes she believes in. She is another unique and unbelievable NFPW member. Meet my friend, Bobbi Gigone.

Name: Barbara Gigone (Bobbi to my NFPW and CPW friends)

Bobbi Gigone

Hometown: Louisville, Colorado

Affiliate and leadership positions:

Colorado Press Women, 55-year member; presently Co-Vice President for Programs (with Marilyn Saltzman); formerly Scholarship Chair and also served as CPW vice president and president.

NFPW, 55-year member (this year!!), served as Regional Director, Contest Chair, Treasurer, Education Fund Board (serving as board chair at one time.)

Tell us a little about you:

I grew up in northern Illinois and thought I’d like to follow in Margurite Higgen’s footsteps as a foreign correspondent. No one in my family had attended college but I received a scholarship to Monmouth College and ended up co-editor of the student paper as a sophomore. This prompted me to drop out for a year to earn enough to come west to journalism school at the University of Colorado. My job that year was editing a newsletter (and learning to carry a big Speed Graphic camera on my shoulder) at the Naval Supply Depot at Great Lakes Naval Training Station. This ended up helping me obtain my first job out of college as reporter-photographer at the Boulder Daily Camera. (The other reason was likely because I could substitute for the women’s editor when needed!)

My job offered just about everything I had dreamed about on a daily including the assignment covering the Mother of astronaut Scott Carpenter when he made his space flight, meeting Senator John Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt and lots of old silver and gold miners with wonderful stories. But not one foreign correspondent assignment.

I did, however, meet my life partner (also coming up on 55 years), and when I was expecting our first child, I was also expected to leave the Camera news room (those were the days that really surprise young women I meet). I could freelance, however, and left the Camera for good when my son was 9-months old and the Denver Post asked me to be their Boulder correspondent—relaying stories by phone for Post reporters to type out. Our second son was born a year later, and the Post called (I was still in the hospital) and asked that I go fulltime. That one was turned down and I began an 8-year association with a weekly newspaper in Boulder, freelance, then news editor.

Bobbi Gigone

In 1976 I accepted a position as the first public information officer for Boulder County. This grew with the years, founding an employee newsletter, guides to media relations, a TV program, and then adding work with the Criminal Justice System, Community Corrections, and finally, 15 years as director of the County Community Services Department.

I retired in 2002 and after living west of Boulder in Four Mile Canyon for nearly 44 years, we remodeled a 1904 home in Louisville, just a few miles east of Boulder.

I still love to travel and have led tours and published travel newsletters with friends in two small endeavors called News Systems and Travel Systems.

For more than 50 years, my husband and I have hosted international students attending the University of Colorado. Many of them are still an important part of our lives, along with our two sons, their wives, and our two grandsons.   Since retiring, I have been volunteering with the Louisville History Museum and the Boulder Carnegie Library doing oral history interviews.

Any career advice you would give?

I found copies of some presentations I made in Montana and South Dakota when serving as regional NFPW director. I talked about the mentors, including an aunt, women I met in Boulder, college professors, and especially, members of CPW and NFPW, who meant so much to me in my early career. I also stressed attending conferences and entering contests—as well as being involved in your community—as necessary for growth and for new experiences. I believe this still holds true and we need to encourage young women to stay involved and find their own mentors.

What talent would you like to have?

Every time I travel, or meet new international students and their families, I wish I were proficient in other languages.

If you could live anywhere, where would you live?

I still love Colorado and the western mountains but wish the front range hadn’t gotten so crowded. My early dreams of living in the west haven’t diminished.

What are you currently reading?

I prefer non-fiction and just finished Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lousitania by Eric Larson and Eye On the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

I originally got my “nick-name” of Bobbi because there were three “Barbara’s” in a co-op house where I lived at CU.

Why are NFPW and your affiliate important to you?

I still look to CPW and NFPW for education, friendship and involvement in issues that are important to me.

Way to follow you on Facebook, etc.

I am on Facebook and keep up with NFPW and CPW sites, and on email way too many hours in the day!

Lockhart continues sharing communication talents through varied career

She arrives early for NFPW conferences, usually participating in the pre and post conference tours. She knows the value of networking and sharing her many communications talents with others. The community is better because of her willingness to help others. especially those in need. Meet another unique and unbelievable NPFW member, Ann Lockhart.

Name: Ann Lockhart

Ann Lockhart

City and State: Denver, Colorado

Affiliate and any leadership positions: Former president of Colorado Press Women (twice) and other officer and committee roles; NFPW parliamentarian for several years; current secretary of POPPS (Parlay of Past Presidents States)

Years a member of NFPW: 41

Tell us a little about you.

A small town girl from northeast Iowa, I edited my high school newsletter and community college newsletter and then got an English degree from the University of Iowa. I spent a year selling ads for the San Marcos, Texas, newspaper, then taught high school English and journalism in an east Texas oil town.

From there, I moved to Colorado and worked almost five years for several suburban weekly papers as reporter and then editor. Tired of long hours and low pay, I became editor of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center campus newspaper. My next career change was both interesting, challenging and enjoyable– to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment as public relations director. My last nine years there dealt with community relations for a scientific study on the potential off-site health impacts of toxic emissions from the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant northwest of Denver.

Retired in early 2002, I started part-time editing projects and three volunteer gigs: saving the history of Rocky Flats, tutoring refugees in English and teaching AARP Driver Safety classes to seniors. Tutoring refugees from Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, Bhutan and Nepal and currently a woman from Iran has been a great learning experience.

Any career advice you would give?

Network always, continually upgrade your career knowledge and skills, hone your public speaking skills through Toastmasters and become active in professional organizations.

Which talent would you most like to have?

Graphic design. (I’d also like more confidence.)

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

I love Denver, but a few weeks in the dead of winter at a beach resort would be so satisfying. Or maybe New Zealand.

What book are you reading?

My book club just read The Round House by Louise Erdrich, which I loved. I’m now reading A Superior Death by Nevada Barr (author of national park murder mysteries.)

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

That I’m an orphan…that I started two different recreational volleyball leagues…that I’ve climbed nine 14ers (14,000 foot mountains in Colorado)…that I’ve gone to the RAGBRAI three times (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa)…that I’ve traveled a lot and plan to keep traveling.

Why is your affiliate and NFPW important to you?

My CPW and NFPW friends are like family and also have been career resources for me. Over the years, the programs and speakers have provided wonderful continuing education. I’ve loved the NFPW pre- and post-conference trips plus the 1989 NFPW trip to four cities in Russia including Sochi.

Way to follow you on a website, twitter, Facebook, etc.

I’m on Facebook.