Rosie Mattio
Rosie Mattio

Cannabis marketing firm Mattio Communications has completed its seed round of funding with investors including Phyto Partners, Green Seed Fund and Greycroft founder and managing director Alan Patricof. MATTIO, formerly known as RMPR, was launched by Rosie Mattio in 2004. Based in New York, the agency serves over 25 cannabis clients, including Headset, Canndescent, Papa & Barkley, LeafLink, Flowhub, Caliva, Green Mile, and Ascend Wellness Holdings. It provides clients with public relations, social media, SEO and investor relations. The funds will be used to expand the firm’s range of marketing and advertising services.

Andre Banks
Andre Banks

Andre Banks, who has been executive vice president, social impact and philanthropy at BerlinRosen, has launched A/B Partners, a communications agency with specialties including Campaign Strategy, Content Strategy, Racial Justice, Women's Rights, LGBT Rights, International Relations, and Social Justice. Before coming to BerlinRosen, Banks served as co-founder and executive director of LGBT advocacy organization All Out, hat advocates for the LGBT community, board chair of Color Of Change and founding partner of Purpose. The agency is already working with such organizations as Human Rights Watch, B Lab and New Media Ventures and others.

Erika Sanchez
Erika Sanchez

The Hispanic Public Relations Association and CommunicationsMatch, which matches communications professionals with employment opportunities, have established a partnership with the aim of encouraging the inclusion of HPRA members in companies' search process for agencies and professionals. HPRA members not already listed will join the more than 5,000 agencies and professionals searchable on CommunicationsMatch, by industry and communications expertise, location, size, member organization and diverse ownership. CommunicationsMatch will also create a quick search link specifically for HPRA members. HPRA New York Chapter president Erika Sanchez says that the partnership offers "an important way to generate visibility, business leads and the type of diverse perspective essential to the success of communications programs."

Maura Colleton Corbett
Maura Colleton Corbett

Washington, D.C.-based Glen Echo Group has been named one of Washingtonian magazine’s 50 “Great Places to Work” and Washington Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work.” Companies on the Washingtonian’s list were chosen after editors reviewed nearly 200 companies and more than 7,500 employee surveys. The final determinations relied heavily on the scores given by a company's employees. Companies on the WBJ’s list of 100 winning workplaces were chosen on the basis of such measures as: team effectiveness, retention, employee alignment with company goals, trust with co-workers, individual contribution, manager effectiveness, trust in senior leaders and feeling valued. “Creating a great place to work is a core pillar of the Glen Echo Group and we work really hard at it,” said founder and CEO Maura Colleton Corbett.