Ambar Mentor

Senior Account Executive

amentor@valeriedenney.com

It takes experience to connect with diverse audiences … or with young audiences that are migrating away from traditional media and techniques.

That’s why Ambar Mentor, a certified twenty-something Latina with a keen eye for culture and couture, is a key player at Valerie Denney Communications. Ambar cares about social justice, environmental sustainability and other weighty issues, but she also understands that for some media you need to entertain in order to educate. Ambar knows how develop the angle for everything from The New York Times to Time Out Chicago, from RedEye, to Eyewitness News.

So while the Midwinter Meeting of the Chicago Dental Society(one of Ambar’s clients) might not seem a forum for levity, check out its annual survey of members. Area dentists report that Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise are “the most requested celebrity smiles” among their adult patients. Among kids? It’s Sponge Bob followed by King Kong. And now that Ambar has your attention, here’s what CDS thinks about recent cuts in poverty funds for preventive dentistry …

It doesn’t hurt, either, that Ambar, whose parents migrated to Chicago from the Dominican Republic, is fluent in Spanish. This comes in handy when pitching producers at Univision or writers at Hoy to make sure vital information reaches the Latino community.

Another one of her longtime clients is Chicago Matters,the annual public radio/TV series that this year is tackling environmental issues. Check out her handiwork at www.chicagomatters.org.

A self-described “North Side Latina,” Ambar lives in Roscoe Village, not that far from her McPherson Elementary and Lane Tech High School … but a long way from Champaign, where she majored in broadcast journalism at the University of Illinois and reported on the campus’ cultural happenings for the student UI-7 newscast.

Now she’s about being involved in the public arena—particularly in issues related to multiculturalism and diversity—and bringing those connections back to VDC. Ambar is an alum of the Metropolitan Leadership Institute, a civic seminar for young Hispanics. She’s an active member of Alpha Delta Rho Multicultural Sorority and has served on the associate board of the Community Renewal Society. On the board of Women Employed, she co-chairs their Advocacy Council to engage young women in issues of low-wage work.

Ambar has a thing for stylish Web pages and pop culture; for finely-tailored list-servs and—?como se dice?— the bellas artes of connecting with hard-to-reach audiences.