Elayna Herrera is an Associate at Breakwater Strategy based in Washington D.C. Elayna utilizes her experience in corporate communications, research, and writing to support her teams and aid clients in achieving their goals. As an associate, her day-to-day includes media monitoring, research, administrative work, and crafting communication deliverables.

Elayna graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a degree in journalism and political science. During her time in college, Elayna was a campus tour guide where she leveraged her storytelling ability to attract prospective students from all over the country to come to Carolina. It served as a rewarding role that polished her communication skills and allowed her to build special connections with the individuals on her tours. If she wasn’t giving tours, Elayna was helping craft new packages for her school’s student-run broadcast, Carolina Week, while also contributing to her sorority’s judicial and DEI committee.

Before joining Breakwater in October 2025, Elayna held a variety of internship roles working across different industries, including energy and renewables, philanthropy, biotech, and higher education. As a corporate communications intern at Duke Energy, Elayna published two stories on Duke Energy’s Illumination site highlighting the company’s philanthropic contributions to the environment. She also worked as a consumer troubleshooter intern at ABC11, a newsroom in Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as a public affairs intern at SKDK, a public affairs and political consulting firm.

Outside of work, Elayna enjoys running, trying new food, reading, and travelling. Her favorite international destination is Granada, Spain, a small town in the southern region of the country that offers delicious tapas and scenic architecture.

Simone Jackenthal is a Director at Breakwater Strategy. She brings a passion for strategic communications, crisis support, and reputation management. Simone has substantial experience leading and executing public relations, public affairs, and other strategic communications campaigns for high–profile clients in highly regulated sectors. Her work includes media relations, thought leadership, crisis management, internal and external communications strategies. Simone’s experience spans several industries including political advocacy, technology, consumer products, health, nutrition, fintech, fashion, entertainment, and crypto, among others.

Most recently, Simone was a Director at Trident DMG where she largely advised clients on crisis communications and reputation management. She organized strategic communications campaigns for clients across various sectors, advised Fortune 500 companies on media trainings, and recommended approaches to C–suite executives for crisis mitigation. Simone led various funding announcements for technology startups, securing media coverage in top–tier national outlets, local media, and trades. She also coordinated with legal teams when necessary to create cohesive media strategies for clients engaged in litigation.

Previously, Simone served as an Associate at Weber Shandwick where she supported the Public Affairs team with government relations, marketing, internal communications, media relations, and social media. In this role, Simone organized events on the Hill to engage various clients with Members of Congress, drafted press releases for distribution, and secured media coverage with reporters. She also assisted with health and nutrition clients and supported the paid media and digital advertising team.

Simone earned a Master of Arts in Media and Strategic Communications and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Communications from The George Washington University. Her published thesis focuses on media framing effects of the Black Lives Matter movement, and she currently lives in Potomac, Maryland with her wife and two dogs.

As an Associate Director on the Research and Insights team, Jin works on all things research, from custom quantitative survey development to qualitative focus group execution and beyond. He is particularly passionate about public opinion research and considering viewpoints that challenge his own opinions.   

Before joining the Breakwater team, Jin was a Director at Accelerant Research, where he led the quantitative research function and designed custom market research surveys for clients to help them better understand their brand perceptions. Prior to that, Jin worked with fellow Breakwater team member Ben Williams at High Lantern Group, where he gained an appreciation for strategic communications and the scenic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Asheville, NC office.  

Jin is a graduate of the UNC Chapel Hill, where he majored in Economics and Psychology and minored in Business Administration. As a Chapel Hill native and UNC-alum, Jin remains a die-hard Tar Heel fan, and is known for annoying his co-workers with his hot takes and bold claims about all things Carolina sports.

Meredith currently serves as an Associate Director within the Breakwater Strategies Capital Markets practice.

Prior to joining Breakwater, she worked at Capstone LLC for almost three years, working as an associate and then senior analyst on the private market teams. She was a generalist, assisting all of Capstone’s policy vertical teams on over 30 due diligence and consulting projects for private equity and corporate clients. On the projects she has worked on, Meredith has covered a wide variety of topics such as organic waste policy, satellite-based emissions monitoring, and international debt collection laws.

Before joining Capstone, she attended Indiana University, Bloomington and received a degree in Finance and Public Policy Analysis from the Kelley School of Business. She currently serves on the Board of the Envision Capital Management, a student organization and 501c3 non-profit student investment fund she helped create while at Indiana University.

Expertise:

• Private Equity
• Market Research
• Public Policy
• Strategic Marketing

Caryn Leahy is a Managing Director at Breakwater Strategy. A passionate, trusted client leader, Caryn is in a state of flow when helping clients creatively solve problems and navigate complex, challenging, and rapidly evolving situations. At Breakwater, she leads results-driven corporate reputation, public affairs, and issues campaigns for Fortune 500 companies and cutting-edge leaders in tech, food, healthcare and more. She leverages her background in broadcast journalism to help clients develop, sharpen, and amplify their voices with the power of earned media. 

Most recently, Caryn was a Vice President at Ketchum where she oversaw comprehensive communications programs, including strategic planning, earned media, digital and third-party partnership strategies to move key stakeholders and the general public. In this role, she managed multimillion-dollar budgets and acted as a rapid-response public affairs, issues and crisis counselor for clients across all 14 Ketchum sectors in the agency’s global network. 

Previously, Caryn served as Senior Director at Rational 360, a full-service public affairs firm, and was an associate producer for Middle East Broadcasting Networks. Caryn received her Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and her Bachelor of Arts in political science from Bates College. 

When Caryn isn’t supporting her clients through a crisis or challenge, she’s probably spending time with friends and family or running on one of the DMV’s finest trails. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband Kevin and son Julian. 

Ben is an Associate at Breakwater Strategy, where he supports client teams in developing strategic communications and media recommendations. Based out of Washington D.C., he is a strategic communications professional with strong experience in research, writing, and media outreach.

Prior to joining Breakwater, Ben worked as an Associate The Fratelli Group, where he helped to develop and implement communications strategies for a variety of clients, including prominent business coalitions, trade groups, and a climate finance nonprofit. He conducted in-depth policy and sector research, coordinated press outreach and interview opportunities, and assisted with social media strategy, monitoring, and content creation.

Ben graduated from Carleton College, where he majored in political science and international relations with a focus in leadership, peace, and security. During his time at Carleton, he was a member of the varsity football team, served as the editor of a satire publication, and studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Sevilla, Spain. His undergraduate thesis was an analysis of the intersection of sport, nationalism, and racism in Europe through a qualitative study about racism and foreign-born players in the English Premier League.

Hailing from Portland, Maine, Ben can be found loudly cheering for the Patriots and other New England sports teams, reviewing movies on Letterboxd, and cooking in his free time.

Kate is an Associate Director at Breakwater Strategy based in Washington, D.C. She works closely with the team to assist in all client needs, including drafting messaging, coordinating communications campaigns, researching client-specific policy and media opportunities, and providing additional support as needed.

Prior to Breakwater, Kate worked at Allison+Partners on the Global Reputation Risk + Public Affairs team. In this role she specialized in supporting clients through proactive and reactive crisis and reputation management, in addition to designing and executing national, state, and local level public affairs campaigns. Her work included conducting media landscape monitoring and analysis, background research, message development, and proactive and reactive media outreach. She brings a breadth of experience working for some of the biggest brands across various industries, including consumer tech, commercial real estate, health and health tech, nonprofit and government agencies, defense, aerospace and more.

Kate graduated with honors from East Carolina University with Bachelor of Science in Communication, concentrating in public relations and media studies. She is currently working towards a Master of Science in Strategic Communication from Columbia University. In her free time, she can typically be found exploring new restaurants in DC, cheering on the Capitals, or visiting parks around the DMV with her dog Nox.

Bryn is an Associate on the Research and Insights team, where she supports quantitative and qualitative research and analysis that powers client solutions.

Prior to joining Breakwater, Bryn served as a Research Associate in the Executive Office of the President, where she vetted individuals and organizations seeking presidential engagement, tracked global media trends, and fact-checked high-level communications materials. Working alongside policy, national security, and communications professionals, she developed expertise in delivering precise messaging and identifying strategic opportunities on complex policy matters.

Bryn graduated summa cum laude from Colgate University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She was awarded a competitive research fellowship from the Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs and spent time as a visiting student in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. Her senior thesis examined the role of mediator states like the US in peace settlements in Sudan and South Sudan.

Research is at the heart of Bryn’s work. She has a passion for uncovering insights that drive informed decision-making and crafting compelling narratives based on rigorous analysis.

A Pittsburgh native and long-suffering Pirates fan now based in D.C., Bryn enjoys reading, hiking, and exploring local flea markets and vintage shops in her free time.

As a Vice President at Breakwater Strategy, Lydie works with a range of clients across industries including tech, financial services, education, media and entertainment on strategic communications challenges and initiatives. 

Since 2019, Lydie has worked on Breakwater Strategy’s strategic communications accounts, supporting clients in crisis and reputation management, corporate and executive communications, and media campaigns. Her work includes conducting media landscape analysis, background research, content analysis, message development and proactive media outreach. As just the second employee at Breakwater, she plays a central role both in overseeing the firm’s day-to-day operations and in safeguarding its culture. 

Prior to Breakwater, Lydie worked as a Strategic Communications Associate at FGS Global (legacy Glover Park Group) where she supported client teams with background research, media monitoring and client deliverables. 

Originally from North Carolina and currently based out of Raleigh, Lydie is a graduate from UNC Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in Media and Journalism and a minor in Hispanic Studies. She can typically be found reading the latest book between commercial breaks of UNC Basketball games or walking around the triangle with her dog Mack. 

Marilyn Olson draws upon her robust background in corporate, internal, and crisis communications, as well as change management and M&A, to help clients educate, engage, and inspire their most critical audiences. She has extensive experience advising companies through the process of transforming their organization and audiences’ perceptions, including post-M&A integrations, complex financial transactions, and pivotal cultural change.

In both in-house and consulting roles, Marilyn has deep experience working with major global technology and financial services companies, including Dell Technologies, Visa Inc., and The Charles Schwab Corporation. She has led complex, integrated campaigns reaching multiple audiences across various industry sectors. She has driven successful internal communications programs and high-profile events, reinforcing her ability to influence corporate culture and enhance employee engagement.

A graduate of UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts in History, Marilyn is an award-winning communicator recognized by the International Association of Business Communicators and co-founded a nonprofit focused on community development. She lives in her native San Diego with her husband, three children, and a very loved dog.