Perrine Mann
Associate Vice President of Strategic Communication and Brand Management
Perrine Mann is the Associate Vice President of Strategic Communication and Brand Management at CSUN and provides strategic direction on communicating CSUN’s mission, academic vision, and innovative approach to leading diversity-themed change.
A veteran communications leader, Perrine began her career as a journalist. She has over 16 years combined experience working as a journalist and communications executive, developing and implementing comprehensive marketing and communications strategy. Prior to her role at CSUN, Perrine held leadership roles at nonprofit organizations based in Los Angeles. Most recently was the VP of Marketing and Communications at CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) a global crisis response organization founded by Sean Penn and Ann Lee. Previously, she was VP of Marketing and Communications at JVS SoCal, a workforce development nonprofit organization with a 91-year legacy of changing lives.
Perrine graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Political Science and completed her MA in Broadcast Journalism and Documentary film at New York University.
Perrine is thrilled to join the CSUN team and advance the university’s critically important mission. A passionate education advocate, Perrine has always been involved, personally and professionally, in work advancing access to educational resources and enrichment opportunities for underserved and marginalized communities. At Stanford, Perrine was the Co-Founder of StepOut and the Director of Program Development for Kids With Dreams, both nonprofit outreach organizations.
Perrine lives in Los Angeles with her husband Edward and daughter Audrey.
Andrea Klaassen
Administrative Analyst
A proud native Minnesotan, Andrea gladly traded in ice and snow for the sunshine of California, bringing along a decade of experience in communications. She enjoys putting that to use at CSUN after most recently working in External Relations for the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum of Natural History.
Her career began in the public relations department of the Iowa State Fair writing press releases about yes—the famed butter cow--and later for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, while earning a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication from Drake University. Upon graduation she taught English in China, then returned home to Minneapolis and a career that would include program development, graphic design, advertising, writing, and much more. A veteran comedic improviser, she enjoys taking to the stage when not exploring the hiking trails, towns and breweries of the Southland.
Communications
Diane Wai
Director of Communications
Emily Olson
Social Media Editor/Writer
Emily Olson is the Social Media Editor/Writer handling the official #CSUN accounts. Prior to joining the staff in Marketing and Communications, Emily was the New Media Specialist at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Social media and communications is Emily’s second career. Before she returned to receive her bachelor’s in journalism at CSUN in 2014, Emily worked in the music industry as a marketing representative, talent management and A&R at various major and independent music companies in Los Angeles, working on projects with pop-princesses and local artists alike. Though she misses her free Coachella tickets, she is happy to be representing her alma mater on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
Olivia Herstein
Editor/Writer
Olivia is a journalist by training, and prior to joining CSUN, she worked as Senior Editor at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine and Communications Director/Webmaster for the Jewish Federations in the Twin Cities. Her experience includes online and social media writing and editing, magazine editing, and custom publishing. She also worked as a daily beat reporter -- on politics, environment, science, arts and education -- for the Orange County Register, Jerusalem Post, Chicago Tribune and Twin Cities Jewish Life. A Bay Area native, Olivia received her bachelor's and master’s degrees from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She also has studied at the Pardes Institute of Judaic Studies in Jerusalem. Her husband is a teacher at Milken Community High School, and they have two young daughters.
Cary Osborne
Alumni and Annual Giving Communications Officer
Alumni and Annual Giving Communications Officer Cary Osborne is a CSUN journalism graduate and an award-winning writer and editor. The California Newspaper Publishers Association recognized him with eight first-place writing and editing awards and the California Interscholastic Federation recognized him in 2015 with one of its highest honors, “Champion for Character.” For 13 years, he worked in many capacities at The Signal newspaper in Santa Clarita — including assistant managing editor and sports editor. He has worked for eight years as a writer for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ digital and print content team.
Marketing
Kevin L. Lizárraga
Director of University Marketing
Kevin is a Los Angeles-born artist and marketing professional, as well as a former part-time faculty and student union marketing manager at CSUN. Kevin currently serves as the Director of University Marketing at CSUN.
In 1998, Kevin formed KEVIN PRODUCTION, a freelance endeavor to produce commissioned art, including logos, illustrations and paintings in a variety of media. Under this freelance endeavor, he has been commissioned to produce art and graphic design projects for the City of Calabasas, YMCA of the East Bay and CORE Unlimited LLC. In 2008, Lizárraga added tattooing to his list of services and has completed more than 300 individual pieces. Kevin has facilitated keynote presentations and workshops at various conferences on topics ranging from semiotics and creativity to branding and public relations. He also has served as a guest speaker for the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), North Valley Occupational Center and Opportunities for Learning Charter High School. In 2005, Lizárraga presented his research on semiotics at the 76th Annual Convention of the Western States Communication Association. Kevin holds a master’s degree in mass communication and a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in art from CSUN.
Lee Choo
Photographer
Lee was born in Malaysia, raised in Singapore, and immigrated to the U.S. in his twenties. Since coming to the U.S. he has lived in Hawaii, Texas, San Diego, San Francisco, and worked twenty years as campus photographer for CSUN. Combined with his MFA in Photography, Lee brings a diverse mix of cultural and creative experience to his job as the staff photographer for this university. Lee is also an avid outdoorsman, enjoying many of the exciting sporting opportunities Southern California has to offer.
Tatsuo Kumagai
Graphic Designer
Tatsuo is a graphic designer in Marketing and Communications department for the past 16 years. Prior to joining CSUN he had worked in the advertising industry for 17 years. His area of responsibility is print-based projects. He is originally from Japan and is a big football fan.
Kate Llave
Graphic Designer
Kate joined CSUN's Department of Marketing and Communications team in July 2015. She graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in June 2008, earning a BFA in Graphic Design. She believes design has the power to influence decisions, sell you anything and even bring you to tears (hopefully)! She thrives in a fast-paced environment, is passionate about creative problem solving, and embraces the unpredictability, ingenuity and endless possibilities of design.
Kimon Rethis
Web Designer
Kimon loves working in web development and the challenge of interaction design as it evolves through successive technologies. He brings a fine art and strong academic background to his work, focusing on clarity and functionality in presentation. In his spare time, he practices Kung Fu, plays basketball and chess and non-stop frisbee with his two dogs.
Bryan Rodgers
Graphic Designer
Bryan is a graphic and web designer for Marketing and Communications. He thrives on making a difference in his community and the world. He has awards in video post production, a long history with live event coverage, and extensive experience in corporate and small business media. With a bachelor’s degree in multimedia from CSUN, an associate degree in film and television, and more than a decade of experience, he prides himself on knowledge, yet always wants to know more.
His true love is photography and music production. Bryan has done photos for fashion websites, motorsports, weddings and other events. He has also been a DJ for clubs ranging as far south as downtown L.A. to as far north as Ventura, and performing at parties for kids’ birthdays and weddings. Bryan likes long walks on the beach, hiking, driving Corvettes and motorcycles, computers and cooking. But above all he loves knowing his work has impacted others in a positive way.
Media Relations
Carmen Ramos Chandler
Director of Media Relations
Carmen is Director of Media Relations at CSUN. She has worked at the university in a media relations capacity for more than 20 years. Prior to that, she was a newspaper reporter for nearly 17 years. She got her first “job” as a reporter while still in high school. The last paper she worked for was the Los AngelesDaily News, where she covered Los Angeles' minority communities while also reporting on higher education and serving as a general assignment reporter. Among the stories she covered were the 1992 Los Angeles riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Carmen has a long personal history of activism in the civil/human rights arena, having learned the alphabet while helping her parents, Bill and Irene Chandler, who were organizers for what was then the National Farm Workers Association, now the Unite Farm Workers. She grew up traveling across the United States — from California, Georgia and Texas to Ohio and Illinois — assisting her parents as they organized workers and boycotts in support of Cesar Chavez's efforts to improve the working conditions for the men and women who toil in America's agricultural fields. Carmen continues to be active in the community. She she has served more than 20 years on the board of the California Association of Human Relations Organizations, a statewide network of human relations commissions, other governmental agencies, law enforcement, community-based groups and educators that work to ease community tensions and foster intergroup communication and understanding. She also is a member of the board of the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission, which provides support to the homeless in the San Fernando Valley. She is also an active supporter of the CHIME Institute, which is based at CSUN and is a national leader in developing and implementing model educational programs and dynamic research and training environments to disseminate best practices in inclusive education.
Project Coordinator
Veronica Navarro
Project Coordinator
Veronica serves as a Marketing Communications Coordinator on our team. Overall, she has 11 years of experience in website and email design, programming, client relations, ROI analytics, budget planning and tracking. Before joining CSUN, she served as a database analyst at the UCLA Extension Marketing Department. She has also worked at Green Dot, 1105 Media and Washington Mutual.
Veronica is a graduate of the University of Phoenix, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing. She lives in Winnetka, where she is outnumbered – living with her husband and their three teenage boys. She herself is a tomboy at heart and doesn’t mind getting a little muddy playing backyard football or going camping.