Meet Our Core Team

Deedra Hughes founded Hughes Media in 2000 as a media buying and advertising agency. Her clients included both national and local companies like Pulte Homes and Budget Rental Car. After two years, market demands required Hughes Media to begin offering website development, Google Adwords and search engine optimization. Deedra was an early adapter to internet ad buying (pay-per-click), leading her to build a full-service digital agency. Today, Deedra directs a digital team of internet marketers and website developers. Deedra has put together a team of over 20 digital experts whose specialties include SEO, PPC, SEM, marketing automation, email marketing and segmentation, website design and development, and more. Her team is made up of people who are experts in their channel of marketing, and clients’ results-focused. They are trained and encouraged to do the right thing for their clients. Under her leadership, the Hughes Media team has managed over 800 domains and websites worldwide.

As a digital business consultant, Deedra advises various CEOs and presidents on their companies’ branding and positioning on the internet. These services have included analyzing website traffic, reviewing all digital touch points, and finding additional revenue streams. Internet consulting services has been an adjunct to Deedra’s expertise for the past ten years.

She is a graduate of Ohio University with a Communications Marketing degree, is certified in both Google Adwords and Google Analytics, and has been trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) for small to mid-size businesses. She is a member of Vistage, SEMPO, and the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association. She is also the President of the Board of Directors for Cumberland Academy of Georgia. She has been featured as a key speaker on SEO and social media, as well as other various digital marketing topics. View my LinkedIn profile.

Valentina Huff is the Vice President of Hughes Media; she joined the company in ​2011 and has proven herself to be client results-focused and ROI driven through extensive, hands-on experience and leadership across all channels of digital marketing. To ensure clients maximize their marketing potential, Val leads a dedicated team of SEO and SEM specialists, oversees website builds from inception to completion, and manages email segmentation and marketing automation projects. Working with programs like SEMRush, Google Analytics, Screaming Frog and more, Val not only oversees the digital marketing teams, but is fluent in the various software as well. She also specializes in working with CRM programs SalesForce and RockHopper, and email management programs Pardot and MailChimp. Moreover, Val is highly trained and qualified in programmatic ad buying and pay-per-click through platforms like Centro/Basis DSP and Google Adwords. In the course of her marketing career, Val has managed almost $2 million in campaigns and continues to grow this number on a daily basis.

Before joining Hughes Media, Val worked as a School Counselor for 2 years in South Carolina after completing a Masters+30 from University of South Carolina. Prior to that, she graduated with Honors from Presbyterian College, majoring in psychology and minoring in sociology and English. When Val isn’t at the office, she enjoys cooking, hanging out outdoors, and spending time at the beach with her husband and her son.

Stephanie Braatz is the Creative Director at Hughes Media and she oversees our exceptional team of graphic designers and all of the visual materials produced for our clients. Stephanie began her career at BKV (now known as DRUM) in 1992 and has been an integral member of Hughes Media for 15 years. She is exceptional in her ability to translate our clients’ visions from mere concepts to tangible websites, brochures, newsletters, and digital ads. Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree from Auburn University where she has a rich family history. Her grandfather was the businessman and pharmacist who started Toomer’s Drugstore for which Toomer’s Corner is named. She has two sons, one at Georgia Tech and one at Auburn, and resides in Atlanta with her husband of over 25 years (who also happens to be her college sweetheart).

Angie joined the Hughes Media team 4 years ago as a graphic designer. Angie works closely with all clients and Hughes Media team members to to strategize, create designs and consistently meet deadline requirements. In addition, she manages all clients’ social media advertising and optimization utilizing Facebook Business Manager, Hootsuite and other tools, and regularly integrates her design abilities into her social strategizing.

Angie is devoted to studying the latest market and industry trends and techniques in design and social media in order to keep her work current and fresh on behalf of the client’s output. She creates graphics that complement our clients’ brands and visually translate their business values and strategies through her awareness of color, composition, and typography. Her design work includes responsive website design, user experience, email marketing, logo designs, banner ad designs, and more.

Angie is an expert in the Adobe Creative Suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro, as well as WordPress, which she uses to implement quick design changes on client websites.

Laurie Eady oversees digital strategies and email marketing. She is highly effective in optimizing existing and new online marketing strategies for clients through email automation programs, management and development of promotions calendars, enhancement of website navigation tools, and more. Her strategies are customized, focusing on improving conversion rates and improving ROI for clients’ bottom lines.

Before joining Hughes Media 5 years ago, she helped grow Fabrik.com from a startup to over $50 million in revenue, after which the company was bought by Amazon.com. Her specialization in conversion rate optimization, customer experience, and development and growth of customer traffic and online sales, has equipped Laurie with extensive corporate and mid-sized business experience, a robust understanding of digital strategy, and a deep commitment to customer service.

Laurie is highly experienced in working with the following email marketing and ecommerce platforms: Coremetrics, SilverPop, MailChimp, Bazaar Voive, Mercado Merchandising, Google Analytics, Google Adwords, Commission Junction, ShareAsale, WordPress, SLI-Systems, Fetchback, and Bronto. In addition to working with all of these platforms, she oversees software selection and developing software requirements for clients.

A recent move from Dallas, TX, brought Sarah Jane to Atlanta and ultimately to Hughes Media as account manager. With a double major in business administration and English from Washington and Lee University, Sarah Jane is uniquely positioned to aid in effective communications for Hughes Media clients. To Hughes Media, she brings marketing manager experience from a leading southwest-based healthcare provider as well as international business curriculum studies in Paris. In these roles, she gained valuable experience overseeing press releases and developing a keen eye for design. Sarah Jane is certified in Google Analytics and works fluently in WordPress, MailChimp, and Microsoft Office tools. In her spare time, Sarah Jane remains active with family and friends, spending time reading and enjoying the outdoors with her dog, Peaches.

Abbey manages social media content and posting for Hughes Media and its clients. She is also keen on evaluating the most innovative tools to enhance clients’ newsletters and websites. Abbey has proven to be very skilled at email marketing and mastering segmentation, campaign management, and email marketing coordination, and works closely with our digital strategist Laurie, to implement and bring our clients’ email marketing goals to fruition. In her free time, Abbey enjoys volunteering with the Fulton LifeLine Animal Project and the Atlanta Food Bank. She also likes to explore the outdoors and listen to podcasts to expand her knowledge on a plethora of topics. Abbey is a graduate of Georgia College, where she majored in Marketing.

With 25 years experience in the journalism and advertising fields, Becky Sweat has written thousands of articles and advertisements for hundreds of different magazines, newspapers and websites. Her experience runs the gamut from writing and editing short, newsy press releases and advertising copy, to conducting extensive interviews with experts to write very well-researched, informative articles targeted to specific audiences.

Becky is a graduate of Michigan State University, where she studied advertising and journalism.

When she’s not writing, Becky enjoys gourmet cooking, baking, planning large get-togethers for friends, photography, and travel, especially to international areas.

As a developer, designer and project manager for Hughes Media, Christine Uyemura organizes, designs, builds and maintains client websites. She has a strong understanding of each of client and their work and is able to create engaging sites while taking industry requirements and user experience into consideration. Christine is also responsible for filming and editing videos for Hughes Media’s clients. Christine graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May of 2013 with an engineering degree in digital media design and a minor in marketing and social psychology. During her time in Philadelphia she worked as a digital lab consultant and as a graphic designer for a merchandise production company, a student business agency, and an online startup. Her first digital marketing experience came when she worked as the Digital Content Intern at Lucasfilm where she helped increase SEO through page creation, blog management, and QA testing. She also interned in the Marketing and Communications department of Apple creating digital assets for their packaging, retail, motion graphics and interactive environments.

Outside of the digital world, one of Christine’s greatest passions is food, both cooking and trying new restaurants. She also loves football (Go Falcons! Go Jackets!), dogs, TV shows, video games, and playing softball. She is currently pursuing her Masters of Fine Arts in Visual Effects at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta.

As Web Designer and Developer, Diana Li is responsible for creating and maintaining all aspects of a website for Hughes Media’s vast list of clients. She has extensive knowledge of both computer programming and graphic design in order to ensure websites are both visually appealing and technically proficient. After she finishes developing a client’s website, Diana is responsible for solving any technical issues and updating the site when necessary. Diana also works as an Effects Technical Director for some of Hollywood’s most exciting and action-packed films, like Godzilla, Thor: The Dark World and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. She also worked on Life of Pi, a film that was both critically and monetarily successful and was awarded several Academy Awards including Best Visual Effects and a BAFTA for Special Visual Effects. This work has taken her all over the world; she has lived and worked in Los Angeles, London and Vancouver.

Diana began working for Hughes Media in 2006 after creating and designing websites since age fifteen. Diana attended the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, pursuing a BFA in Visual Effects with an Animation minor. She graduated from Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom with a MA in Digital Effects with Merit. It was here that she won the award for Best Art Direction for a film called Athena at the Landcrab Film Festival in Bournemouth, England. When she isn’t working, Diana enjoys lifting weights to stay healthy.

Steven Scarborough is a high school graduate from Cumberland Academy of Georgia. As an intern at Hughes Media, Steven works on speed testing for websites on multiple different platforms. In addition, Steven is involved with quality assurance for clients’ websites and ensures that contact forms are always working properly. At Cumberland Academy, he participated in soccer, basketball, and rock band. Steven’s interests include cars, trucks, and heavy metal music. During his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends, playing video games, and researching cars.

Roy is the furriest member of Hughes Media. His duties as Hughes Media’s mascot include barking at the printer, warming laps, greeting guests and tirelessly tail wagging. When he’s not working, Roy enjoys eating table scraps and playing his favorite stuffed animal.

Roy is a Havanese rescue from a puppy mill in Texas. There were so many puppies they had to be sent to humane societies in various states. Deedra’s family was looking for a dog for her son’s birthday and we were on an email list. As soon as they saw Roy, it was love at first sight. Roy’s charming personality has inspired others to adopt from rescues and seek out a Havanese.