Strong Bat's success is rooted in the distinction of its principals: individuals attuned to the needs and nuances of their fellow youth, but also experienced and accredited professionals pioneering the new media and literary fields from New York City.

ANTHONY TEDESCO
Cofounder, Content and Marketing Director

Anthony apologizes for the following litany of resume-speak. For his work as Cofounder/Publisher of the online magazine Crisp, Anthony was commended as one of the Top 7 Web Publishers in the World by Virtual City magazine (a Newsweek publication) and featured in the book, International Who's Who in Information Technology. Anthony and Paul's groundbreaking book, Online Markets for Writers: How and Where to Get Published Online and Paid for It, was first published by Henry Holt & Company, and blurbed by chairperson of the National Writers Union Journalism Division, Cate T. Corcoran, as "The best market guide for writers I've ever seen, with juicy details about pay rates, contracts, and the inside workings of Net media companies that can take professional writers years to learn." The latest edition is out - click for reader reviews, a free excerpt and information about its $250 Paid & Published Guarantee .

In 1997, Anthony wrote WRITER'S MARKET's very first chapter about writing for online markets for its 1998 edition, and he's gone on to give expert writing advice and resources to hundreds of thousands of its readers through WRITER'S MARKET's 1999, 2000, and 2002-2007 editions. He's also helped writers through other publications, including The Writer magazine, Details and The Boston Globe.

As a guest instructor, Anthony's taught both suburban and inner-city student writers at high school, college and graduate programs. He cofounded the Student Publishing Program, which was selected as one of the top high school writing programs in the country by Web del Sol, the largest nonprofit publisher of periodical contemporary literature in the United States. Web del Sol's Words Work Network (http://www.wow-schools.net/) has only given this distinction to 11 other high school writing programs.

As a guest speaker, he's taught adult writers at many of the nation's largest writer conferences, including those of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the National Writers Union, and the National Conference of Editorial Writers. Anthony also teaches and advocates for writers on radio shows such as "Connections" on National Public Radio affiliates, and television news shows such as "Money Talks," on ABC in New York and its affiliates worldwide, where he represented the side of writers against the New York Times Company in its Supreme Court case debating electronic rights, and then, after writers won the case, he again represented the side of writers in creating a solution to remedy damage the defendants had done to the livelihood of writers.

Anthony's almost done with his bio.

He cofounded the Presidential Youth Debates with calls to Clinton and Dole in 1996, produced it again in 2000 with Bush and Gore, and then, with herculean help from Martha Sager, again in 2004 with Bush, Kerry and Nader, and principal sponsorship from New Voters Project. Click here to view The New Voters Project Presidential Youth Debate.

MARTHA SAGER
Cofounder, Sponsorship Director

In 2004, Martha Sager joined forces with Anthony Tedesco to help retain sponsorship for the third consecutively produced Presidential Youth Debate (PYD), a Strong Bat production.

Martha's experience with the youth demographic is drawn from a decade's experience of sales and marketing specifically geared to the youth audience. At Go-Card Advertising, a gorilla marketing firm specializing in the 18-35 target audience, Martha was chosen top sales person in her first year and went on in just two years time to increase business by 150 percent, adding 124 new corporate clients. Sager then went on to accept the national marketing director position for Planet Report, one of the largest in-school current events publications and providers of corporate sponsored educational materials to our nation's primary and secondary schools. Her first-hand knowledge of the needs of America's schools in providing their students with educational and inspirational learning programs is based on research conducted in over 94 percent of all primary and secondary schools across the nation. Her working relationship with over 100 Fortune 500 companies has repeatedly proven successful in helping to achieve their marketing goals while benefiting the nation's communities at-large. Clients include General Mills, Kellogg, Bank One, Kodak, Proctor and Gamble, Hewlett-Packard, Nintendo, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Dreamworks, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, ABC, HBO, FOX, Visa, Nestle, Hershey.

PAUL TEDESCO
Design Consultant

In 1993, Paul received national media recognition for his work as Cofounder/Designer of the first multimedia magazine to be published exclusively on the Internet, the Trincoll Journal, a worldwide college-student magazine. He was also commended as one of Virtual City magazine's Top 7 Web Publishers in the World for his work as Cofounder/Design Director of Crisp online magazine. In 1995, Paul accepted the Web Developer position for Conde Nast's new media division, CondeNet, helping to design and launch its very first online publications. He then moved on to Disney Online, flourishing as Senior Designer for three years, until recently leaving to pursue his own design ventures. Paul also freelances new media projects for such clients as Viacom, Intel, B&B Liqueur, Nickelodeon and Blender, along with journalism for such publications as Details and Time Out New York. He's been known to cook a palatable, albeit extremely crispy, chicken cutlet. He can hit the outside jumper.

THOMAS ELIA
Content Consultant

Thomas has worked with words on the Web for quite a while. Recently, OgilvyOne has kept him pretty busy creating award winning ads for Sears.com and close, but not award winning campaigns for IBM, Lotus and Nestle. Before that, as an ACD at DDB digital, he was just as busy leading online marketing initiatives for Compaq and AltaVista. Details before DDB get fuzzy, but the facts remain clear. At CKS - he left the day of the merger with USWeb (now marchFIRST) - Tom lead integrated marketing solutions across Web, print, radio and video for clients like the GO Network, Nike, IBM, NFL, Audi, Nabisco, Hughes Electronics and Johnson & Johnson. And at Siegel & Gale he got his hands dirty helping mold the online brands of companies like Kodak and American Express. Other than that, Tom keeps busy by adding to the dense dossiers of Disinformation, the world's #1 subculture search engine, and contributing to the Bars & Restaurants section of NYToday, the New York Times' online events guide. When he's not on the Web, Tom can be found playing whiffle ball in abandoned lots, bilking milk money from children and thinking of ways to make his alma mater, Trinity College, proud.

JAKE SASSU-COONEY
editor and writer

Jake first collaborated with Strong Bat as an editor for Crisp online magazine. As campaign manager and media planner for political clients, he's written and directed ads for print, radio and television, and has helped secure victories in three city council elections and one mayoral campaign in Worcester, Massachusetts. As ongoing consultant and senior contributing writer for Strong Bat's Online Markets for Writers, he's played a pivotal role in the book's success, and he's gone on to coauthor many books under Strong Bat's MarketsForWriters.com Press imprint. Before Strong Bat, and since that time, Jake has successfully bolstered businesses ranging from Circus Man Brothers Ice Cream franchise to the Boston Stock Exchange, taught inner-city public school at both the junior high and high school levels, acted and assisted in the production of many independent films including Next Stop Wonderland, and written essays, children's stories and speeches, most notably a baccalaureate address delivered to many distinguished guests including the late King Hussein. Jake is also Strong Bat's undisputed one-on-one basketball champion. Lefty, eyes closed, nothing but net.

strong bat partners

Strong Bat has complemented its expertise with over 50 strategic partners for content, marketing, market research, technology development and public relations, and over 400 individual content contributors - authors, editors, A & R reps, artists, activists, entrepreneurs.