Writer, disruptive presence, devil’s advocate

Erika Napoletano is the Head Redhead at RHW Media, a Denver-based online strategies consultancy. Her blog, RedheadWriting, is a bastion for “unpopular thoughts and blunt advice - delivered” and consistently strives to say what others won’t and don’t (but should) about marketing, social media, business integrity and life in general. She’s the author of two books (due out Spring 2012) including The Power of Unpopular with John Wiley & Sons, a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine, was recently named by the Denver Post as one of Colorado’s top Twitter Personalities and received the 5280 Magazine Top of the Town 2011 Reader’s Choice award for Best Twitter Personality.

Learn more about her at ErikaNapoletano.com, including information about her upcoming speaking engagements and what her clients, readers, and audience have to say about her. Be afraid.

You can connect with her online on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. (She closed her MySpace account when she found out that no one really wanted to pay her $5,000 a night to “party.”)

Specialties

Erika digs diabolical plots and has developed online marketing and social media strategies for some pretty effing amazing startups, leading Silicon Valley law firms, and brands you see on shelves and in mall parking lots every day. Whatever the task, the part she enjoys most is helping businesses find the humor in their brands. That sometimes includes bowling. And yes — she’s a ringer. Don’t believe her? She’d love to bowl with you.

She is also rather talented when it comes to devouring jalapeño poppers and the random bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, can belt-out Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” a capella, and do (so she’s told) brilliant vocal impressions of both Golum/Smeagol from Lord of the Rings and Bart Simpson (not from Lord of the Rings).

Beyond the Office

Erika is an avid (yet somewhat crappy) cyclist in road, downhill mountain biking and track disciplines, focusing always on the “rubber side down” approach. Her favorite place to work is the Tattered Cover Bookstore on Colfax in Denver, because she can’t imagine a greater work day bliss than to be surrounded by the smell of books. Her dogs Hippopotamus and Penelope keep her laughing and her cats Peter and Moto would have written “Die, dogs, die” on the walls in blood about two years ago if they had opposable thumbs. An admitted audiophile, she’s into recreating a collection of vinyl and cassette tapes and is rather excited to be seeing Van Halen in concert for the first time EVER this coming May in Denver. Life’s too short to listen to crappy music.