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Our Team
 Sydney Weisman
Sydney Weisman, is a veteran TV, radio, and print journalist. During her college days at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, she worked as a TV weather “girl,” and host of a children’s show on KOMU-TV, NBC in Columbia, Mo. On returning home to Chicago after graduation, she enjoyed stints as a reporter at the Chicago Herald American, the Chicago Sun-Times and WIND radio and did a turn at KTMJ TV in Milwaukee.
After leaving Milwaukee, she returned to join WLS/ABC radio in Chicago, where she was part of an award winning news team. She was the first woman to work in the WLS newsroom, the first woman to work at the ABC Chicago radio news bureau and the first woman to work the overnight police beat in the Chicago Police Department’s press-room. After leaving radio, Ms. Weisman worked as a freelance writer for Chicago newspapers and international magazines before opening up her own PR firm there where she worked on several statewide political and non-profit advocacy campaigns.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she and her husband (David Hamlin) founded WHPR. Since then, Ms. Weisman has been a successful publicist who has earned the trust of the news media because every aspect of her work as a publicist is informed by her journalistic experience.
She is active in a number of Los Angeles organizations, including the Los Angeles Area Chamber Of Commerce, where she is a member of the Small Business Council, and the California Society of Association Executives, where she serves as a member of the Ambassador Program. She has also been a commentator on KCET-TV (PBS) in Los Angeles and for Marketplace, heard on NPR stations nationally.
 David Hamlin
David Hamlin enjoyed national and international recognition for his successful leadership within a prominent civil rights organization during a sustained crisis in the 1970s. The insights and experience he gained are the cornerstone of the mature counsel and guidance he now provides to WHPR clients. CEOs, law firm managing partners, and senior administrative and executive staff rely on Mr. Hamlin’s analytical and management strengths, always a part of WHPR campaigns. Prior to founding WHPR with his wife, Sydney Weisman, Mr. Hamlin also worked as a free-lance journalist and is the author of a book about the First Amendment and political free speech. He is a veteran community leader who has founded and led several non-profit and advocacy agencies. He has served as an elected Board member of United Neighborhoods Neighborhood Council in Los Angeles.
Mr. Hamlin’s understanding of the theory and practice of public relations has earned the respect of WHPR clients and a position as Adjunct Professor of Public Relations at Pepperdine University, where he taught PR to upper-class Communications majors during the 1996-97 academic year. He also developed, with his partner, the popular Mastering The Media™ series which has provided comprehensive PR training to hundreds of non-profit and association professionals throughout California. He and Ms. Weisman conduct the highly respected Mastering The Media™ workshops, in conjunction with a variety of non-profit foundations, The Annenberg School for Communication, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the California Society of Association Executives (CalSAE).
Associates
 Taulene Kagan
Senior Account Executive
Taulene Kagan has spent the last 19 years in the field of marketing and communications with an emphasis on public relations.
From 2007- 2013 she served as the Director of Marketing and Communications for United Way of Greater Los Angeles, a well-known nonprofit servicing over 10 million residents in L.A. County. During that time, Taulene led the strategy that dramatically shifted United Way’s traditional approach of being a primary donation based organization to a more activist and mission based organization.
As part of that shift, she was instrumental in the creation of United Way’s Creating Pathways Out of Poverty plan. She was a major force in the launch and growth of United Way’s annual walk to end homelessness, HomeWalk, building it from a 4,000 person walk, to over 10,000 walkers, raising a total of over $2.5 million and achieving the commitment of NBA and LA Laker’s basketball star Kobe Bryant to serve as its Honorary Chair.
Prior to her outstanding work at United Way, Taulene was a Senior Publicist and Account Executive for The Regan Group, an award-winning, full service marketing and promotions agency specializing in the entertainment industry. While at Regan, she spearheaded highly successful campaigns including a national tour for PBS children’s programming, the concert series for the Fender Center for Performing Arts, Lions Gate, Miramax and Corus Entertainment. For the commercial side of the firm’s clientele, she was lead publicist on several multi-faceted promotions for Ashley Furniture.
Taulene’s experience and insight on how to best strategize and infiltrate even the most saturated of markets has secured prominent news media coverage including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, KNBC, KABC, Entertainment Tonight, CNN, Fox, KPCC, KFWB, and for influential Los Angeles based blog LA Observed as well as for the Huffington Post.
Taulene is known for her crisp copy writing and her skill at turning content into compelling stories through all mediums including social media, video, and print. Originally from Toronto, Canada she lives in Manhattan Beach, California with her husband and two daughters and two rescue dogs.
 Kirsten Holguin
Ms. Holguin is a graduate of University of California San Diego whose television producing experience includes working on CNN Moneyline and Channel One News. She has extensive experience in medical public relations and advocacy from her time at UCLA Medical Center. She directed the media operations for the College of Letters, Arts & Science at the University of Southern California. Ms. Holguin is an exceptional publicist whose media contacts and placement record are substantial; she also serves as WHPR’s manager of video production; she is a skillful producer and director, a talented video and audio editor.
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