Meet the Ripples Team
We’re a crew of dedicated creatives who believe in storytelling as a catalyst for change.
Andrew Vogel
Managing Partner, Head of Storytelling & New Business
Andrew's passion for storytelling started in journalism, where he was an award-winning sports feature writer and columnist for a daily newspaper in Wooster, Ohio. The most interesting stories he covered weren't really about sports, but about athletes overcoming other life challenges and adversity, and the lessons they learned because of them.
He joined the Ripples team in 2022 as an editor and has immensely enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with authors during the challenging—but incredibly fulfilling—journey to see their book come to life. Now Andrew heads up bringing new authors into the fold while overseeing editorial and author relationships. He works one-on-one with authors throughout their storytelling journey, drawing on his background in capturing compelling narratives about resilience and transformation.
Nicole Wedekind
Managing Partner, Head of Publishing & Marketing
Nicole is known for her creative thinking, fresh perspective, passion, and results—all of which give her a knack for helping authors thoughtfully tell and publish their stories. She leads the charge in bringing our purpose-driven books to readers, orchestrating the full go-to-market journey from market positioning and creative vision through distribution.
Her depth of agency and consulting experience spans collaborating with clients (of various types/industries), strategic planning to help launch and grow marketing efforts, and an eye for thoughtful client service delivery. Plus, she's got a huge heart for books and this community to boot.
Jeff Hilimire
Founder and Advisor
Jeff founded Ripples Media in 2021. After publishing his first book, The 5-Day Turnaround, in 2019 and being completely turned off by the entire process of working with a traditional publisher, like a true entrepreneur, he decided to start his own publishing company.
He founded Ripples out of a belief that traditional publishers are too "old school" and the most successful book promotion plans are accomplished through personal branding, a variety of media channels, and a community of other supportive authors.
Dorothy Miller-Farleo
Head of Production & Project Management
Burtch Hunter
Lead Designer
Burtch is an award-winning designer who has brought to life over 175 titles in nearly every genre, including many coffee-table books, a dozen recipe books, and several national bestsellers. “My philosophy is to create a contemporary yet classic look that will never appear dated,” he said. “A book should be a product that is not only striking and attractive to the buyer in the bookstore, but also something the reader is proud to display on their table at home. It should be both beautiful and easy to read.”
In 2009, he received the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Cover Design by the Independent Book Publishers Association.
Terra Elan McVoy
Editor & Writing Coach
Terra is the author of eight novels for young people, including This is All Your Fault, Cassie Parker, from HarperCollins, and the Edgar Award finalist Criminal, from Simon and Schuster.
Her 20-year career has focused on reading and writing, including being a bookseller at Little Shop of Stories, program director for the AJC Decatur Book Festival, and answering fan mail for Captain Underpants while an editorial assistant at Scholastic. Her master’s degree is from Florida State University in Creative Writing, and she has taught both adults and young people in a variety of courses, including the Yale Writers Workshop, Smith College Young Women’s Writing Workshop, and The Atlanta Young Writers Institute.
Learn more about Terra and her books here.
Jon Reese
Copy Editor & Writing Coach
Jon Reese comes from a scholastic media career, where he advised students in an award-winning convergence media program and provided state and national leadership. He has consulted on editorial and design projects with multiple nonprofits, programmed multi-day retreats, and facilitated small- and large-group workshops. Jon leads climate action work, volunteers with Longleaf Hospice, and works as event staff at local concert venues.
His goal with new authors is to support their unique creative process, to encourage their authentic voice, and to help distill the project's benefit to readers.
Joe & Kathy Sindorf
Editors & Writing Coaches
Joe and Kathy are storytellers. Working together, they're a formidable writing and editing team. Kathy is a television producer, reporter, and writer. She’s been a tenured university professor and teaches scriptwriting and oral rhetoric at the college level. Joe is an award-winning film and television creator. He has worked in more than 85 countries as a producer, director, shooter, and writer.
Together they have written thousands of hours of award-winning television programs, as well as film scripts, books, and speeches. They know how to craft and tell stories that grip audiences. With a successful track record of ghostwriting non-fiction books, they also work with fiction authors as developmental editors to strengthen story structure, characters, dialogue, and writing style.
When not writing, they are traveling, cooking, laughing with friends, and hanging out with their daughters and granddaughters.
Jaye Liptak
Copy Editor
Jaye has collaborated on book projects with a number of Ripples authors. She has written long- and short-form copy for advertising agencies, corporate clients, press headlines, professional speeches for conferences and award shows, wedding toasts, song and poetry parodies, and everything else in between. Most of all, she is passionate about supporting fellow writers in creating their most concise, error-free, reader-friendly material.
She has tackled everything from the light editing of one-sentence headlines to the heavy editing, story structuring, and co-writing of 200+ page manuscripts. Jaye is passionate about language, people, October baseball, good food, great comedy, and terrible puns.
Carolyn Asman
Designer & Typesetter
As a designer, Lyn deeply connects her creative work with her core values and passions—especially her natural curiosity. Joining the Ripples Team has given her the opportunity to collaborate with diverse authors across a range of subjects, constantly fueling her inquisitive spirit. She thrives on new challenges and loves helping transform authors' manuscripts into vibrant, polished works ready for readers to enjoy!
Away from her design workspace, you might spot Lyn dirt biking or capturing dynamic moments at Subaru events via her photography lens.
Alexa Cole
Publishing Associate
Alexa is a recent Communication Studies and English graduate with an immense passion for storytelling. She believes deeply that stories have the power to cultivate community, stir imagination, shape identity, and invite conversation.
As a graduate of NYU's Summer Publishing Institute, she has hands-on experience across the many departments that contribute to the lifecycle of books and digital media. She's passionate about the intersection of editorial work and communications, where her skills in storytelling help books reach their intended audiences. As a Publishing Associate, she supports proofreading, research, and marketing efforts across the team.
Rachelle Kuramoto
Advisor
Rachelle helped Jeff Hilimire found Ripples and now serves as an Advisor. Her invigorating day job is as the SVP of Content for Panoramic Ventures.
She’s been fortunate to have built a whole career out of content strategy, writing, editing, and connecting with people through their stories. And if you can’t find her, she’s probably curled up in a corner with a book.
Let’s Chat
Most people have great ideas to share.
We believe there is a better way to get them into the world.