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News Briefs
AAUW Northwest Valley hosts Summer Survivor Luncheon
AAUW Northwest Valley will have its rst Summer Survivor Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, May 20, at Angela’s Kitchen, Sun City Grand. Contact Rosemary Dougherty at 623-760-8479 for more information.
Guests are welcome. The luncheons are held every third Thursday in May, June, July and August.
The American Association of University Women AAUW is the nation’s leading voice promoting equity and education for women and girls. Since its founding in 1881, AAUW members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — education, social, economic and political.
The nonpartisan AAUW advances gender equity for women and girls through research, education and advocacy.
Membership is open to anyone holding an associate’s degree, bachelor’s or higher degree from a regionally accredited college or university.
Westernaires Chorus resumes rehearsals
To prepare for its December shows, Sun City West’s the Westernaires Chorus will resume its rehearsals in the “Back 40” of the Stardust Theater on Thursday, September 2.
Residents interested in rehearsing and performing with the Westernaires, one of the oldest chartered clubs in Sun City West, may contact director Sylvia Collins at 623214-6112 or visit westernaires.scwclubs.com for more information.
Laser vascular center opens in Sun City
Laser Vascular Center opened its fourth o ce at 13640 N. 99th Avenue, Suite 200, Sun City. It joins locations in Phoenix, Chandler and Mesa.
The center is associated with Bellagio Clinic, which o ers weight loss services, and Bellagio Foot & Ankle.
“It is a pleasure to provide solutions to the people of Sun City who are su ering with various vascular conditions,” says Dr. K. Alex Kim, medical director of Laser Vascular Center.
“Our board-certi ed surgeons can use an entire spectrum of therapies and treatments and tailor the right one for them.”
Laser Vascular Center treats patients with spider veins, varicose veins, leg swelling, cramping, restless leg syndrome, charley horse, wound care and other leg problems.
Kim has advance training as a general surgeon and vascular surgeon.
According to the American Society for Vascular Surgery, an estimated 40 million Americans have varicose veins, with women two times more likely than men to form them.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has stated that obesity or pregnancy present a greater risk of developing varicose veins.
To make an appointment, call 480-7885621.
For the fourth year, members of Piestewa Peak and Maricopa chapters of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) cleaned grave sites at the historic Pioneer and Military Memorial Park as well as the grounds of the Smurthwaite House near Downtown Phoenix.
This annual collaborative service project between DAR chapters took place on March 27 at 13th Avenue and West Je erson Street in Phoenix.
Members of Piestewa Peak Chapter, from Scottsdale, and of Maricopa Chapter, from Central Phoenix, cleaned grave sites and spruced up the landscape of these two historic areas, resulting in over 25 bags of trash and yard waste. The service project is the combined e ort of the Historic Preservation and Conservation committees of the DAR chapters.
Maricopa Chapter is the oldest DAR chapter in Arizona, established in 1901. One of the residents of the Smurthwaite House, built in 1897, was Carolann Smurthwaite, who joined DAR’s Maricopa Chapter in 1921.
Piestewa Peak Chapter is the newest of Arizona’s 41 active DAR chapters and was chartered on October 8, 2016. The chapter is named after Piestewa Peak, the second highest point in the Phoenix Mountains. The peak was named for Specialist Lori Ann Piestewa, a U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps soldier and member of the Hopi Tribe in northeastern Arizona who was killed in Iraq on March 23, 2003. Piestewa Peak Chapter lays a wreath at the park annually on Memorial Day.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to preserve the memory and spirit of those who contributed to securing American independence. For more than 129 years, the DAR has strived to bring awareness to the honorable sacri ces and enduring legacy of all patriots who fought for America’s freedom.
Through the DAR Genealogical Research System (dar.org/GRS), the public can access a free database of information amassed by the DAR about these patriots. DAR is a nonpro t, nonpolitical women’s service organization with more than 185,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide. Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution is eligible for membership.
Info: arizonadar.org
SCW voters elect new governing board directors
The Recreation Centers of Sun City West swore in a new director following the association’s annual governing board election.
With the election, two new faces and an incumbent were also elected for terms that begin July 1.
With the highest number of votes, Louis Mancuso was sworn in immediately following the election to ll an un nished, vacant term that runs through June 30.
On July 1, Mancuso will begin his own three-year term. He will be joined in threeyear terms by incumbent Donna Maloney and Lisa Vines.
Harry Stannebein will be seated to a oneyear term.
The vote tally for the candidates was: • Louis Mancuso: 4,143 votes (16%). • Donna Maloney: 3,465 votes (13.4%) • Lisa Vines: 3,457 votes (13.3%). • Harry Stannebein: 2,952 votes (11.4%).
The volunteer governing board is comprised of nine owner members, who are elected to serve three-year terms. Vacancies with shorter terms are lled as the need arises. With 4,859 votes cast, the turnout is the second highest since at least 2012, when a major ballot initiative drew a huge number of members to the polls. Average turnout has been increasing since 2017, when online balloting began. The year prior, in 2016, only 780 members turned out to cast votes.
In this year’s election, only 80 people voted in person, with the remainder voting online.
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Peter Madrid of MadridMedia spent decades as a writer and editor before crossing over into the PR world. He is also now an adjunct professor at Cronkite. (Photo by Pablo Robles)
Gears SWITCHING
Peter Madrid says going from newspapers to PR was seamless
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Peter Madrid spent the rst 40 years of his career as a sports editor and writer, hopping from one paper to the next, getting experience around the country.
Madrid worked for local newspapers in the Valley before 2006, just before the recession hit, when newspapers began losing revenue.
“It was a watershed moment for newspapers,” Madrid says. “They started losing classi ed ads to di erent online entities like Craigslist and so forth. They started purging the newsroom, and I was one of the rst to go.”
The Scottsdale resident landed on his feet as editor of Arizona Commercial Real Estate magazine. He knew very little about the industry, but it introduced him to a world that would prove bene cial.
He parlayed that knowledge into MadridMedia, which debuted on May 15, 2016. He provides writing, editing, media placement and media relations services.
He spent three years as communications specialist for the Phoenix o ce of Cushman & Wake eld.
He collected contacts by visiting company websites for hours in search of people he knew. While on these sites, he found typos, grammatical errors, and bios of people who no longer worked there.
“When the commercial real estate industry came out of the great recession, they would hire a licensed architect before a marketing or PR person.
“I’d say, ‘Here’s what I can do for you. We can do it on a retainer basis or per-assignment basis.’ That helped me get my foot in the door.”
Madrid, who teaches at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, teaches brokers, Realtors, architects and any other a liated specialist how to pen a great email. He created a 45-minute PowerPoint on how to write with authority, how to avoid clutter, and how to write according to how we talk. He concluded with ridding emails of business cliches.
Word spread about MadridMedia and, in ve years, he’s worked with about 100 companies, mostly commercial real estate rms. About 80% of them are women owned or have female CEOs, the designated broker or president.
“I love that,” he says. “I’m helping tell their stories. It just happened organically, too. I think it really shows that commercial Madrid...continues on page 9
Madrid...continued from page 8 real estate is no longer a good-old-boy network.
“They trust me enough to help tell their story. If one of the industry groups is looking to put a panel together, I refer them to the correct panelist.”
A sports authority
Hailing from the Santa Fe area, Madrid graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1979 and found a newspaper internship straight out of college with a minority training program. At the time, diversity was setting its roots in newspapers.
He worked at four of the publishing company’s newspapers.
“If one of the newspapers hired you, great,” he says. “When no one hired you, at least you had a job for a year and accumulated clips.”
He found his way to newspapers in Kansas City, Illinois, Michigan and Texas. The 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Local Spot News Reporting was won by the KC Star and Times. After covering sports for the Tucson Citizen for 15 years, he went north to the Republic and worked there as a sports editor.
Since the fall semester in 2013, he has served as an adjunct professor at Cronkite. He has taught editing, reporting and ethics classes. He also served as director with Cronkite News, overseeing a group of reporters covering the borderlands beat.
For his devoted work with young people, he was named Co-Mentor of the Year by the Phoenix Business Journal for its 2017 Landmark Leader Awards. The awards recognize commitment, hard work, collaboration and community service in Valley commercial real estate.
When Madrid, 64, opened his PR rm, his journalism friends joked with him that he “crossed over to the dark side.”
“It’s easy to go from journalism to PR than it is PR to journalism,” he says. “We know how to write a story, use the AP Stylebook, pitch a story to a publication and how to make deadline. It was this seamless transition to be able to do that and still stay in journalism and see the Cronkite’s cool resources.”
A Scottsdale resident, Peter Madrid has gained experience around the country, hopping from one paper to the next. (Photo by Pablo Robles)
