The Blackstone Media Team

Taylor Trusty

Director of Wow Projects / President

How do we turn big ideas and artistic concepts into actionable online marketing plans that make practical business sense? It all starts with our Partner and Director of Development, Louisville native Taylor Trusty.

A part-time programmer since his high school days, and once the youngest-ever territory representative for HP, Taylor became an entrepreneur at the age of 19. Along with two friends, he helped launch an online sports collectibles retailer out of a garage, turning it into a half-million dollar business in only 11 months. He credits his success to hard work and a continued desire to learn and improve every day.

Since forming Blackstone Media in 2006, Taylor has worn many hats. While much of his day-to-day work involves leading the programming team, his real passion lies in finding solutions for clients who need to translate their ideas into bottom line results. To him, the key isn’t in having all the answers – it’s in putting yourself in another person’s shoes, and then finding the best way to help them meet their business goals.

"I love beautiful designs," Taylor says, "but the moment that I savor the most comes when we get to sit down face-to-face with someone and show them how we’ve come up with something that’s going to make their lives so much easier. You can almost watch their eyes light up… that’s when I know we’ve gone beyond building a websites and we’re making a real difference in their business."

Ty Goss

Sketch Artist / Lead Designer

Ever wonder how your website goes from a rough sketch to a work of art? Look no further than our lead designer, Ty Goss. Not only can he produce stunning visuals and layouts, but he also understands the coding that’s instrumental in bringing them to life.

For Ty, who joined the Blackstone Media team in 2008, his current work is the culmination of lifelong interests. As a child, he could usually be found with a camera or paintbrush in hand, capturing images of the world around him. His artistic side was balanced, however, by seeing his father build a successful software development company from the ground up. Eventually, he went on to pursue both loves – beginning college courses in computer programming at the young age of 13, and later graduating from Taylor University with a degree in Visual Arts.

When he isn’t busy turning ideas into sharp designs, Ty likes to watch movies, spend time with his wife, and enjoy a good workout.

Stephanie Zuroff

Making The Internet Pretty

Since arriving at Blackstone Media, Stephanie Zuroff has brought as much energy to the office as she has to our clients’ web pages. Even though "design" is her official department, her infectious personality is one of the first things most people notice.

Born and raised in Indiana, Stephanie moved into design while studying at Indiana University. She says the switch was a natural one: "I always liked working with colors and textures. It's amazing how much emotion you can convey using just imagery... of course, that's a fancy way of saying that I enjoy playing with graphics until I find something cool from a design standpoint."

After college, Stephanie spent a few years working in New York City before returning to the Mid South. "It was a great experience, but I'm just not much of a New Yorker," she says. These days, she spends most of her spare time sewing, hanging out with her boyfriend, and performing live music.

Mark Hagan

Code Warrior

Mark Hagan is a savvy, smart, self-taught programmer with an intimate understanding of how to build a successful website. In 1999, he helped launched “Extreme Overclocking,” which is now one of the oldest and largest computer enthusiast websites on the Internet.

Mark’s programming philosophy is to maintain a “flexible usability,” allowing for scalable, user-friendly features that can be modified, as the site’s needs change. Mr. Hagan programs mostly in ASP.Net and C#; however, he is fluent in many other programming languages.

Adam Dessify

Code Jedi

Adam stays immersed in an electronic world, where people who haven’t even graduated college yet can boast fifteen years of programming experience. With just his senior year left to earn his Computer Information Systems degree - with a concentration in Information Security - Adam has already worked as a programmer for UPS, a Systems Analyst for Project Warm, and as a serious application developer hobbyist since middle school. Programming may be in Adam’s DNA, which would explain his early start. His grandfather worked for IBM and shared his passion for code with a young Adam.

Today Adam still builds applications, administers databases, delivers media solutions like Flash and video, and flat out rocks the C# - and if that’s not enough, he speaks Japanese, too.

Jerry Wood

Chaos Theorizer

As part of the team that gave Humana its first web presence, Jerry is an experienced, high-energy, solutions-driven project manager. He started building websites in 1995 and is now coming back to his web project management roots, where his passion lies.

Jerry is a master at aligning Internet initiatives to organizational goals and is ready to put his twelve years of project management and supervisory experience to work for your company. From application development & site construction to branding & marketing, Jerry is armed with an array of finely tuned resources to orchestrate on your company’s behalf.

Natasha Donenberg

The First Line of Defense

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia and educated at University of Kentucky - where she majored in Management and Marketing and minored in International Business and Economics - Natasha adds a focused, well-rounded personality to the Blackstone team. Her dual role of Office Manager and Internet Marketing Specialist serves as proof of her diverse nature.

Natasha possesses the uncanny ability to analyze online data and use that information to craft the perfect social messages to grow your audiences, maximize their participation, and drive your sales. Other than that, Natasha is just your average girl next door who loves dogs, practices photography, flies planes, and rides on sticks down dangerous mountains.

Biggs Tabler

Account Executive

Biggs Tabler is a forty year media veteran. He doesn’t see himself as a salesperson, but as someone who “likes the evolving nature of communication, and can help companies use it to set bigger goals for themselves.”

Prior to joining Blackstone Media in 2008, Biggs worked with media powerhouses like CNN, ESPN, CBS, and LA Times. Rubbing shoulders with so many CEOs and celebrities over the years taught him an important lesson - technology is always changing, but the principles of growing your business aren’t.

Biggs’ approach to working with new clients is simple: finding out how a new website can help a company gain customers, decrease costs, or make life easier for their employees, and then making it happen. “A website should be an investment, not an expense. That means it has to help your bottom line, and I make sure it will.”

Rich Barber

Writer

Snappy, interesting, benefit-driven copy is Rich’s calling. Setting the right tone, using the appropriate emotional appeal, and searching for the perfect words, while avoiding incomprehensible industry buzz slang, are all in a day’s work for this advertising veteran.

Rich’s copywriting experience includes print, radio, TV, web, web video, direct contact, newsletters and outdoor. He’s an award-winning writer whose success transcends the business-to-business and retail categories. When Rich isn’t writing copy that is as strong and fresh as the morning’s first cup of coffee, he can be found entertaining audiences with his unique brand of stand up comedy.