About Us
AY Media Group, is a multimedia company that specializes in niche market publishing. Our magazines and custom publications include Arkansas Money and Politics (AMP), the state’s premier business and political magazine; AY Magazine (About You), a lifestyle publication; and Mental Health Guide Magazine of Arkansas. In addition to our print products, we have expanded websites and social media platforms.
Please email hbaker@
Read Arkansas Money & Politics’ online coverage at armoneyandpolitics.com and find our print edition each month.
Please email press releases and other stories and ideas for consideration to press@aymag.com.
Our Staff:
Heather Baker
PRESIDENT / PUBLISHER
Veteran publishing executive and businesswoman Heather Baker boasts more than 25 years of experience in the publishing industry, building her career on the born-in Arkansas attributes of hard work, vision and the drive to succeed in a male-dominated industry.
A native of Little Rock, Baker showed an entrepreneurial streak from a young age. After graduating from Jacksonville High School, she headed to the University of Arkansas where she turned her passion for cars into her first publication, Arkansas AutoBuyer. This drew the blueprint for every publication that she would create in the years to come, including the outdoors-focused Arkansas Wild and Savvy Kids family magazine, published by the Arkansas Times.
In her current role of President and Publisher at AY Media Group, a multimedia firm based in Little Rock, Baker has demonstrated the full measure of her expertise and business intuition. The company publishes the flagship publication on Arkansas lifestyle, AY About You and Arkansas Money & Politics, highlighting business and policy making in the Natural State. Baker also publishes the annual Mental Health Guide of Arkansas which examines important issues concerning mental illness, treatment options, addiction, suicide, recovery and other elements of great importance to the families of Arkansas.
Under her guidance and leadership, AY Media Group has grown to elite status in media circles both in the local market and nationally. She’s augmented this success with her broadcast work, including gracing the screen at Little Rock’s THV11 and through current collaborations with KARK, FOX16 and 103.7 the Buzz.
A mother of two, Baker has also shown leadership in the effort to make Arkansas communities safer. In 2022, after narrowly escaping an attempted carjacking, she turned the harrowing experience into untiring advocacy for victims of violence through various platforms, including working with the Arkansas legislature and members of Congress. Her passion for the cause led her to work with the nonprofit Women’s Own Worth for which she was honored as Woman of the Year in 2019 and in 2023 for outstanding dedication toward violence awareness.
Other important charitable service includes five years as a state board member for Junior Achievement of Arkansas, during which time she served as honorary chair for the 2023 Legacy Award Business Luncheon; a four-year American Heart Association Circle of Red honoree and 2024 honorary chair of the American Heart Association’s Central Arkansas Go Red for Women movement; and chair of the 2024 Delta Diamond Chef gala, to be held in October.
Her status as an influencer, combined with her vibrant personality, has made Baker a sought-after emcee, judge and media personality. A short list of her emcee work includes the 2013 Children’s Tumor Foundation’s Dancing With Our Stars, which helped raise $100,000; last year’s Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas Woman of Inspiration event honoring Danyelle Musselman which set a record for funds raised; and the 2024 ALS in Wonderland gala, A World of Pure Imagination, promoting awareness for the cause. Earlier this year, she also co-emceed JA’s Legacy Award Gala, honoring Walmart CEO Doug McMillon’s induction to the organization’s Hall of Fame.
For every hour she commits in support of public events, there are dozens more spent behind the scenes in service to causes great and small including Project Zero, Ronald McDonald House, 20th Century Club, Wolfe Street Foundation, Second Chance Youth Ranch, Hunger Relief Alliance and other groups too numerous to mention.
Heather Baker’s dedication, accomplishment and community involvement make her a true role model for women in business and an inspiration to all.
Mark Carter
SENIOR EDITOR
Mark has worked as a sportswriter for the Southwest Times-Record in Fort Smith, covered news and sports for The Leader in Jacksonville, worked in corporate communications, covered business and politics for Arkansas Business and also wrote editorials for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. An avid Hogs fan, Mark lives in Little Rock with his wife and three dogs, the former with whom he has two sons in college.
mcarter@armoneyandpolitics.com
Greg Churan
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Greg grew up in Chillicothe, a small town north central Missouri, and graduated from the University of Missouri – Columbia, where he graduated with a degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism and was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Originally he wanted to work in the outdoor field, specifically in the whitewater rafting business, as that’s what he did during summers of college – guiding rafts in the Smokey Mountains on the Nantahala, Ocoee, and Chattooga rivers. After realizing that his passion for the outdoors should remain a passion and not a profession, he moved to Kansas City, and landed in industrial gas sales with Airgas.
With his passion for the outdoors, Greg jumped at the chance to move to Arkansas with Airgas, and has been in Little Rock ever since. Wanting more freedom and to help people save and invest, he went into the financial planning with Ameriprise.
In 2011 he had an opportunity to work in publishing as an account executive and has had success developing print and digital advertisers for niche publications. Building relationships is incredibly important for anyone in development. Greg feels that building business relationships is important, but what’s equally as important to him is to research and recommend what’s best for each client in each situation.
Greg is an avid waterfowl hunter and outdoorsman, enjoys spending time in the the Ouachitas, Ozarks and duck camp with son, Jake, fiancée, Jennie, her son, Caleb, and Labradors, Trigger and Tru. He is also a member of board of directors of the museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie in Stuttgart.
gchuran@armoneyandpolitics.com
Mary Funderburg
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Mary is an Arkansas native, born and raised in Little Rock, and a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a degree in liberal arts. She enjoys the outdoors and plays competitive tennis year-round.
Mary has one son, who is her world, and loves being with family and friends. She looks forward to continuing her adventure with AY Media Group.
Dana Rodriguez
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Dana is an Arkansas native, born and raised in Sherwood. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in health service administration. She then went on to receive a diploma of nursing from Baptist Health College Little Rock. She plays competitive tennis year-round, and she loves being the varsity cheer coach at Mount St. Mary.
She is married to her college sweetheart, Jon Rodriguez. They have two boys, Cruz and Maddox, who are their world.
Jona Parker
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Jona is an Arkansas native, born in Little Rock, graduated high school from Mt. St. Mary Academy and has spent the last 20 years in Hot Springs raising her family.
She has three children, ages 19, 17, and 15. She loves cycling, being on the lakes, and spending time outdoors with her dogs.
Karen Holderfield
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Michelle James Daugherty
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Michelle was born and raised in Arkansas and graduated from the University of Arkansas. She owned her own business for 18 years. She is a seasoned sales and marketing executive with over 23 years experience. She loves helping her clients with print and digital advertising strategies. She has two children and her littlest love is her Grandson Lucas James Daugherty.
She loves spending time with family, traveling and her French Bulldog River.
Lucie Pathmann
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Lucie began her career more than 30 years ago at Alltel, the nation’s fifth-largest wireless company until its sale to Verizon Wireless in 2010. Her work at Alltel allowed her to amass national credentials in marketing communications across a wide range of disciplines — from promotions to publicity. Following the sale, Lucie joined Verizon Wireless, where she led Verizon’s public relations and marketing strategy across four states. Later, at Stone Ward, Lucie oversaw brand, project management and public relations. Drawing upon her expertise in marketing, media and public relations, Lucie’s collaborative leadership delivers a “one voice” approach to its client’s brands. After Stone Ward, Lucie worked at Westrock Coffee and ran their corporate marketing efforts.
An avid sports fan, Lucie has amassed a collection of sports memorabilia and is a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers and Arkansas Razorbacks fan. A cook and sports enthusiast, Lucie’s competitive spirit translates into a high-performance approach that helps clients succeed.
Mike Bedgood
PRODUCTION MANAGER
mbedgood@armoneyandpolitics.com
Lora Puls
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Lora has been a graphic designer for 23 years. To her, layout design is like a puzzle; an exciting challenge to get all the pieces fitted together to create the perfect picture. Since family is at the center of her life and hers all live out of state, she travels frequently and is inspired by places and sights both in and out of the Natural State. Though she was born and raised in Iowa, she now calls Arkansas home (as well as those Hogs!).
Jenna Kelley
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Arkansas native, born and raised in Benton, Jenna graduated college from Arkansas Tech University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design. She has always loved creating things. Art has been her passion ever since she was a little girl. She is now married living in Conway with her husband and Goldendoodle. She loves doing crafts, being outdoors, and spending time with friends and family.
Allison Runyon
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
Allison was born and raised in Arkansas. She was part of the cheerleading team at Cabot High School for five consecutive years and graduated in 2019. Upon graduation, she attended the Paul Mitchell cosmetology school, but she soon discovered her passion for the retail industry, where she spent the next five years. In that time, Allison has developed her social media marketing skills across multiple platforms.
Dwain Hebda is president of Ya!Mule Wordsmiths in Little Rock. A writer, editor and journalist of some 30 years, his work appears in more than 30 publications in four states. Nebraskan by birth, Southern by the grace of God, he and his wife, Darlene, have four grown children and two lovely dogs.
Jessica Everson
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER
Hilarious. Hard-working. Those are a couple of the attributes Jessica Everson says people use to describe her (at least when they want something). Jessica graduated from UALR with a degree in history and a minor in sociology. But since she doesn’t actively use her history background at work, she’s content to nerd out at museums and daydream about one day being a museum curator. Jessica is also very involved in the local art scene, serving as volunteers coordinator for ACANSA and a volunteer for the Symphony Design House and CALS. She is mom to a little human, Laila, and a cat, Vera. When she’s not caught up with any of her many endeavors, you might find her meal prepping or hiking.
Sarah Coleman
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Sarah is a passionate communications professional hailing from Northwest Arkansas. Sarah attended the University of Central Arkansas where she studied journalism and held several positions –including editor-in-chief – at the student-led newspaper, The Echo. With experience in daily, weekly and business news, Sarah enjoys writing feature-style stories about the people that make Arkansas great! A lover of all things art, music, books, pop culture and podcasts, Sarah can be spotted at the dog park with her aussiedoodle, Ollie, or adventuring throughout the Natural state in her free time.
scoleman@armoneyandpolitics.com
Mak Millard
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Mak Millard is based in North Little Rock and graduated from Hendrix College with a degree in English Literary Studies and Spanish. While at Hendrix, Mak was the editor-in-chief of the student-run news magazine The Profile and an editorial intern with The Oxford American. They enjoy writing of all kinds and have had poems published in undergraduate literary magazines The Aonian and Prairie Margins.
In their spare time, they enjoy watching soccer, curating a monthly Spotify playlist, and taking early morning walks on the Arkansas River Trail.
Kellie McAnulty
MANAGING DIGITAL EDITOR
Kellie is the Managing Digital Editor at AY Media Group. Social media is her passion. Kellie says though she’s still learning every day, one thing she knows for sure is that helping others succeed absolutely enables her to thrive. Help a person or business grow makes all the hard work worth it, she says.
Kellie adds that she’s blessed and fortunate to be married to a wonderful man, with whom she’s a parent to two cats. Kellie and her husband love traveling any chance they get, and watching sports (Go Hogs!) and reality TV.
kmcanulty@armoneyandpolitics.com
Kilee Hall
ONLINE WRITER
Kilee Hall discovered her love for writing at a very early age, and began writing music at just eight years old. This passion continued into her adult years as she obtained a bachelor’s degree in public relations with a minor in Spanish from the University of Central Arkansas. After college, Kilee gained experience in writing about all things Arkansas while working as a digital content producer at THV11.
Kilee is also a pop culture enthusiast and probably the biggest Harry Styles fan you will ever meet. In her free time, she enjoys going to concerts, checking TMZ for the latest celeb gossip and playing with her cat, Cappie.
Sarah DeClerk
STAFF WRITER
Sarah DeClerk is an Arkansas native who has served as board member and president for the Arkansas Society of Professional Journalists. She worked as a special sections writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where she coordinated the weekly Homes Arkansas section, as well as award-winning magazines Downtown Little Rock and Real Weddings Arkansas, among other projects. She earned her bachelor’s degree in mass communication from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she worked as features editor for the campus newspaper, The Forum. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, hiking and listening to local music.
Lance Brownfield
STAFF WRITER
Lance is an Arkansas-based journalist with international experience. A native of Malvern, he’s been a staffer at two daily newspapers in central Arkansas, The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs and the Malvern Daily Record. As a freelancer, he’s written for publications such as the South China Morning Post, The Diplomat and China Christian Daily.
Hoping to become a foreign correspondent one day, he has focused his work on China and East Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe and Israel. Some topics he’s covered regularly include religion, art and entertainment and chess. He currently serves on the board of the Society of Professional Journalists Freelance Community.
Some future goals include becoming the owner/publisher of a newspaper and producing a feature-length documentary.
Vicki Vowell is the founder and CEO of AY Media Group (formerly Vowell, Inc.), a multimedia company that specializes in niche-market publishing. AY Media Group publishes AY Magazine (About You), a lifestyle magazine, and Arkansas Money & Politics (Arkansas’ premier business and political magazine). Ms. Vowell, a native of Harrison who studied journalism at the University of Arkansas, created her publishing company so that she could share the stories of the people and places in Arkansas.
In 2001, Ms. Vowell founded AY Magazine‘s “Runway for a Cause,” a luncheon/fashion show in which survivors of breast cancer walk the runway in the season’s high fashion. The luncheon has been one of the state’s largest fundraising events, and in its first 10 years, it raised more than $1 million for local breast-cancer organizations. The Association of Fundraising Professionals has named “Runway for a Cause” an Outstanding Volunteer Organization.
Ms. Vowell has served the community as a member of the Little Rock Executive’s Association, a board of Baptist Health Foundation, member of the CARTI Foundation, the Mayor’s Commission on Tourism, and Women and Children First. She is a past member of the boards of Curran Hall and CareLink. She has received the Phyllis Brandon Philanthropist Journalistic Award, the 2017 Ozarks Ambassadors Award from the North Arkansas College Foundation and was featured in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette‘s “High Profile” in September 2009.