Ashwin Raman Email & Phone Number

Minneapolis, Mn

In this position, I am currently the head of communications for the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association, which is a non-profit trade organization that seeks to increase the usage of biofuels in Minnesota. My responsibilities include educating the public on the benefits of biofuels through a variety of channels including our official website, blog, social media and radio advertising. My other responsibilities include mapping out communication strategies, responding to negative stories in the press, preparing op-eds, social media advertising, liaising with educators in the state, connecting agriculture students with the ethanol industry, working with industry-related partners to increase demand for biofuels, assisting the advocacy team in preparing biofuels-related literature for legislators, writing and issuing press releases, generating hits for the official website, streamlining advertising copy, creating and issuing a monthly newsletter, creating and editing videos & creating video ads on social media.Among my achievements include:-Redesigning the official website and updated the company's logo-Created and maintain the company's official blog-Designed, created and edited company literature and fliers-Designed and edited the company's first annual report. Since then, we've issued a half-year and annual report every year-Grown the official Facebook page to over 45,000 fans (the highest among all non-profit biofuel advocacy groups in the United States for five years straight)- Planned and developed the industry's first app on both iOS and Android to locate E15 and E85 stations in Minnesota- Respond to negative stories and op-eds in Minnesota newspapers- Tapped new markets via strategic advertising campaigns with major radio stations in the Twin Cities and social media.- Produced and edited over 200 videos. These included corporate videos, pre and post-event videos, video ads on Facebook

Under this position, I was the public relations manager for Kia Motors, Peugeot and Citroen in Malaysia. As such, my aim was to constantly generate positive news for all three brands through traditional and non-traditional media. I led a small team that work with me in achieving this monthly goal.Specifically, my work in this field entailed preparing and writing press releases and speeches, organizing press events, car launches, arranging interviews with the press, conducting local and foreign media test drives, planning, editing and overseeing three monthly supplements in the Star, Berita Harian and the New Sunday Times respectively, assisting and generating ideas for the group CEO’s monthly column in the New Sunday Times as well as managing official online social mediums such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I also worked with the respective marketing departments in mapping out launch strategies as well as implementing publicity drives through the media. I co-developed a crisis management guide for the brands under my purview while I led the projects to revamp the official websites for the Naza Group (www.naza.com.my) and Naza Automotive Manufacturing (www.nam.com.my).I also led the projects in developing the Naza Group's corporate video, corporate coffee table book and the group's very own social media pages.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I was responsible for reporting on a variety of financial news and breaking business stories. Focus was specifically in breaking stories and providing in-depth analysis and news commentaries on the telecommmunications, automotive, banking, macroeconomics industries as well as the main components on the FBM KLCI. I also developed and worked on two editorial supplements focusing on the automotive industry. In addition, I regularly provided advice to the editorial news desk on lead stories and story angles for the paper. I was responsible in obtaining exclusive stories on my own on a regular basis. Among the exclusive interviews obtained included Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak's first interview after becoming Finance Minsiter in late 2008. In addition, I assisted the marketing department in securing advertisements for the paper.

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

I was responsible for reporting on a variety of financial and business news for the Edge's daily newspaper and website. Focus was on ICT, telecommunications, automotive, aviation and property development industries. Part of my job included regularly writing stories for The Edge Financial Daily's website. As such, I became familiar with writing my stories within a short time frame.

Kimball, Mn, Usa

I was responsible for reporting on a variety of general news and feature stories that dealt with the city of Kimball. Among the news beats I specifically covered was education. My other responsibilities included developing story ideas, assisted with photography assignments, page layout, page proofing, news briefs and web site maintenance.

St. Cloud, Minnesota Area

Covered a variety of general assignment news events in St Cloud and the Central Minnesota area, worked on enterprise stories and assisted senior reporters in covering beats such as city planning, health, business, higher education and law enforcement.

Bachelor Of Science (B.Sc.), Mass Communications, Cum Laude

Activities and Societies: Society of Professional Journalists

American University Programme, Mass Communications