Influencing
opinions.
Building
Reputations.
Answering
Opportunities.
Delivering
Results.
Outcome-driven and impact-focused; that’s how GreatWork operates. We believe real impact starts with envisioning the desired outcome, and then crafting the right plan to achieve it. It’s an approach that wins audience and stakeholder support by building relationships with, and influencing those who can most determine your success. One that’s proven successful across a variety of business challenges for companies and individuals in both the private and public sectors.
Persuasive Messaging
GreatWork tirelessly crafted a messaging platform that helped bring my key points to the forefront, in a manner that was focused, succinct, uniquely mine, and most important, highly persuasive.
Ralph Becker
Mayor
Salt Lake City, Utah
Policy Development
GreatWork helped us invite stakeholders into a dialogue, and establish two-way communications programs that produced innovative policy solutions, and a corporate reputation grounded in trust.
David Pritchard
Senior Director, Chief of Staff, Advanced Strategies & Policy
Microsoft Corporation
ReBuilding Trust
With the goal of calming fears in the short term, and rebuilding trust in the long term, GreatWork successfully helped guide us through the challenge of rebuilding community trust after a plant explosion.
Jennifer Curtis
General Counsel
Fluor Hanford, Inc.
Our Clients.
Aditi Technologies
Astra International
Audubon Washington
Avvo, Inc.
Azuqua
Ben Bridge Jeweler
Bergman Draper Ladenburg
BNP Paribas
Carbon Washington
CenturyLink
Corporation for Enterprise
Development (CFED)
China Light & Power
Columbia West Properties
Corbis
Darigold Inc.
First Pacific Group
Fluor Hanford, Inc.
Freeport-McMoRan
Copper & Gold Inc.
Global Network Initiative
Groff Murphy, PLLC
The Hong Kong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation
Indocement Tunggal
Prakarsa Tbk PT
Kantor Taylor Nelson
Evatt & Decina PC
Les Schwab Tire Centers
Microsoft Corporation
Morgan Stanley
Municipal Governments
Nature Conservancy
OPALCO
Orbbec 3D
Peoples Bank
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Proliance
Qwest Communications
International, Inc.
Ralph Becker, Mayor,
Salt Lake City, Utah
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation
Seattle Parks and Recreation
Seattle Storm
Shurgard Storage
Centers, Inc.
Summit Law Group, PLLC
Sinar Mas Group
Taco Bell Corporation
Tectonic
Trusted Computing Group
U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Small Business
Administration
University of Washington
Medical Center
Virginia Mason
Medical Center
Washington Business Alliance
Washington Filmworks
Washington Employers, Inc.
Many Services.
One Goal.
Communications designed to realize business objectives. In today’s business environment, truly powerful communications campaigns do more than simply announce or inform. They elevate—the reputation of your company, your brands, and your leadership by: establishing authentic two-way dialogue with your critical audiences; building organizational trust internally and externally; mobilizing customers and stakeholders to take the right actions; and creating admiration, which leads to long-term loyalty.
Since no two business challenges are alike, the right communications partner is one with both a range of capabilities and a depth of experience. That partner is GreatWork.
Collaborative.
Hands on.
Surround yourself with the right experience. If you ask a senior executive the key to success, they’ll probably tell you they rely on people who have the experience and skills to make a real difference in their company’s success. People who can both think…and do. People who are steady under pressure. And perhaps most importantly, people they can turn to and trust. With GreatWork, this is what you’ll get.
Led by Samara, GreatWork is a team of talented professionals drawn from the fields of business, government, journalism, marketing/communications, political campaigns, and social media. Informed by rich and diversified experience, GreatWork has the necessary skills to address the many complex challenges that clients face in today’s environment.

Samara Villasenor.
Principal
How can somebody so detailed also be so dynamic? Equal parts master of details and master of storytelling, Samara is one of those rare people who is organized and methodical while also highly creative, inquisitive, and collaborative. Colleagues and clients alike appreciate Samara’s sincerity, and herinventive and fresh solutions to communications challenges. She’s a visual thinker and a talented writer who understands the practice of influence and seeks out the right angle and tension to tell your story effectively, while capturing the language that resonates with the audiences you’re trying to reach.
Prior to GreatWork, Samara was a Vice President at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, a large integrated communications agency, where she oversaw the public relations efforts for the Developer and Platform Evangelism Group at Microsoft, specializing in thought leadership and business-to-business communications campaigns for web development and cloud computing. Samara managed innovative global events and social media for technical audiences. She also launched BizSpark, a marketing program designed to attract start-ups across all industry sectors to the Microsoft platform. Prior to this, she worked in Osaka, Japan as an international business development manager for Matsuo Bridge Company, Ltd. Samara speaks and writes Japanese, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Japanese Language and Literature from Yale University.
Samara’s industry accolades include a PRSA Silver Anvil Award, numerous Bulldog Reporter awards, and she was featured in the article “Visionary PR: Integrated Microsoft/WE PR Campaign Mixes it Up for Millions of On and Offline Hits” for her work driving a groundbreaking social media and traditional media campaign.
Toolkit
Articles.
Who Will Trust Your Organization in a Crisis?
Trust and transparency—two words tossed around often these days. Knowing who is telling the truth and whether they are telling the full truth is being challenged frequently, from the highest levels of our government, to the...
Be Prepared, Stop Hackers in their Tracks
If the lack of news is a benchmark, Seattle area companies appear to have skirted through the holiday season without having their customer records hacked. But did they? Only the big breaches grab the headlines. Danger,...
It’s a Matter of When, Not If. Have a Plan.
Data breaches are becoming increasingly sophisticated, frequent and expensive. According to a 2016 Ponemon Institute report, the average consolidated total cost of a breach is $4 million and costs for each lost or stolen…