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Tellem began her career in public relations by founding Tellem Public Relations in 1977. The company was renamed Grody/Tellem Communications in 1980 and was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi PLC, London, in 1987. As chairman of the L.A. and San Francisco offices, Tellem spearheaded new business efforts, grew the health care division to the largest on the West Coast and headed the agency's crisis management task force. In the early 90s, Tellem served as senior vice president/managing director of the corporate and health care/biotechnology groups, Burson-Marsteller-Los Angeles, the world’s largest public relations agency. She also headed the crisis team and the Food Issues Group on the West Coast. She relaunched her own firm Tellem Worldwide in 1994 and has won dozens of awards and recognition for client projects. An accredited 24-year member of PRSA, Tellem was honored with the society’s Joseph Roos Community Service Award. She served as a volunteer for the media advance teams during Pope John Paul's visit to Los Angeles and was responsible for credentialing 3,000 media. She is an adjunct at Pepperdine University after serving as a member of UCLA's extension faculty for 11 years. An accomplished public speaker and frequent lecturer, she recently was the sole PR practitioner on a panel of 11 media representatives sponsored by the prestigious Poynter Institiute and USC Annenberg on “The Ethics of Reporting on Celebrities.” An expert in crisis management, Tellem is credited with providing counsel for the D.A. in the 2003-2004 Michael Jackson molestation case; worldwide announcement of the first baby born in the world as a result of in-vivo technology; overseeing the highly successful crisis management effort surrounding the first federal indictment and conviction of a U.S. hospital chain; spearheading a two-year media relations program during a highly visible legal battle between her client and one of the country's leading HMOs; providing counsel during a highly publicized sexual harassment lawsuit against one of the world’s largest entertainment companies; and overseeing the crisis program surrounding alleged prescription abuse between physicians and an international celebrity. Tellem is a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; a Los Angeles Police Department Reserve Officer Specialist (retired); and an active member of many animal welfare and environmental groups. She is co-founder of a national nonprofit called American Tortoise Rescue. She is married and has raised four children.
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