Type of Organization

Other Response Agency Type

Job Function

Other

Years in Fire/EMS:

CERT 2 years

Primary Fire/EMS Department:

Malibu

Years With Department/Agency

various

Dept. Web Site:

http://www.emergencyland.com

Other Past or Current Departments and Organizations

LAPD reserve officer specialist (ret); registered nurse (ret); public safety commissioner Malibu (current)

My Training:

Community Emergency Response Team board member in Malibu CA; founder www.emergencyland.com

About Me:

Susan M. Tellem, APR, RN, is a partner in Tellem Worldwide, Inc. a public relations, social media and marketing communications firm and founder of www.emergencyland.com.


An accredited (APR) member of Public Relations Society of America, Tellem is an active volunteer for many causes, especially animal welfare organizations, and was honored with the LA Chapter’s Joseph Roos Community Service Award given to only one individual each year. She also 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 acted as the volunteer public relations spokesperson for the District Attorney in the Michael Jackson molestation case for almost two years prior to and during the trial.

Tellem has served as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University after an 11 year stint as a member of UCLA's extension faculty. An accomplished public speaker and frequent lecturer, she was the sole PR practitioner on a panel of 11 media representatives sponsored by the prestigious Poynter Institute and USC Annenberg on “The Ethics of Reporting on Celebrities.” Tellem was recognized by the Century City Chamber of Commerce as a “2007 Woman of Achievement” and has written a chapter in several books for the “Inside the Minds…’ series about public relations, as well as served as book editor for “Sports Medicine for the 80s.”

Tellem is a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; a Los Angeles Police Department Reserve Officer Specialist (retired); a registered nurse (retired); and an active member of many animal welfare and environmental groups. In 2008, she became a Malibu Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) board member and was appointed as one of five Malibu Public Safety Commissioners for a four-year term.

Day Job:

Public relations

Why I Joined Fire/EMS

Information sharing on www.emergencyland.com

Top Issues Facing Responders:

Money, layoffs, fires in California