THE TEAM

Christina C. DiPasquale

Founder & CEO (full CV)

Christina DiPasquale founded Balestra Media to offer political public relations and campaign support to non-profits and movement leaders fighting for racial, economic, and gender justice in a digital age. Christina has led large-scale narrative change projects for the StopWatchingUs coalition and The Intercept in the wake of the Snowden disclosures; the International Rescue Committee through the Muslim Ban; the American Civil Liberties Union during increases in local surveillance; Charlottesville clergy ahead of the Unite the Right rally; Chelsea Manning throughout her federal prison term and release by presidential commutation; the Southern Poverty Law Center and Free Press following a rise in right-wing extremism online; and NARAL Pro-Choice America after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

As an archival researcher and filmmaker, Christina is an artist and storyteller at the intersection of history, media, and politics. She has produced dozens of short films for Balestra Media clients and managed social impact and media for feature-length films including UNMANNED, WHEN ELEPHANTS FIGHT, and DIRTY WARS. BARRIO TELEVISION, Christina’s directorial debut in production, shares the undocumented story of Puerto Rican activists who occupied a public television studio during a live telethon and created the first national Latino and bilingual series on U.S. television. 

Christina also managed communications strategy at the Center for American Progress, served as a press secretary for the Sestak for Senate campaign, and organized the Green Dog caucus to pass landmark environmental regulation as a policy advisor to Pennsylvania State Representative Greg Vitali. She was elected to local office in 2010 as Ward Committeewoman, representing residents in West Philadelphia.

She has taught graduate-level communications courses at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy and media outlets including ABC News, the New York Times, and Politico have cited Christina’s work. Christina holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Political Science from Villanova University, the first in her family to graduate college, and was awarded Villanova’s inaugural Young Alumni Medallion.

Christina is a NALIP Latino Media Market fellow, UnionDocs Early Production Lab graduate, and senior fellow at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy. She serves on the Board of Directors of America’s Voice, to drive a new narrative on immigration and strengthen the communications infrastructure of the immigration movement. Christina also serves on the Board of Directors of the Media Burn Independent Video Archive, advising on its long-term growth and ongoing Guerrilla Television Network Project—to digitize and share more than 1,000 previously unseen videos from the 1970s created by independent Black, brown, women, rural and youth filmmakers in the U.S.

Andy Stepanian

VICE PRESIDENT OF CREATIVE CAMPAIGNING

Andy Stepanian leads creative campaign direction at Balestra Media. In this role, he has designed graphics for whistleblower Chelsea Manning, advised on video and social media content for the American Civil Liberties Union and created new logos and branding identities for the Alliance for Safety and Justice and the National Hispanic Media Coalition. He has filmed and edited video for clients including the Alliance for Safety and Justice, the Youth First Initiative and the Public Welfare Foundation. In collaboration with web developers, Andy conceptualizes the visual representation of large data sets, provides guidance on the use of client images and video in a variety of settings and unifies messaging across all online platforms.  

Through Balestra Media, Andy serves as creative director to The Youth First Initiative, where he designs the organization's digital campaigns and creates printed matter about their efforts. He helped to develop a first-of-its-kind visual inventory of youth incarceration, which has since been used as source material in coverage from NPR, The Nation, and the Associated Press.

Andy also works on communications strategy and media relations, guiding communications work for the ACLU’s Free Slahi campaign and Global Witness’ international investigations. He is the co-founder of the not-for-profit Sparrow Media Project and was formerly senior director at another progressive media firm, where he worked on several digital rights, animal rights and criminal justice reform projects. He has helped develop exclusive content for Democracy Now!, The Huffington Post, Rolling Stone and NBC News. Andy's activism is the subject of “The Animal People,” a feature-length documentary film, executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix.