- Associate Professor |Head of Advertising and Public Relations Lab
- Branding Officer & European Liaison for International Communication Division at The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).
- Co-initiator of Connecting Cities Project
Her work is focusing on strategic branding and public relations, on mobile, sharing economy and collaborative consumption, on entrepreneurial Journalism, media, social media, digital and AD tech innovation, on native/branded content and digital storytelling, on entrepreneurial and community impact and engagement, on organizational/ corporate culture and decision making process, on corporate social responsibility, on SDG’s related social innovation ventures, on cities branding with a keen interest in cities as platforms for co-creation, on implementing user-centric/ experiential customer-centric journey design, design thinking, engaging and impact storytelling, lean and agile methodologies.
In her capacity as the Head of Advertising and Public Relations Lab, since 1993 she has initiated multiple partnerships (MOU) and collaborations with leaders in business, communication, advertising, public relations, publishers, media, research companies and with the emerging Athens Tech Startup Ecosystem pioneers to co-create a timely and versatile program, tapping into the intelligence of the best market practices and innovations. Recent co-creation partnership initiative is the collaboration with Inside Story as the academic lead and adviser for co-designing Your Story 2 (2018) & Your Story 3 (2019), implementing Design Thinking Methodology to engage readers and members.
Connecting co-creatively academia and the market leaders, under the umbrella of #ADandPRLAB, she co-designs ten vertical and connected labs on: 1. Digital and Mobile Marketing, 2. Digital Creativity- Digital Media and Market Research 3. Design Strategy and Social Media 4. Startup Lab, 5.Crisis Communication and Crisis Simulations, 6.. Creativity-The Art of Storytelling, 7.Public Relations- The Power of Storytelling - Public Diplomacy as PR 9. Native and Branded Content 10. Leadership and Emotional Intelligence.
Dr. Tsakarestou has gained international academic experience as a visiting sabbatical research professor at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism at Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism (May-November 2017), as an Erasmus Plus Grant-International Mobility Exchange professor at Zhejiang University in China (2017) and Alberto Hurtado University in Santiago, Chile (2018), teaching entrepreneurial journalism, media innovation, co-creation and design thinking.
She also authored a chapter, “Entrepreneurship Abroad, Cultural and International Perspectives and Challenges,” in “Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship” by M. Ferrier and E. Mays, Rebus Community for Open Textbooks. Dr. Tsakarestou worked as an external Lecturer at Copenhagen Business School (2017-2013), teaching crisis management, organizing crisis simulations on media and social media and reputation management in the sharing economy. As a visiting professor at the summer program of Warsaw School of Economics (2016), she taught city-branding co-creation. As part-time assistant professor at the MBA Program of University of Cyprus (2011-2007), she taught corporate social responsibility and business ethics.
In 2015, she received a grant from US Department of State as and international Exchange Scholar at the Study of U.S. Institutes (SUSI) on Journalism and Media at Ohio University focusing on developing a graduate course curriculum on Entrepreneurial Journalism for the masters degree on “New Media and Journalism” at Panteion University. The following years, the impact of SUSI exchange program has been materialized in a series of academic and outreach entrepreneurship and media innovation initiatives and partnerships.
In 2017 The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State named Betty Tsakarestou as an International Exchange Alumna/Alumnus of the Month for her work at the Advertising and Public Relations Lab at Panteion University and the Connecting Cities project with other alumni of Ohio University’s Study of the U.S. Institute on Journalism and Media. She was also featured in a video documentary series, “Women Changing Greece,” a U.S Embassy production in Athens.
In May 2016 she organized the first Startup Weekend on “Entrepreneurial Journalism” in Athens with the support of U.S. Embassy Athens and in collaboration Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. In May 2018 she led the 2nd Athens Startup Weekend on Entrepreneurial Journalis focusing on Audio and Radio Innovation and Summit as an inaugural activation of her new educational entrepreneurship and innovation partnership between Advertising and Public Relations Lab of Panteion University and Antenna Music of Antenna Group. In previous year she has initiated a series of community outreach activities to empower youth entrepreneurship and Co-Creation Cities Workshops on Greece and Denmark (2012, 2014, 2105) to engage cities stakeholders to actively collaborate and co-design win-win solutions. In 2014 she co-initiated a vertical Startup Weekend on Education and served as mentor and judge in a couple of Startup Weekend events in Athens organized by local entrepreneurial ecosystem organizers. In 2012, as a community engagement activity, she initiated a new vertical Startup Weekend only for university students and the “Startup Weekend University” vertical was launched.
She is editor of a book series on “Digital Culture” with Pedion Publishing
She is serving at the BoD of the Institute of Communication (2002-) based in Athens Greece. Between 2010-2012, she served as Director for Educational Radio-Television at the Ministry of Education focusing on its digital transition and transformation
She has gained valuable experience in European Digital Programs, serving as a MC member for Greece at COST/ European Literacy Network program (2014- 2017) and as a media literacy expert in EC (2010-) and through her participation in Digital Communication Network Southeast Europe (DCN SEE) and World Learning Department of State, USA Media and Information Literacy training initiatives.
Between 2007-2010 she worked as a member of the editorial board of the monthly “Tribune of Ideas”, at Lambrakis Press.
Dr. Tsakarestou holds a bachelor’s degree on Sociology and Political Sciences and earned her Ph.D. on Communication defending a dissertation on “Advertising in Fordism and Post-Fordism Era: Corporate Structures and Decision Making in the production of Advertising” from Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, Greece
Social Media Profiles
- Academia.edu: https://panteion.academia.edu/BettyTsakarestou
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OFFICE Γ10 - Νew Building - Τelephone: 210-9201717
Office Hours:
Tuesday & Wednesday 17:00- 18:00
Κύκλος Πρεσβευτών Ιδρύματος Vodafone
ECREA 2018, October 31 - November 3, 2018 Lugano, Switzerland
Dynamic Leadership Program: October 5-7, Stockholm, Sweden. Women Leadership Hub
European Research Liaison & Branding Chair at the International Communication Division (ICD), AEJMC
Digital Influencers Hub Forum, September 13-14, 2018 Thessaloniki, Greece
